COP3 : Methodologies

Methodologies:

As the focus of my dissertation has narrowed down and become more specifically directed to my degree discipline I feel I should re address the research methodologies I proposed in my presentation.

The methodologies for gaining research that I think will be most useful to my project are:

- Interviews
- Questionaires
- Action research
- Case study
- Observations


Interviews

As my research project is now more focused on graphic design I will need to gain opinions from professional designers. I will be looking for designer opinions on creativity whiten the industry and how they develop their creativity etc. From talking to graphic designer I will be able to gauge an opinion about where the industry stand on a creative front. At this moment I do not know the question I will be asking but they will have to be well structured so that I can get the most out of the answers. I would like to get at least 3 interviews with graphic designer if not more as this allow me to be able to draw conclusions from the answers given.

Questionnaires

I will use questionnaires to draw up both qualitative and quantitive research. I want to gain a broad scale knowledge about the opinions surrounding creativity. I will also use more of a targeted questionnaire to gain feedback from specifically graphic designers / student graphic designers. This data will inform my research project and allow me to to have an insight into how people define creativity and allow me to form opinions.

Action research/ case study

I was planning on conduction my action research through using someone who does not believe they are creative and seeing if the research I looked into about how to develop creativity / if creativity can be develop is possible through seeing if said person can develop a more creativity thought pattern. This will now adapt to be more specifically about graphic design. Instead of seeing if a graphic design can develop creativity ( which they will be able to ) I am going to use the creativity tests that have been used for many years to determine creative potential in the student graphic designer and what scenarios allow most creative output. I will be able to put to use the information I have gathered about testing creativity into a real life situation and gain a better insight into the subject.

Observations

I was planning on conducting observation research through observing a graphic design studio on a normal day to see how the studio works and the processes that take place and also how the environment works amongst this. I have decided to not participate in this research as simon pointed out to me that looking at how the environment improve creative moment is more something to focus on if I was interested in furniture or interior design.

Plan

I want to have all my primary research done before christmas the order I will perform it is

1. Questionnaire
2. interview with graphic designers
3. case study / action research