Design Research Dissertation: E-Portfolio Documentation
MODULE DIS60304: DESIGN RESEARCH DISSERTATION
Tristan Vaughan Sleep - 0365120
Design Research Dissertation / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Design Research Dissertation: E-Portfolio Documentation
MODULE INSTRUCTIONS:
“SEPT 2024 - JAN 2025: DIS 60304 / DESIGN RESEARCH DISSERTATION MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET”
Project I: Draft Dissertation (Weighted 30%)
Drafting Document: Students of the cohort have been required to look at their previous work from the DRM module and begin putting the relevant primary and secondary data into a new document. From this, students are expected to form additional analyses, discussions and conclusions centring around their original research problem. This is to be completed in the form of a draft document containing in-depth evaluations and improvements from the original document; with a minimum word count of 7000 words.
Project II: Visual Design Publication + TURNITIN (Weighted 20% + 20%)
Stop-Motion Animation: Students of the cohort are expected to design a publication document of their dissertation. The concept of this publication must be relevant to the research topic. As this document is meant to serve as an publication, it is expected that students follow the publication formatting: page layout, publication size, font, font size, are predetermined by the lecturer or other governance. Best to keep at A5 size in case the programme requires printing them in hardcopy format for any future audit or MQA accreditation process purpose. Other design considerations are to be made by the student, guided by the lecturer during tutorials.
Project III: Research for Article Publication (Weighted 30%)
Stop-Motion Animation: Students of the cohort are expected to close out the module with the development of a Research Article for their original dissertation. For this assignment, students are to adhere to The Design School KREATE journal's publishing requirements and are expected to make the necessary changes, relating to their dissertation. Students are to write about ONE RESEARCH QUESTION posed in their dissertation and are to summarise adequately.
PARTICIPATED LECTURES:
WEEK I - VII: Draft Dissertation - Writing and developments
Week I: Working on Section II: Literature Review and related material. Introduction to module, setup of Online workspace, Literature Review Matrix.
In the first week of the DRD project, the cohort and I were informed about the module and the expected workload we need to complete in order to pass said module. In brief, this module will see the cohort adapting their original dissertations from the previous module and eventually working to get it published.
For this week, I have begun reading the first dissertation as well as the original resources used in order to develop a ‘Literary Matrix Review;’ an organised spreadsheet which summarises old points and helps structure the new dissertation. By using the Lit. Matrix Review, I will be able to better structure the Second Section of the Dissertation and will make future references easier. One change I believe will be effective is the addition of another document which was not previously used (A Study of Navigation Aids in Video Games) as I believe it could be used to strengthen some existing points while allowing new conclusions to be explored.
Notes & Feedback:
Include the original Proposal in the introduction section (?) of the dissertation.
The Lit. matrix is designed to simplify research to help organise how to structure each section.
The new Suggested title is too broad, and can be made more specific to the subject matter.
The title appears to be overly negative which is not in-line with the research discussed. A change is necessary.
Week II: Working on Section II: Literature Review and related material. Continued work on Literature Review Matrix and consulting Classroom Materials.
For this week’s activity, the cohort and I were expected to take the previous ‘Review Matrix’ and develop it into the ‘Section Section of the dissertation.’ Before beginning to write, I needed to make a few changes based on last week’s feedback as well as points upon reflection.
The first major change comes in the form of the Dissertation’s name; it is described as sounding more negative as if addressing a problem. My dissertation is more-or-less about the general topic of Visual cues, looking at both the good and bad so a title change may be necessary. Another change I made is to limit the use of the 3rd article cited; a majority of this topic is based on in-game mechanics and their ‘readability’ so it can feel a bit jarring to include psychology and in-game performance. The work does not seem too affected by this change as the Lit. Review section is already quite lengthy. Looking at the numbers I have as of writing; the Lit. review will end-up around 7,000+ words which is quite a bit, unsure if this is too much.
My main worry is that I might be doing this section wrong: I’m taking an idea I originally used and am shaping it around the research (where it came from.) I’m unsure.
Notes & Feedback:
Some students have difficulty understanding the purpose of the matrix. It has been designed to break-down sources into the core components and allows the student to quickly compare and contrast them with one another.
When referencing the matrix for the lit. review, students can simplify the points into sections where the sources compare nicely. Not all information is relevant to your study and can be left out if need be.
Week III: Working on Section II: Literature Review and related material. Continued work on Literature Review Matrix and consulting Classroom Materials.
This week’s activity was for the cohort to begin working on the “Research Methodology” and investigating how our research was previously performed and recorded. Furthermore, the cohort would need to complete the previous section, given that they were unable to complete it in a reasonable amount of time.
For the Research Methodology section, we are expected to breakdown our methods and explain how it was performed. In my instance, I needed to break down my use of a large-scale Survey.
