Research types and focus
How, with the help of research, to turn an unorganized creative process into a technological chain of actions that lead to a predictable result.
Designers with a lot of experience sometimes skip the exploration stage, riding on the fact that they have a lot of patterns in their heads. ready-made solutions. But there is a high degree of randomness in this - you can make a mistake and use the wrong pattern, or simply not find what you need. For beginners, it's even more difficult.
Research helps both of them, allowing them to formalize the design process, to qualitatively (with deep immersion and at a high level) develop analytics and a creative concept in the allotted time.
Any unorganized creative process is like a black box. You give a designer a task, he disappears for a week, then brings something. What happened at that time and where it came from is not clear. Magic. This creates two big problems:
1. The decision is highly dependent on the life experience of the designer. How more designer knows about the world around him, the more likely he is to draw good design. This is a limitation. Quality is determined by subjective parameters, and should be stable.
2. Impossible to plan work by time and result. If you rely only on inspiration, insight and divine providence, then sometimes it happens that the result is obtained in three days. But if you didn’t guess correctly, then the solution of the problem stretches for three weeks.
To open the black box, you need to understand what stages the process consists of and formalize it. Then the result will be predictable.
It is very important to analyze the design process in order to move further beyond the initial ideas and emerging images. As a result, you do all this on autopilot, freeing your head to get an extraordinary result.
A sign of stagnation - if you think the same as before. This is a signal: most likely, you have stopped in development. A good sign is when from project to project all processes look more and more technologically advanced and the range of processed conventions tends to infinity. This is the only way to “dig up” truly worthwhile solutions.
Better not to use the word "guessed". It is better to appeal with facts, whether it was possible to solve the problem or not. "No" - when the decision does not stand up to criticism, and this happens if the result is based on an intuitive search. The result should always be based only on the rational and logical.
What does research provide?
Immerses the designer in context, and decisions are justified. The designer offers not just something cool, but builds logical relationships.
Allows you to build better relationships with your customers. Research is communication. You study not just the business, but also the customer and his client, and in the process you begin to better understand what the user needs, what the customer wants and how to implement it.
Primary Research
Primary research is a method of collecting information through direct interaction: interviews, observation, experiments, etc.
Primary research is divided into qualitative ( in-depth interviews, observing a person all day long) and quantitative (statistics, surveys, site analytics).
Among qualitative research allocate:
ethnography- study method Everyday life consumers. The name of the method is borrowed from historical science, when ethnographers, exploring unfamiliar tribes, describe the way of life of people in order to understand their motives and actions. Ethnography is used when information about the target audience is minimal. Observations make it possible to understand different scenarios of user behavior and "entry points" - in what situations a person needs to use the product.
reflection- observation of oneself, analysis of one's own experience. Fixation and awareness of their feelings and experiences.
Shadow Method- repetition of human actions. For example, you capture user behavior on the site, and then copy it, marking significant points.
Observations are recorded using a camera, audio and video recordings. Record the conversation on a voice recorder, give the recording for transcription, and you will have a ready-made document that will help you return to any point in the conversation. Take pictures of the people you are interviewing. If another person will work with the material in the future, the photo will help to better understand the user. Capture the interaction with the product on camera, and then you can watch the video and see some moments that you didn’t notice right away.
At first glance, design and psychology are not related to each other, except perhaps when building websites, when the individual wishes of the customer are taken into account. But the scope of application of the foundations of psychology can be much wider, absorbing recent achievements in this area of science.
Architecture is sometimes poetically referred to as frozen music. Indeed, the influence of the external appearance of a building, and especially its internal space, on the human psyche is comparable to the impact of a melody. Sometimes even a slight nuance can plunge into sadness or, conversely, cause a feeling of cheerfulness, a surge of strength and joy.
Fortunately, those times have sunk into oblivion when interior design was guided solely by pragmatic considerations of expediency and utilitarian benefits. The desire to fully follow in this often very dubious criteria of fashion and prestige also ceases to be the main one, but the personal and psychological aspect of the design of the room comes to the fore. apartment or a private house gradually become not just a space for life, but a kind of expression inner peace hosts. The style of the dwelling is focused, first of all, on creating a comfortable and harmonious psychological climate, and with careful selection of all the components of the design, it can serve as a kind of passive psychotherapist.
Psychological design explores the complex of interactions in the "man-environment" system. This is the psychological rationale for design. Justification of its causality, its existence in general, its components in a broad sense and in each specific case.
