Design Research Processes
Mastering design and research process formulation is essential to becoming a leader in decision-making. Therefore, I built a personal database with design and research methods from each course, expanded it with my own research findings, and created a framework to navigate and select appropriate methods (Figure 7).
I aimed to be as self-directed as possible. However, failing my M1.2 Research project (Figure 24) due to a too-strong self-directed approach, improperly using newly explored postmodern principles, and being overly ambitious resulted in an incohesive and overclaimed paper.
During the re-do, under the supervision of Lu Yuan, I grew the scientific rigor of my DRP. This was a challenging, steep learning curve of being self-critical and reshaping my processes to ground my claims better (Figure 23).
A second growth moment was receiving the M2.1 proposal Condition; regardless of my growth regarding academic projects, I couldn’t resist being overly ambitious and planning for various iterative cycles. I am happy to have learned this at the FMP’s start, allowing me to rescope the project timeline (Figure 25). During my FMP, I continuously reviewed my process and readjusted it based on setbacks and potential risks.
The beauty and pitfall of boundless curiosity in an endlessly complex world lie at the source of my overambition. Making the mistake of unrealistic project scoping in a safe space has been a dire learning experience, which will be instrumental in maturing as a professional.