Notes & Feedback:
Reiterate the previous points from section one. Reveal the research questions from Section One
When using mixed methods, it is crucial that this choice is properly explained - why do you believe there is more value in two models, what information do you get from one and not the other. Clarity between each point is also valued.
Week IV: Concluding Section II: Literature Review and Beginning Section III: Methodologies. Re-organising Material from previous Module, working to improve citations.
I’m sure I’ve lost a week somewhere; it gets confusing when your class is at the end of the week and materials come out before class… This week proves difficult to work on the Dissertation due the amount of large-scale projects which have been started in the other modules. In order to continue work this week, I needed to continue working on the Methodology section; completing the incomplete sections such as ‘Data Collection’ or ‘Survey Limitation’
‘Data Collection Procedure’ section is one of the sections I haven't completed yet and focuses on the procedures taken to collect and structure the data from the original survey. For this, I thought it would be more simple to break the survey down into three parts (Demographics, Investigations, Opinions) as this is roughly how the original questions were posed and what type of information they were able to provide. To show this in the dissertation, I created a small sample of the question types per section as well as explained why each question had its importance. Other than this, I also needed to finish the ‘Limitations’ section of methodologies; basically suggesting how a survey may prevent certain conclusions from being reached.
Notes & Feedback:
Depending on the amount of Instruments you use in this section, the greater your primary study will be. This can also include both qualitative and quantitative data samples.
Instrument design can refer to what games you’ve used to write the questions. Although the reader hasn’t taken the survey, they need to know what questions were asked and how effective it was.
Week V: Concluding Section III: Methodologies and Beginning Section IV: Findings & Results. Fixing the structure of the Dissertation and consulting Classroom Materials.
Continuing from the previous weeks’ work, I need to continue writing the Methodology, Findings & Result section as well as looking again at the data from the previous survey. Once again, this proves a bit challenging as my other modules have been limiting my time to work on this dissertation.
Referring back to my survey results, I found that, while my numbers were not wrong, they were instead rounded up incorrectly and it was something I wanted to change this time during the dissertation. Instead of rounding up to a whole number, I decided to correct it to one decimal place which allows for better accuracy. When it came to writing the Findings & Results section of the survey; I began by looking at my previous points from the first draft and adapting them to the new dissertation. This was a bit interesting as was to suggest what the data showed and why the data may reflect this outcome while the definitive answer would need to be saved for the conclusion
Week VI: Concluding Section III: Findings & Results and Completing missing sections - introduction, Abstract, Conclusion.
This week was supposed to be the final week to complete the draft of the dissertation, asking students to complete their Conclusion, Introduction and Abstract, Section. This should not be too difficult as two of the three sections have been already written by the students and need to be adapted while the ‘Abstract’ is a short explainer.
Beginning with the abstract, I started writing it with reference to my original conclusion as in the DRM module, it was meant to be something short but explained all parts of the dissertation. The main goal of the abstract was for me to address the upcoming points and explain their value while not showing the answers were. The introduction was more of the same, starting with my existing work, it was mainly about editing it to match up with the new draft. I tried to cut out the extended introduction as it mentioned points which were unrelated to the original draft.
Week VII: Concluding Draft Dissertation: Completing outstanding sections, making improvements, preparation for final submission.
Continuing with the previous week's work, I needed to go back and work on the conclusion as I believed I could add more as well as restructure more in line with the examples shown on Google Classroom. My previous work on the conclusion was quite limited and thus needed to be re-worked to reflect the study.
With the completion of the conclusion, I was then able to move on with the remaining sections of the dissertation which needed to be cleaned up such as correctly going through and adding the correct citations as well as adding a reference list. I was also going to add some images to the dissertation but I decided not to as the lecturer informed us the dissertation would be styled using In-Design and expected that the way that we present our data should look similar.
WEEK VII - XI: Visual Design Publication - Designs and Asset Making
Week VIII: Independent Learning Week
Week IX: Continuing with Project II - Visual Design: Discerning Visual Language, Working on: Front Page, Table of Contents, Section Cards, Section I, References.
Starting the next phase of the module, students are meant to incorporate their design skills into the presentation of their dissertation. In essence, we will need to use the program ‘Adobe In-Design’ to make custom layouts and page designs to improve the visuals of a blank document.
Before designing a full-length document, it was recommended to focus on specific aspects of the document to help build a visual language which you can reference when working. To do this, I gathered a series of images, relating to page design and looked at the best elements + how I would implement them. I started by designing the main Front-Page, Table of Contents and some chapter introductions to get a general design.
Notes & Feedback:
According to the lecturer, this is the easiest 20% marks you can get in the module; make a visual design that is appealing and references the core material.
When starting your design, it is crucial that the designs make you feel connected and disjointed from one another. This often occurs when students reference too many designs - pick a small handful which are similar.
