OUGD401 - Lecture - What is Research?

The main advice which i extracted from the lecture was that the process of your work is more important that the outcome. If we have a set idea in our head, we will already know what the outcome will be. However, if we focus on the process instead, we may not know the outcome of our ideas but we will learn new ability's and knowledge along the way. Knowledge comes from failure, it is central to our development and progress as a graphic designer. If I remain to get it right I will never learn anything new, failure is crucial.
When we have an idea which we are set on creating don't gather research for your set idea. Gather research which can develop your set idea and develop it to a new place which you didn't expect before. Carry out experiments which can be evaluated to find out if your methods work for a specific brief.

Look into the three main components of research -
'how?'
'why?'
'what if?'

Ideas are at the core our practice, these are the ideas we are driven by. Although, we must dig deeper and decipher where these ideas originate from.
There are three different approaches to idea creation -

Stimulated approach - seeking stimulation which will help me gain ideas from the world around me
Systematic approach - systematically working through a process to generate ideas and possibility's
Intuitive approach - Instantly start coming up with ideas through memory's and experiences

There is also four categories of specific research -

Primary Research - Involves a collection of data which didn't exist before
Secondary Research - Reading or sourcing information which already exists. Library books, the internet
Quantitative Research - Facts, surveys, figures, statistics, percentages and measurements
Qualitative Research - Explores beliefs, experiences, attitudes, interviews, interactions, values and observations of people

These different types of research can be interlinked with each other, some research can contain more than one research factor

Information is a form of organised data, these facts and figures which have been developed is processed into written language to inform another person.
Feedback is a key part of research, in order to find a solution we must compromise our ideas based on factors such as cost, culturally acceptable values and available technology's.