Psi-design is based on the data of general psychology, social psychology (design as a channel of media systems), ethnopsychology, ethnography, sociology (approach from the point of view of the globalization of design), philosophy, cultural studies, synergetics, information science and physics.
Psi-design assimilates the data of all ways of knowing reality - science, art, religion, etc., as well as the empirically accumulated knowledge of traditional teachings.
The structure of psi-design includes the consideration of two-way relationships between a person and the environment: video ecology, color and light psychology, psychology of form, psychology of materials science, psychology of composition, psychology of individual differences, etc.
In the applied aspect of psi-design, there are three main sections:
– the formation of the integrity of ideas about the environment of human existence (in other words, the diagnosis of the environment as a point of application of the transformative impact of design),
– methods for studying specific situations and interactions in the “man-environment” system,
– design recipe for the formation of the environment.
Psi-design develops non-standard and independent thinking, creativity, a broad view of the world of things and Nature, their connections. Those who have mastered it open up new bottomless sources for creativity, inspiration, and intuition. From this moment on, life becomes clearer, more meaningful, brighter, more interesting, “tastier”, its quality increases many times over. And no witchcraft.
Psychology is interesting to everyone because it concerns everyone. Because it is about the secrets of the psyche, it deeply knows about us even what we do not know ourselves. Apparently we don't know. In fact, not so deep, not everything and not always correct. But he tries. Conducts research, collects statistics, analyzes. He is often fond of theorizing and thinks like science for the sake of science. But the applied part of it works, although not one hundred percent. Nevertheless, the main developments were made a long time ago and, most importantly, in the West. The basis was European thinking. As subjects, and psychologists.
As a result, the methods do not fully fit the Russian mentality, and often they are not at all suitable for understanding the “mysterious Russian soul”. Strictly speaking, just as it is impossible to compare the intellect of representatives of different cultures, so it is impossible to apply the techniques created in a different mentality to analyze a different mentality.
Design has received a lot of attention in recent years. First, this is a new phenomenon for us. Secondly, interesting. Finally, just beautiful. And few people realize how influential. In terms of influence on a person as an environmental factor. No one argues about the importance of ecology as an environmental factor. Moreover, all troubles are now placed in this area. But the object environment has no less influence on a person. From this point of view, it is the responsibility of the designer to ensure that this influence is positive, not negative. This is a separate topic, but let's say that a violation of the rules of videoecology can lead to diseases, including provoke mental disorders. And the sick person will never guess that the reason is in poor design.
The second reason is that the designer often cannot take the position of the customer and design the environment for him. Fulfilling the order, he expresses his worldview, guided by his taste. No wonder almost everyone complains about psychological problems with the customer as the main ones. It has already become common place. The designer is the same person with his own system of views, and even if he tries to adapt to the taste of the customer, he rarely gets into the top ten. Lacks objectivity.
In addition, designers often act dishonestly, they “take the customer into circulation”, impose their taste and preferences. Many do it unintentionally. Partly due to the fact that the customer himself does not know what he wants. And even if he formulates his wishes, it is not at all a fact that in the realized form they will not harm him in the future. After all, the desire of the customer can be dictated by mood, fashion, someone's hint.
To be honest in the profession, we must admit that the designer, although he is an artist, is still a person from the service sector. That is, "whatever you want." The designer is obliged (literally like a doctor) to love all his customers (patients), to love all styles (diseases), all colors (syndromes) and textures and skillfully operate with them. But even this is not enough. There is not enough tool to objectify the design solution.
It turned out, however, that the creation of such psychological method really. Moreover, it has already been developed and tested. The beauty is that it helps to avoid subjectivity on both sides of the contract and to determine with a greater degree of certainty what the customer actually wants. As a result, a unique “design recipe” is formulated for this customer. Similar to individual tailoring in the atelier. Specific recommendations are given on style, form, space, texture of materials, light, according to the mental warehouse of the individual. If the customer is a family, then an average general recipe is issued without “harmful” factors for any of its members.
As a result, the designer manages to express the worldview and self-perception of the customer by means of the interior. It is not easy to turn a client into a co-author (then the size of the fee will look unprofitable for the designer), but “tailor the suit to fit”.
It is also noteworthy that the technique provides a real opportunity to have a therapeutic effect by means of the interior. Yes, physics, in particular, its new sections - synergetics and eniology.