Week X: Continuing with Project II - Visual Design: Finding Visual markers, Stylising Images and customising/formatting Text.
Continuing from the previous week, students will need to design a full-length research paper in a theme similar to their topic. This is to be achieved with ‘In-Design.’
For this week’s work, I would mainly begin by tweaking the original designs based on my lecturer’s recommendation while adding some important pages (which had been previously missed.) In addition to this, I began designing basic page layouts where I could format text. The main part of the design is to make unique pages while not losing the flow of the original text. Image spaces have also been added to bring visuals to the final design.
Notes & Feedback:
An important note has been mentioned, the ‘flow’ of your designed dissertation does not need to match that of the final one. Some sections (such as the abstract) can appear in different locations which adds more freedom in designs.
Students will also need to add additional sections to their dissertation: a traditional cover page is required as well as an Acknowledgement page and a copyright and fair use page.
For personal designs, the lecturer suggests that some of the images can over power the text and the sizing + spacing of assets needs to be reconsidered to make it A) more presentable and B) more readable.
Week XI: Concluding Project II - Visual Design: customising/formatting Text, creating custom assets.
This week is a continuation of the previous week's assignment, mainly working to import text from the dissertation document into the ‘In-Design’ Research Paper. I would mainly be working to implement images and other custom assets amongst the text as well as ensuring said text is formatted correctly.
For the final design, I had completed the layout of the Research paper and began filling the empty spaces with relevant images and information. Although the images relate to the core material, there were some images which would need to be tweaked to match the section it appeared in or the style it needs to replicate. This can be seen in said images being recoloured and some need subject selection to make the page pop-out. Custom assets needed to be created to make a more entertaining way to display the statistics.
Notes & Feedback:
When designing, students should implement some forms of visual markers (patterns, shapes etc.) which appear frequently across pages. This can help make the pages feel more connected.
When it comes to presenting data, the lecturer recommends that students create custom visual assets which display said data in the style of the dissertation. While presenting it in more conventional plain text is acceptable, it can make the document more unique.
WEEK XI - XIV: Article Publication - Final Summary & Clean-ups
Week XII: Starting Final Project - Article Publication: Submitting Previous Project, Collecting KREATE Documents.
Concluding this part of the module, students would be able to submit their ‘Visually Designed Research Paper’ and could move onto the final phase of the module.
For this final assignment, students have been provided with a working doc template where they are expected to A) select one topic of their dissertation and B) summarise into an estimated 2000 words. Referencing the sources that they’ve used, Students need to see what makes their dissertation unique and can summarise it to make it accessible to others with ease.
For this final assignment, I focused my document on how Visual interaction Cues in Video-Games are received by Players; looking into whether or not they can be easily identified by players and if the cues improve or degrade the player experience.
Notes & Feedback:
This final project is worth 30% of your final marks so it is crucial that it is prepared correctly.
When choosing a key point to focus on, it is recommended to look at your referenced research papers (From Lit. Review) and choose the topic which has not been explored (or enough). Be unique with your presentation.
Solely Focus one topic of your dissertation as there is not enough space to consider multiple topics. Others can be referenced but must be brief.
Week XIII: Continuing Final Project - Article Publication.
For this week, I would mainly be continuing with the summarising of the dissertation, looking into how players understand and feel about Visual Cues.
The process of summarising the document can feel a bit daunting because I’ve already written about the topic and am unsure of what needs to be left out. In this case, should I consider dropping the description of visual cue elements as it explains what players are looking at but, the intricacies are not needed to see where players are happy/unhappy with the cues.
Other than these considerations, the process of writing is being aided by the lecturer providing decent talking points and how to better focus your attention onto one aspect of the document.
Notes & Feedback:
If you are stuck on what you may need to write for this final section, you can start by copy + pasting key-points from your dissertation and re-writing them to focus more on one aspect.
With the updated news of ‘late feedback’ the lecturer has recommended going back and looking through all projects to solve design flaws. This mainly appeared in the forms of missing images, wrong formatting, obscure naming conventions etc. Fix it.
Week XIV: Concluding Final Project & Module: Handing in Final Documents, Making necessary Changes.
Working with the suggestions provided by the lecturer and viewing the work of other students within the cohort, I was able to continue improving the summary and would be able to submit later within the week.
Other than that, I’d also been informed about improvements which need to be cleaned up before closing out the module. This information has also been provided to me later than expected and thus, more time needs to be taken with the final submissions. With these issues resolved, the course can be counted as completed.
Notes & Feedback:
For the final project, it is crucial that your paper remains focused on one of your multiple goals. While it can be useful in mentioning some of your other goals, don’t be side tracked.
Due to this document being a shortened + focused version of your dissertation, you need to cover key points rather quickly and have no room for additive writing. Lecturer has helped suggest a ‘framework’ per section to follow.
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