Research Aspect 1; Research Strategies
                         Aspect 2; Data Collection
                        Aspect 3; Data Processing and Analysis

RESEARCH ASPECTS 1,2 and 3 Notes

Questions to ask yourself to help complete this stage of the Major Project to the best of your ability

Aspect One          Research Strategies
What Strategies are you employing to get research on your design brief?  Why are you using these strategies? Primary, Secondary, Qualitative, Quantitative? State which strategy for which piece of research data you are using and say why?
State as many different sources of your information you require and describe why they were chosen and how they are relevant to the information you are collecting. Eg Surveys, Questionnaires, Observation, User Trials, Literature Search, Interviews etc for Measurements, Target Market responses, age/cultural aspects?
What data scales are involved in collecting your research?Nominal  Ordinal  Interval
Or Ratio data scales. What are most appropriate and why? Explain with examples
What sizes or types of people or target market are you aiming your project at? Select Age, Size, Cultural group, Profession or Gender references

Aspect two          Data Collection
What quantitative research have you done and what are the results? Eg Measuring heights of a Basketball team to determine the anthropometrics and appropriate height of a substitute bench project.
What qualitative research have you done and what are the results?  Asking the target market group what shapes and colours are the most appropriate for a product.
What primary research have you done and what are the results? Eg Photographic evidence of a space/area a potential product may be located
What secondary research have you done and what are the results? Eg Research into Material selection due to cost and availability here in Beijing. Phone or visit material suppliers to question availability an costs.
Display Survey, Questionnaire, Interview and photographic, diagrammatic images and all results detailed

Aspect three                 Data Processing and Analysis
Have you presented your data in a number of graphical forms? Tables, Graphs, Photographs and annotated images and diagrams
What was the priorities of your research and why? How is it directly connected to your Design Brief?
Does your research help you to create new Design Ideas and Design Improvement suggestions for the product you have chosen? Explain how?
Identify three areas of possible error with your data and research collection? How reliable is your research/data collection? How do you know?
How could you improve on this next time? And try to eliminate the error aspect?
Have you shown how raw data is transformed into usable information and therefore into conclusions from which you can create a design innovation/ development and product.

Check the Option E: Human Factors Notes and make sure you have addressed the aspects that relate to your project. For example……….
Human Factors Design   E.1.5  Describe why affordance is an important consideration in human factors design Affordance is the property of an object that indicates how it can be used. Buttons afford pushing, and knobs afford turning. On a door, handles afford pulling, whereas push plates afford pushing.
E.1.8 Explain why the aims of human factors may conflict with other design aims
Examine the notion of optimum compromise and consider cost, form, function, which may be more important aims to achieve in a specific design context.

Human Factors Data 
E.2.1/2 Define User population data
E.2.5 Discuss how the factors are further defined to determine the exact nature of a user group sample The factors in E.2.2 are all characteristics that are important to the evaluation. These characteristics are the ones that must be represented by the members of the sample. With these in mind, and not just physical dimensions that products have to fit humans, we can use objects effectively, safely and with pleasure as long as the various human characteristics are taken into account: eg
The size of text required for readability at a particular distance.
The amount of weight that can be carried safely and comfortably.

Modelling
E.4.1 Define manikin, ergonome, appearance prototype and functional prototype Manikin- An anatomical 3D model of the humanbody. A jointed model of the human body used by artists, especially to demonstrate the arrangement of drapery. Also called lay figure. They are useful for assessing the relationship of body parts to spatial arrangements represented by a 3D model, for example, a chair to a desk.
Ergonome- A 2D physical anthropometric model based on a specific percentile, which is used with drawings of the same scale as the model to consider the relationship between the size of an object and people. They are used with 2D drawings, mainly for orthographic drawings.

Health and Safety
E 5.1.1Describe the objectives of product safety testing
The objectives of product safety testing are to reduce accidents and improve the safety and physical well-being of people through:
• verification that a product is safe for intended and unintended uses
• verification that a product meets or exceeds the requirements of all safety regulations
• identification of any unforeseen safety issues

5.2  Identify the general human factors contributing to accidents
Categories of factors that cause accidents include management (policies, safety education, decision centralization), physical environment (noise, temperature, pollutants, trip hazards, signage), equipment design (controls, visibility, hazards, warnings, guards), the work itself (boredom and repetitiveness, mental and physical workload, musculoskeletal impacts such as force, pressure and repetition), social and psychological environment (group norms, morale), and the worker (ability, alertness, age, fatigue).

Design in Context   

E.7.10 Outline three examples of the use of anthropometric data used in your design For example, height of work surfaces, position of cupboards, depth of worktops, circulation space.
E.7.11 Outline psychological human factors data that could be used in your design Similar to the mobile phone (E 7.3) and other products, perception of texture, temperature, light and colour has an impact on the human.

These aspects would be necessary in most DP DT SL Projects.
Higher Level candidates also need to consider the HL options in the Option Human Factors Design as well.