Of course, to be fair, it must be said that psychological technique not a device that requires knowing a few buttons to use. It is necessary to acquire a minimum of psychological knowledge on the interpretation of the data obtained. But this is quite real for an ordinary person and does not require deep knowledge.
The psychological approach to interior design conditionally includes two main functions. The most common and well-known harmonizing function is when the decor of a separate room or the whole house reflects the temperament of a person, his habits and worldview. The task of such a room is to create an atmosphere of harmony and peace. Bold and non-trivial decisions are hardly justified here. In fact, such a technique suggests the passivity of the interior in relation to its owner. Thanks to the optimal combination of shades and textures of finishing materials, as well as decor elements and accessories, the interior adapts to one or another individual, being a continuation of his inner self.
The second, much more interesting function can be called stimulating. Design now plays an active role: it favorably accentuates certain features of the owner's character and temperament, or, conversely, smoothes and levels out unwanted features. For example, such an interior can balance an impulsive choleric person or inspire a melancholic prone to depression. It's no secret that Feng Shui's popularity these days is largely due to the variety of stimulating space arrangements it offers. ancient teaching. However, the followers of Feng Shui look even deeper, stating that proper arrangement can mysteriously influence not only the psyche of the inhabitants of the house, but also the events in their life, business and personal success. Of course, the design of the room, which combines both stimulating and harmonizing functions, could be considered ideal.
Interior design begins with the layout of the premises, with the creation of a certain structure of the interior space. From the point of view of psychology, such structuring is of paramount importance. In fact, it sets the rhythm of life in the house and often dictates specific models of relations between its inhabitants and each other and guests. Although there are countless options for space planning, they can be summarized into two main types: indoor and outdoor interior. The interior of a closed type implies a clear and fixed division of a single whole into several isolated rooms, each of which performs a specific function. For example, a living room cannot be a dining room, and a bedroom cannot be a study. From a psychological point of view, privacy, and even the intimacy of the life of the owners of the premises, is at the forefront here. The open interior, on the contrary, is a design embodiment of the concept of an accessible society, demonstrating a kind of life for show, an active, dynamic and sociable style of behavior and, perhaps, the priority of public and business interests over personal ones.
Design of medical clinical trials The concept of design in translation from English (design) means a plan, project, outline, design. Methods of qualitative and quantitative research in evidence-based medicine. Clinical trials, definition, classification. Statistical analysis in evidence-based medicine. Levels of Evidence and Grades of Recommendations from Clinical Trial Results
A clinical trial is any prospective study in which patients are included in an intervention or comparison group to determine causal relationships between a medical intervention and a clinical outcome. This is the final stage of clinical research, in which the validity of new theoretical knowledge is tested. CI design - method of conducting scientific research in the clinic, i.e. its organization or architecture.
CI design type is a set of classification features that correspond to: 1) certain typical clinical tasks; 2) research methods; 3) methods of statistical processing of results.
Classification of studies by design Observational studies (observation) are studies in which one or more groups of patients are described and observed for certain characteristics, and the researcher collects data by simply observing events in their natural course without actively interfering with them; Experimental studies- the results of the intervention are evaluated (drug, procedure, treatment, etc.), one two or more groups participate. The subject of research is observed.
1. Observational ↓ Descriptive Analytical ↓ Case-control case reports Cohort 2. Experimental ↓ Clinical trials
The most important requirements for medical research Proper organization (design) of the study and a mathematically sound method of randomization. Clearly defined and followed criteria for inclusion and exclusion from the study. Right choice criteria for outcome of the disease under the influence of treatment and without it. Location of the study Duration of the study Correct use of statistical processing methods
General principles of classical scientific research. Clinical trials Controlled - Comparison of a drug or procedure with other drugs or procedures - More common, more likely to find differences in treatment Uncontrolled - Experience with a drug or procedure, but not compared with another treatment option - Less common, less reliable - Likely to compare procedures more than for drug comparison
Types of Clinical Questions Physicians Face in Care Deviation from the norm - Healthy or sick? Diagnosis - How accurate is the diagnosis? Frequency - How common is the condition? Risk - What factors are associated with an increased risk of the disease?
Prognosis - What are the consequences of the disease? Treatment - How will the course of the disease change with treatment? Prevention - Are there methods for preventing disease in healthy people? Does the course of the disease improve with early recognition and treatment? Cause - What factors lead to the disease? Cost – How much does it cost to treat this condition?
