Descriptive Study I: Understanding Design

Abstract

Design methodologies emphasise the importance of investigating the needs of the users and understanding the situation a product is supposed to improve, in particular when this situation is complex and failure of the product is expensive or unacceptable. Developing support for design is no different; designing is a complex activity, and failure of support can be expensive in terms of time, people and money and can have a large effect on practice. Descriptive Studies help understand this complex activity and should provide a sound basis on which to develop support. This chapter focuses on the second stage of DRM: the DS-I stage. It discusses how, starting with the deliverables from the RC stage – the Initial Reference and Impact Models, the preliminary Criteria and the Overall Research Plan – sufficient understanding of the topic of interest and of the factors that determine its success can be obtained, such that areas for which development of support is realistic and effective can be identified with confidence.