Abstract
Engaging with manufacturing operators in design research poses a myriad of challenges ranging from ethics to logistics. We describe a process of qualitative, mixed-methods, non-participant fieldwork user research involving 10 garment factory workers created to inform the design of technology to support operators’ physical and mental health. The resulting data were subjected to thematic analysis which identified themes that informed not only the design of technology, but also the co-design process itself. In this paper, we explore the latter as a contribution to design research methods, discussing the implications of analysing user research data towards informing design researchers’ behaviour in their interactions with research participants and how these might help collect ecologically valid data.
Keywords
Rapport, User research, Manufacturing
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.5
Citation
Correia de Barros, A., Correia, C., Silva, D., Cunha, L., Brito, S.,and Pereira, J.(2023) Factory fieldwork informing the design research process, in Holmlid, S., Rodrigues, V., Westin, C., Krogh, P. G., Mäkelä, M., Svanaes, D., Wikberg-Nilsson, Å (eds.), Nordes 2023: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, 12-14 June, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2023.5
Conference Track
researchpapers
Factory fieldwork informing the design research process
Engaging with manufacturing operators in design research poses a myriad of challenges ranging from ethics to logistics. We describe a process of qualitative, mixed-methods, non-participant fieldwork user research involving 10 garment factory workers created to inform the design of technology to support operators’ physical and mental health. The resulting data were subjected to thematic analysis which identified themes that informed not only the design of technology, but also the co-design process itself. In this paper, we explore the latter as a contribution to design research methods, discussing the implications of analysing user research data towards informing design researchers’ behaviour in their interactions with research participants and how these might help collect ecologically valid data.