1. 1 FDP Research Guidelines1- Research File A file containing all the secondary information you have found relevant to your subject area. You should arrange these in a logical manner (i.e. under headings or topics titles). This file should be added to throughout the entire project and should be accessed regularly for specific information on your topic.2- Research Report The research report should be a short document (quality not quantity!) outlining the key findings from your research. It should begin with a short introduction to the project and the background justification for undertaking it.Secondary Research: A literature review should follow the introduction; this gives a brief overview of the existing products in the area as well as the research being undertaken in the field. This will help to highlight gaps in the market aswell as gaps in the research that you will need to fill through your own primary research. You will also need to look at any legislation or British Standards that are relevant to your area as well as the specific ergonomic data required for the Human Factors aspects.Primary Research: This is the most important area of the research and is essential in helping you to understand the topic, the user and environments of use. Focus on practical research methods (you must justify why you have chosen the particular methods and how you carried out the research) Primary Research Methods may include:-Focus groups (gathering a group of people together to ask questions and gain user information first-hand, these need to be structured and well organised. If a few people are doing similar projects or working with a similar user group then maybe conduct a focus group together)-Observations (both participant and discreet- this allows you to see how people behave first-hand. Often discreet observations are very useful as people tend to modify their behaviour if they know someone is watching them. Be very careful though with breaching peoples privacy)-Behaviour mapping (map day in the life of a typical user in order to identify other influences and stakeholders who may influence their behaviour or the products functionality)-Interviews and questionnaires - a small number of face-to face or telephone interviews will generally yield better results than a large number of questionnaires. Questionnaires tend to be better for getting quantitative information (i.e. the amount of people who own a car with an engine size over 1.2 litres; or the number of people who use public transport)Research Guidelines

2. 2 -Diaries (ask users to keep a diary of their interaction with a product or system over a period of time, this will illustrate patterns of use.) -User trials or Products - in- Use (also called task analysis- set up user trials with a small number of existing or potential users. This is a good way of gaining a holistic understanding of the product/system aswell as identifying areas for improvement and change. You should also use the products yourself so you fully understand the processes involved in their use) - Forecasting and trend analysis (where technology and fashion is taking your product. Identify any major changes you think may influence your specific area) - Market analysis (who are the competition [if any exists]? How does their product or service fulfil the task? Identify flaws or opportunities for change. If no direct competition exists look at all the other products that influence the tasks involved in your topic) - Personality Profiling (create or identify your key target user(s), create a fictional character showing their habits, likes/dislikes and lifestyle. This can help to focus the aesthetic direction later in the project) - Style Analysis (look at current tends and styles. Again this will help with aesthetics later in the project)For more information on primary research methods see the presentation on Gathering User Information on the Blog.Be sure to record all the research you undertake in a visual way so it can be used for the report and presentations.Research findings and discussion: The next section should contain the results of your findings (this can be a very visual section with brief bullet points on the findings) followed by a short discussion on these results.You can include any videos or digital information on CD at the back of your report.3- Visual Presentation You must prepare a minimum of 3 A2 sized boards containing visual representations of your key research findings. How you arrange the information is up to you but please ensure it is logical and can be understood without verbal explanation. Prepare these boards using the Adobe CS NOT POWERPOINT. It is recommended to use InDesign as the best program for preparing layouts. Save the files in PDF format and we can project them during the presentation. You should print them out (smaller scale) for display in your area. Be sure to employ all the rules of graphic presentation and visual communication. There is no excuse for bad presentations at this stage in your study. By all Research Guidelines 3. 3 means look to other layouts for inspiration and guidance on your own layout. If you decide on an interesting layout at this stage you can use them for all the presentations in the project. 4- Blog You must establish a blog and use it daily to map the process you are undertaking with the project, to capture your thoughts, to allow you to see the progress in other projects and to offer help and comment to your classmates. The blog will be reviewed on a regular basis so ensure to keep it active for the entire year. Notes on Report Layout:General:Housekeeping: - Page format:Left Margin: 4cmRight Margin: 2cmTop Margin: 2.5cmBottom Margin: 2.5cm-Use 12 point standard type (Times New Roman, Arial)-Double line spacing- insert your name and the title of the Report into the document so it appears onevery page.- Insert page numbers onto every page.- All figures, illustrations, tables, graphs and charts must be labelled.-Never use first person (I or me), always use third person, e.g. the author/researcher.Research Guidelines 4. 4 - Please Use Spell check and/or get someone to read over it before you submitto check for grammatical errors.- Arrange the report so it is visually pleasing.- Please ensure it is bound with a clip that can be undone so it can be added toat a later date.- Avoid long, complicated sentences, use bullet points where you can.- Use footnotes where relevant (i.e. to explain a term not used in commonlanguage or to give some more information)* REFERENCING:You must reference all your sources if the information you are giving is notcommon knowledge or information you have found yourself throughresearch, otherwise it is PLAGIARISM.- Reference using Harvard Referencing System (see Cite it Right- copiesavailable from the library or online at)When quoting or putting a reference in the body of the text it should appear likethis: quote or reference followed by (Surname of Author, year of publication,page quote or reference appears on)Example:Stuart Walker implores designers to begin to look at products in a different way and to desist from creating mere replacements for products and instead conceive of novel solutions (Walker, 2005, page 2). Likewise Victor Papanek calls for considered designs that respond to consumer needs 'Design must become an innovative and highly creative, cross-disciplinary tool responsive to the true Research Guidelines 5. 5 needs of men.and we must stop defiling the earth with poorly designed objects and structures' (Papanek, 2000, preface). HOW TO REFERENCE (Harvard System) Bibliography BOOKSSURNAME, Initial, (year of Publication), Title of Book, Place of Publication, Publisher.Example BAKKER, C., 1995, Environmental Information for Industrial Designers, Rotterdam, Earthscan Publishing. WEBSITE Website address, (accessed on date)Example: www.biothinking.com (accessed 7-06-05) JOURNAL ARTICLESURNAME, Initial, year of publication, Article Title, Journal/Magazine Name, Volume number, issue number, pages x-xExample:COOPER,T, 2000, Product Development Implications of Sustainable Consumption, The Design Journal, Vol.3, Issue 2, pages 46-54WEB ARTICLE:SURNAME, initial, year of publication, Title of Article, Online journal title, Issue number, Available: from website address, (accessed on: date)Example: BABYAK, R., 2000, Getting Connected: Network News, Appliance Design MagazineResearch Guidelines 6. 6 Availablefrom http://www.ammagazine.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP_features_ite m/0,2606,8516,00.html (accessed 28-03-05) Notes:- Arrange in alphabetical order using the authors surname.- Group all similar literature together - If there is more than one article from the same author it can be differentiated by the year of publication, if the year of publication is the same put an [A] before the first article and [B] before the second article. Example [A] BHARMA, T., EVANS, S. VAN DER ZWAN, F. & COOK, M., 1999, Moving from Eco-Products to Eco-Services, Journal of Design Research, Issue 2Available from http://jdr.tudelft.nlPut other books you may have read on the same subject but have not referenced in the report into a reference section after the bibliography. Research Guidelines