Research methodologies to gain empathy 3 - Design Instruments

Every research problem is a unique problem. No matter how similar it appears to be to previously explored problems, there is always that little twist in the tale that makes the problem worlds apart. After all, that is the outstanding feature of the human mind. There may be seven billion of us, but yet no two people are alike physically or mentally. Since design thinking problems invariably lie in the domain of human thinking, then logically, we have seven billion unique problems to discover. This is the stuff that makes life worth living, and causes endless headaches to businesses, governments, armies and dictators

Getting back to Design Thinking Research Instruments; what is a research instrument? In effect, instruments are anything you make up to garner and gather responses from your research subjects. These instruments can take the form of surveys, audio or video devices, dairies – all those standalone objects that can be handed over to subjects and data input be independently inputted into the instrument by the subjects, in their own environments.

Perhaps most importantly, the instrument has to be simple to use and clearly understandable on its own right. Sure, instructions can and should be given to the subject, but understanding should be intuitive. Once the subject is home free and starting to record data into the instrument, the instrument should disappear, and what emerges is a comfortable internal dialogue and reflection between the subject and his inner self. Recording this dialogue and reflection onto the instrument becomes an afterthought if the instrument has been constructed to be magical.

Of course, all this is easier said than done. So how do we construct such an instrument?

I think that gaining insight into the stuff that counts is that much harder now. Everyone is a cynic, everyone finds it difficult to trust and everyone is always on the lookout for hidden agendas and conspiracies. Which is why we need Design Thinking in the first place. I hope that I, you and all Design Thinking practitioners will always be upfront and completely honest with subjects, because I dread the day that a subject discover his emotions and life have been manipulated and toyed with. It happens all the time of course, since the world is made up of a needed balance of the good and the bad. Still, it sometimes is disheartening and downright sickening to see how people are so scared to trust.

Right. Back to Instruments.

Keeping the previous paragraph in mind, instruments have to be ideated, prototyped and tested too. Designers must always be the most frequent users of the design thinking process, so discuss what the nature of the instrument should be like, the questions or stimuli that need to go into it then test it on initial groups of strangers, friends and non-expert subjects. Find out if the presentation on the instrument is self-explanatory and does not pose any ambiguity. Once the initial mistakes have been ferreted out, then do the whole prototyping and testing process all over again till you have everyone understanding the instrument perfectly.

Having said that, there will always be a ghost in the works, and there will always be those beautiful, strange minds that perceive your instrument in completely unique and crazy ways, and these are the gems. These are the gems that will lend you brand new perspective son your Design problem, and might suddenly become wicked solutions for problems you never knew you had.

I believe that’s all I gotta say about that.