What is research - part 1

START ANYWHERE!

• Don't research in hindsight research in foresight trying to move forward 

• Research (aka source material)

• Systematic approach
• subjects
• collection and modification
• primary and secondary
• Characteristics and means of expression
• structure and restructure
• enlarge and reduce
• combine and extract

• Martin Venesky - "Design doesn't straighten and clarify the world, it reflects the world as it ventures beyond problem solving in process, experiment and discovery."

Fail. Fail Again. Fail Better.

• get good at failing - record it / document it / evaluate it / learn from it
• E.G. - Alexander Fleming - discovered penicillin by accident in 1928

• Research is a human activity based on intellectual investigation and is aimed at discovering, interpreting and revising human knowledge on different aspects of the world.

• The information you require dictates how you collect it - if you interview someone you would record what they say not take a picture of them equally if you were recording what they looked like you would in fact take a picture.

• Research is done by what is already known. If something wasn't there or known about we wouldn't ask questions about it as we're ignorant of its existence or lack of existence.

• Facts lead to knowledge - read your facts
• What do you already know?
• What can you find out?
• What can you learn from it?
• How can you develop it?

'WHAT IF...?' and 'WHY?' the biggest questions since 'What is the meaning of life?'

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

• Types of research
• Primary 
• research generated for a specific problem
• research hasn't existed before and hasn't been used for the purpose your looking for before
• e.g. talking to people, asking questions, raw collection, photographs
• Secondary
• published information or material that has been collected for some other pupose than the current study
• analysis and information already exists in conjunction with another topic or aim
• e.g. statistics, facts, area maps, information leaflets/booklets, books, internet images, websites