Research Methods for Strategic Design

This is an SPD programme course.

The aim of this course is to introduce the fundamentals of robust, reliable, and valid social scientific research related to strategic design and guide students through the process from topic selection to data presentation. The students will learn the differences between research for/about/through design, how to use theories in research, create strong research questions, choose a fitting research design, define participants, design reliable research instruments, and finally collect, analyze and present data. They will practice the learned material by concrete assignments.

The course will cover qualitative, quantitative and mixed academic research methods for the two key phases of innovation in which strategic designers operate, namely the fuzzy-front end and muddy back-end. In particular, the qualitative part will cover interview techniques, focus groups and ethnography applied to research topics relevant to strategic design research projects (e.g., drivers of smart products adoption, organisational and personal drivers in sustainable transitions, understanding stakeholders' needs in healthcare ecosystems), while the quantitative part will focus on building reliable surveys for research topics relevant to the muddy back-end (e.g., market introduction of smart projects, concept evaluation, tool probing). The course will put particular emphasis on creating solid arguments through research data by taking validity, reliability, generalizability and research ethics into account.

Guest lecturers will present their strategic design-related research projects from the perspective of the weekly topics.