Types of medical studies Systematic reviews, meta-analysis Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) Cohort studies Case-control studies Case series, single case descriptions In vitro and animal studies
Systematic reviews (SR) are scientific work where the object of study is the results of a number of original studies on one problem, i.e., the results of these studies are analyzed using approaches that reduce the possibility of systematic and random errors; are a generalization of the results of various studies on given topic and are one of the most "readable" options for scientific publications, because they allow you to quickly and fully get to know the problem of interest. The purpose of the JI is a balanced and impartial study of the results of previous studies
Qualitative systematic review reviewed the results of original research on a single problem or system, but not conducted statistical analysis.
Meta-analysis - the pinnacle of evidence and serious scientific research: a quantitative assessment of the total effect established on the basis of the results of all scientific studies (H. Davies, Crombie I. 1999); quantitative systematic literature review or quantitative synthesis of primary data to obtain summary statistics.
Randomized controlled trials (studies) - RCTs RCTs - in modern medical science are the universally recognized standard of scientific research for evaluating clinical effectiveness. Randomization is a method used to generate a sequence of random assignment of trial participants to groups (rand - French - chance). RCTs - Treatment Evaluation Criteria
Structure of the study in RCTs 1. Presence of a control group 2. Clear criteria for selection (inclusion and exclusion) of patients 3. Inclusion of patients in the study before randomization into groups 4. Random distribution of patients into groups (randomization) 5. "Blind" treatment 6. « Blind" assessment of treatment outcomes
Design of the study - presentation of results 7. Information about complications and side effects treatment 8. Information about the number of patients who dropped out during the experiment 9. Adequate statistical analysis, there are links to the use of the article, program, etc. 10. Information about the size of the identified effect and the statistical power of the study
RCTs - comparison of the final results should be carried out in two groups of patients: Control group - no treatment is carried out or standard, traditional (conventional) treatment is carried out or patients receive a placebo; Active treatment group - treatment is being carried out, the effectiveness of which is being investigated.
A placebo is an indifferent substance (procedure) for comparing its effect with the effects of a real drug or other intervention. In clinical trials, placebo is used when using a blind method so that participants do not know what treatment they are prescribed (Maltsev V., et al., 2001). Placebo control technology is ethical in cases where the subject does not receive significant harm by doing without drugs.
Active control - a drug is used that is effective in relation to the studied indicator (the drug of the "gold standard" is more often used - well-studied, long-standing and widely used in practice).
Homogeneity of compared groups - patient groups should be comparable and homogeneous in terms of: Clinical features of the disease and comorbidities Age, gender, race
Representativeness of groups The number of patients in each group should be sufficient to obtain statistically significant results. The distribution of patients into groups should occur randomly, i.e., by random sampling, which allows to exclude all possible differences between the compared groups that could potentially affect the result of the study.
Blinding method - to minimize the conscious or unconscious possibility of influence on the results of the study by its participants, i.e., in order to exclude the subjective factor, the method of "blinding" is used in evidence-based medicine.
Types of "blindness" Simple "blind" (single - blind) - the patient does not know about belonging to a certain group, but the doctor knows; Double "blind" (double - blind) - the patient and the doctor do not know about belonging to a certain group; Triple-blind (triple - blind) - the patient, the doctor and the organizers do not know about belonging to a certain group (statistical processing) open study(open - label) - all participants in the study are aware
The results of RCTs should be practically meaningful and informative: This can only be done with a sufficiently long follow-up of patients and a low number of patient refusals to continue participation in the study (<10%).
True criteria for the effectiveness of treatment - Primary - the main indicators associated with the life of the patient (death from any cause or the main - the disease under study, recovery from the disease under study) - Secondary - improvement in the quality of life, reduction in the incidence of complications, relief of symptoms of the disease - Surrogate (indirect), tertiary - the results of laboratory and instrumental studies, which are expected to be associated with the true endpoints, i.e. with primary and secondary.
Randomized clinical trials – objective endpoint criteria should be used: Mortality from the disease Total mortality Rate of major complications Rate of rehospitalization Quality of life assessment
Cohort study (cohort group) A group of patients is selected for a similar feature that will be followed up in the future Starts with a risk factor assumption Groups of patients: - exposed to a risk factor - not exposed to a risk factor exposed group Answers the question: Will people get sick (in the future) if they are exposed to a risk factor? » . Mostly prospective, but there are also retrospective ones. Both groups are monitored in the same way. Outcome Estimates Historical cohort - selection of a cohort according to case histories, and observation at the present time.
