Week 1 - Week 4 : 31 Mar 2022 - 24 Apr 2022
Tan Yi Yun 0345559
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 1/Research Proposal
LECTURE
Week 1
During the first class we have Dr. Noorhayati and Dr. Jinchi. We were briefed about the overview of the module, as it prepares the groundwork for the Design Research Dissertation. Glad to hear that this module allows us to explore the issues of our interests.
What is research?
- Research is the pursuit of knowledge
- The systematic and
creative investigation to
establish facts and reach new conclusions.
- Increase the stock of knowledge to devise new applications
Why should I do research?
- Expands understanding and knowledge
- Defines our academic, career and personal interests
- Establish valuable connections with faculty
- Gain academic experiences
- Develop critical thinking, leadership, time management, communication
skills
- Explore research techniques
How should I start?
- Identify field of interest
- Delve into further research about it to establish an area (research
problem)
- Write a bit more extensively about the research problem in the form of a
statement
- Formulate a research question (derived from research problem)
- Identify research objective(s)
Research Process
1. Explore
2. Identify
3. Gather
4. Create
5. Share
6. Reflect
What is research, Week 1 (31/3/2022)
Introduction to Academic Research, Week 1 (31/3/2022)
Week 2
Problem statement
- A problem statement is a concise description of an issue to be addressed
or a condition to be improved upon.
- It identifies the gap between the current (problem) state and desired (goal)
state of a process or product.
- A problem statement paves the way for the reader to understand the
research problem.
- Goal : to transform a generalised problem (something that bothers you)
into a targeted, well-defined problem one that can be resolved through
focused research and careful decision-making.
|
| Figure 1.2, Format of a problem statement, Week 2 (7/4/2022) |
Research question
- An answerable inquiry into a specific concern or issue.
- The initial step in a research project
- The first active step in the research project
- The ground of the foundation of your research. Without a question, you
can't have a research and discussion.
Steps to write a research question
1. Specify your specific concern or issue
2. Decide what you want to know about the specific concern or issue
3. Turn what you want to know and the specific concern or issue
4. Ensure that the question is answerable
5. Check to make sure the question is not too broad or too narrow
Research objective
- In general, research objectives describe what we expect to achieve by a
project.
- Research objectives may be linked with a hypothesis or used a statement
of purpose in a study that does not have a hypothesis.
- Even if the nature of the research has not been clear to the layperson
from the hypothesis, he should be able to understand the research from the
objectives.
- Serve to guide the activities of research.
Hypothesis
- A tentative statement about the relationship between two or more
variables.
- Specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen in a
study.
- For example, a study designed to look at the relationship between sleep
deprivation and test performance might have a hypothesis that states, "This
study to assess the hypothesis that sleep-deprived people will perform worse
on a test than individuals who are not sleep deprived."
- Unless you are creating a study that is exploratory in nature, your
hypothesis should always explain what you expect to happen during the course
of your experiment or research.
- Does not have to be correct
Variables
- Something that can be changed or varied, such as a characteristic or
value.
- By systematically varying some variables and measuring the effects on
other variables, researchers can determine if changes to one thing result in
changes in something else.
How to write a research proposal, Week 2 (7/4/2022)
Week 3
What is research question?
- "Uncertainty" about something in the population that the investigator
wants to resolve by making measurements in the study population.
- Uncertainty = "data needs"
- Clear questions facilitates to choose the most optimal research design,
and identify who should be included, what the outcomes should be, and when
the outcomes need to be measured.
Refining "ideas" into research questions
- Begins with general uncertainty about a creative industry issue. Such
as, sound design in low cost animation production.
- Narrows down to a concrete, researchable issue
Translating uncertainty to research question
- Frames problem in specific terms (cultural identity/character for
animation)
- Focuses on one issue
- Is written in everyday language
- Can use more than one verb. if needed
- Should link the question to the potential action that would be taken
once the question is answered
- Is stated as a question!
Research question sets out
- What the investigator or researcher wants to know
Sources of Research Questions
- Mastering the search of published literature (continue review of work of
others in the area of interest
- Being alert to new ideas and techniques
(observe scholar and practitioner research outcomes / conferences/ pod
cast)
(having a skeptical attitude about prevailing beliefs)
(applying new technologies to old issues)
- Keeping the imagination roaming (careful observation, teaching and
learning, tenacity)
- Your supervisor or peer as guide/mentor
2 categories of research questions
1. Descriptive questions
(involve observations to measure quantity)
(no comparison groups/interventions)
2. Analytical questions
(involve comparison / interventions to test a hypothesis)
Steps in conceiving a research question
- review of state-of-art information
- raise a question
- decide worth investigating by peer-review
- define measurable exposures & outcomes
- sharpen the initial question
- refine the question by specifying details
Good research question should pass the "so what?“ test
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1 : Research Proposal
We are to select a topic, within the realms of multimedia, art and design,
visual culture, in which we are interested to study in, by focusing in a
specific area in that topic. It is important to consider research in areas
of specialisation in which we intend to pursue in. Subsequently, to
integrate issues of themes encompassing either Design Culture or Design for
Future Making or Social Design as an element that can be chosen to be
integrated and drive the meaningful design research ultimately. The
selection should be based not only on interest but also on adequate and
substantial research from reading of relevant academic sources.
1. Identify a Research Problem within a topic of research
2. Write a Research rational
3. Write a Problem Statement pertaining to the research problem
4. Identify relevant Research Objective(s) - ROs
5. Formulate a Research Question(s) - RQs pertaining to the Research
Objective(s) - ROs
6. Place a Title of the Research
Week 1
We are tasked to choose our specialization and decide on the research
topic, and write a rationale about the chosen topic.
I choose Digital Animation and begin my research journey. I look into the
field of animation and discover some topics I am interested in. I choose to
study the dark sides of the animation industry and skim through a few
articles about the situation in Japan’s anime industry. However in Week 2,
my initial research topic is being rejected since it is not very
relevant for BDCM students.
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| Figure 1.1, Initial research topic, Week 2 (5/4/2022) |
Week 2
I have decided to change the research topic to "Character Design in Achieving Believability of Animation". The reason I chose this topic is because of my interest to study what makes the animated characters perceived as believable by
the audiences.
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| Figure 1.2, Revised research topic, Week 2 (7/4/2022) |
Week 3
After the research topic and research problem are being approved, I started to develop the rational and the problem statement. I read more articles to aid her understanding and support my arguments when constructing the problem statement. I particularly focused on Disney animations as not only they are internationally widespread, but also marked the milestones of animation since the twentieth century.
Week 4
The pack working timeline is forcing me to finalize everything in a few days. Since there is no one-to-one consultation session during this week, I feel a bit insecure because my work is not being checked before submission. I send my proposal to my friends to let them read through and see if they have any suggestions. After finalizing the proposal, I start to design the proposal slides. It takes me some time to figure out the design aesthetics that I pursue. I am quite satisfied with the final design of the proposal slides.
 |
| Figure 1.3, Proposal Slides, Week 4 (22/4/2022) |
Proposal
| Proposal Slides, Week 4 (22/4/2022) |
Final Proposal (Revised)
Week 8, Revised Proposal (19/5/2022)
FEEDBACK
Week 1 :
General feedback
We are asked to go through the class materials on our own so that we can utilize the time well for everyone to get feedback from the lecturers.
Week 2 :
Specific feedback
My topic is irrelevant/not suitable for BDCM students. I should study a topic that will benefit myself and other BDCM students.
I am asked to research more about the animation using Google Scholar.
Week 3:
General feedback
We should make good use of the recording to view the important announcement as mentioned earlier.
Specific feedback
Read more articles that would help in constructing the problem statement. The research objectives are possible but they are still quite huge. The problem statement is needed to support the research objectives and research questions. Since the articles I cited are relatively old, I should compare newer articles and look into the articles that discuss the role of emotion in achieving believability. To agree to what the researchers have written, I should watch the movie BoBoiBoy or at least the trailer. Try to identify what are the weaknesses and challenges of those research papers that were overcome and see how it is applicable to the context of my proposal.
Week 4:
General feedback
Everyone is responsible for completing the proposals within the timeline, and follow the guidelines posted on MIB and Google Classroom.
REFLECTION
I've learnt how to narrow down a research topic that is not too broad for undergraduate degree study. The research objectives and questions should be aligned and well-articulated. Although English is not my mother tongue, I've tried my best to think in English and make sure there is a clear expression in the writing. The grammatical errors and misspellings are minimized because I used Grammarly tool to help me amended most of my mistakes.