Case-control study A study designed to determine the relationship between a risk factor and a clinical outcome. Such a study compares the proportion of participants who experienced adverse effects in two groups, one of which developed and the other did not have the clinical outcome under study. Core and control groups belong to the same risk population Core and control groups should be equally exposed Classification of disease at t = 0 Exposure is measured in the same way in both groups Can be the basis for new scientific research, theories
Case-control study (retrospective): - Outcome unknown at baseline - Cases: presence of disease or outcome - Control: no disease or outcome - Answers the question: “What happened? » -This is a longitudinal or longitudinal study
Case series study or descriptive study Description of a case series - a study of the same intervention in individual consecutive patients without a control group For example, a vascular surgeon can describe the results of carotid revascularization in 100 patients with cerebral ischemia A certain number of characteristics of interest in the observed small groups are described patients Relatively short study period Does not include any research hypotheses Does not have control groups Precedes other studies This type of study is limited to individual patient data
Theoretical Validation in Sociological Research: Methodology and Methods
In the social sciences, there are various types of research and, accordingly, opportunities for the researcher. Knowing about them will help you solve the most difficult problems.
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Research Strategies
In the social sciences, it is customary to single out the two most common research strategies - quantitative and qualitative.
Quantitative strategy involves using a deductive approach to test hypotheses or theories, relies on the positivist approach of the natural sciences, and is inherently objectivist. A qualitative strategy, on the other hand, focuses on an inductive approach for developing theories, rejects positivism, focuses on an individual interpretation of social reality, and is constructivist in nature.
Each of the strategies involves the use of specific data collection and analysis methods. The quantitative strategy is based on the collection of numerical data (mass survey data encodings, aggregated test data, etc.) and the use of mathematical statistics methods for their analysis. In turn, a qualitative strategy is based on the collection of textual data (texts of individual interviews, participant observation data, etc.) and their further structuring through special analytical techniques.
Since the beginning of the 90s, a mixed strategy began to actively develop, which consists in integrating the principles, methods of collecting and analyzing data from qualitative and quantitative strategies in order to obtain more reasonable and reliable results.
Research designs
Once the purpose of the study has been determined, the appropriate type of design must be determined. Study design is the combination of data collection and analysis requirements necessary to achieve the study objectives.
Main types of design:
Cross-sectional design involves collecting data on a relatively large number of observation units. As a rule, it involves the use of a sampling method in order to represent the general population. The data is collected once and is quantitative. Further, descriptive and correlation characteristics are calculated, statistical conclusions are drawn.
Longitudinal design consists of repeated cross-sectional interviews to establish changes over time. It is divided into panel studies (the same people take part in repeated surveys) and cohort studies (different groups of people who represent the same general population take part in repeated surveys).
Experimental design involves identifying the influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable by leveling the threats that may affect the nature of the change in the dependent variable.
The design of a case study is intended to study one or a small number of cases in detail. The emphasis is not on the distribution of the results to the entire general population, but on the quality of theoretical analysis and explanation of the mechanism of functioning of a particular phenomenon.
Research goals
Among the goals of social research are description, explanation, evaluation, comparison, analysis of relationships, the study of cause-and-effect relationships.
Descriptive tasks are solved by simply collecting data using one of the methods that are appropriate in a given situation - questionnaires, observations, document analysis, etc. One of the main tasks in this case is such a fixation of data, which in the future will allow their aggregation.
To solve explanatory problems, a number of research approaches are used (for example, historical research, case studies, experiments), which allow dealing with the analysis of complex data. Their goal is not only a simple collection of facts, but also the identification of the meanings of a large set of social, political, cultural elements associated with the problem.
The general purpose of evaluation studies is to test programs or projects in terms of awareness, effectiveness, achievement of objectives, etc. The results obtained are usually used to improve them, and sometimes simply to better understand the functioning of the programs and projects concerned.
Comparative studies are used for a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under study by identifying its common and distinctive features in various social groups. The largest of them are held in cross-cultural and cross-national contexts.
Studies to establish relationships between variables are also called correlation studies. The result of such studies is the receipt of specific descriptive information (for example, see about the analysis of pairwise relationships). This is fundamentally quantitative research.
Establishing cause-and-effect relationships involves conducting experimental studies. In the social and behavioral sciences, there are several varieties of this kind of research: randomized experiments, true experiments (involving the creation of special experimental conditions that simulate the necessary conditions), sociometry (of course, as J. Moreno understood it), Garfinkeling.