Below I share my Ethical Action Plan, and have added some additional blocks containing feedback from my tutor (JOR).
What is your project focus
Low student uptake of BA UXD’s open-access workshop and technical space. What intervention/s could be introduced that might increase non-timetabled increase usage of our space?
What are you going to read about
Reading about the topic
The importance of ‘the studio’ in design education, other inspiring studio and/or education spaces (considering education at all ages), attendance issues for students, accessibility considerations in spaces, sensory experiences of study and work spaces (and more TBC).
Reading about research methods
Good interview protocol, trauma informed interviewing (in case discussion of working spaces triggers any specific concerns or negative associations for students, for example around their home life), the role of conversation in action research projects, refresher on qualitative research, workshop facilitation, advice on writing good surveys, good ethnographic/observation practice.
'Trauma-informed interviewing' — this is great. Really thoughtful and insightful example. It is easy (at least for me) to sometimes forget the scope of what effects students — JOR
What action are you going to take in your teaching practice
I won’t know the action until I have done the research!
The research will consist of:
Student interviews
Interviews with BA UXD students, asking the following questions:
- Where do you spend most of your time working on university or other creative work?
- Why do you work here?
- What things do you like about your main workspace?
- What things do you wish were better about your main workspace?
- What puts you off working in the BA UXD studio?
- Do you have any other thoughts about our studio space?
Staff interviews
- The technician who works in our space every afternoon
- Another course leader who has a long history of establishing good studio community on his course
- Disability Support Advisor who works with ISA students, asking what complaints she hears about workspaces from an accessibility perspective
Questions for these interviews will be bespoke for each member of staff, and the interviews will more than likely take more of a freeform conversation than a very guided set of questions. They will be recorded using my phone, transcribed using otter.ai, and coded/analysed in notion. All raw interview files will be deleted on all platforms at the end of the project, and any remaining content anonymised. If needed, I may instead ask these questions by email.
Student workshop
After being introduced to my research by email ahead of time, first year students will complete paper consent forms, and then be invited to draw and annotate their dream workspace. This will be framed as a form of speculative design — by imagining a perhaps impossible or imagined ideal space, potential recurring themes and ideas of areas for improvement of our real space may arise. This kind of speculative, wide ranging thinking will also serve to introduce this practice to first year students who may not have encountered this way of thinking/working before. The workshop would run during afternoon studio time with Y1 BA UXD students whose participation would be optional. During the activity, general conversation about what makes a workspace good may occur. This would not be recorded, but anonymised notes taken, with consent.
This looks great. I love the use of dream here. Is this literally dream, would it be useful to do some speculative design (then analyse and see what it reveals) alongside more literal wishes? The drawing and annotation is so great here, it opens up the practices of 'representation' for students. — JOR
Student survey
All BA UX students across 3 years (subject to my course leader giving me permission!) would be emailed asking them to complete a very short survey. The context of the survey would be made very clear, and also that the data is only used for my academic research, not as a marker of their performance (with regards using or not using the studio space).
So good in its awareness of how participation or response might be perceived — JOR
The survey would ask the following questions:
- Not including taught sessions, fill in percentage estimates of how much of your creative (university or other design) work time you spend working in the following places (your total should make up 100%): Your bedroom / Another room in your own accommodation / A friend’s accommodation / Our studio / The LCC library / Another library (specify) / Somewhere else in the LCC building (specify) / Coffee shops or cafes / Public transport / Other
- Questions about each sense (hearing, sight, touch, smell, taste) — prompting students to consider their preferences while working (for example how they like to sit, whether they like to eat and drink, whether they like accompanying sound/music or not)
- What one change would you make to our workspace in T405 to improve it
These questions may be changed or added to once I have done more reading about high quality surveying processes, but I will be running them past my course leader before sending out, so they will be approved by someone knowledgeable about ethics and qual/quant research.
Love this too. The tube. The train? The Gym? This also about bodies as much as spaces? — JOR
Observation
Observation of two workspaces:
- Our workspace, the subject of my study
- Another course’s studio which has much better uptake
I will situate myself in each workspace for around 2 hours and observe students use of the space. I would not be observing the specific work they are doing, just how long students are in the space, how they use it (group work, silent solo work, using the machinery/technician etc). I would put a poster on the door explaining what I am doing during the times I am there.
Once this research is complete, I will develop an intervention, which will consist of one (probably relatively small, simple) change to the studio setting.
Who will be involved and how
Students and staff, as described in detail above.
What are health and safety concerns and how will you prepare for them
As far as I can think, the only health and safety concerns will be those associated with regular studio use, all of which are covered by our usual health and safety policies. Additional staff presence will always be maintained, because of the way both spaces I wish to conduct my research in are run. In T405 Nathan the technician will be present, and in T409 Joel Karamath (IDA course lead) will be present in the office next door with glass window for line of sight. For solo interviews these may take place in person or online, but I cannot forsee any health and safety concerns.
How will you protect the data of those involved
Interview data will be anonymised. Stored on Onedrive and Notion and original interview transcripts deleted after set period of time (by Feb next year). Special additional consent will be sought for use of any identifiable data (if applicable). Survey data will be anonymised and visualised collectively. Students illustrations in the workshop may be compiled and presented as part of my overall project, but students will be made aware of this and their participation is optional.
How will you work with your participants in an ethical way
I will seek informed consent for all direct conversations (interviews and workshop) via both verbal consent and signed forms which include an information sheet and information on how to withdraw at a later date if desired. In the case of interviews, surveys and workshops, these forms, and other details about my research will be supplied to participants ahead of time, so that they are able to read in their own time and provide truly informed consent.
Interviewees will be briefed on trauma informed approach to interviewing (on info sheet and verbally) and I will be prepared to signpost to additional support if needed.
All participation in my research will be optional, and while there will be no monetary reimbursement for participation, interviewees will be offered a hot drink and a snack from the typo cafe, and students participating in the workshop will be provided with snacks.
Additionally, given our educational context as a User Experience Design course, user-centred research is a core part of our curriculum, so involvement in this research will directly tie in with the learning outcomes of the course. This will hopefully mean that involement in this research will be a rewarding experience for students, who will get to see their subject interest in action.
This is excellent. FWIW all the steps you are taking feel like 'teachable moments' for students who do their own enquiry. — JOR
For my observation based research, signage will be added to the doors of the rooms I am observing informing any entering students of my research purposes and assuring them that all gathered data will be anonymised and not connected to their studies, attendance or visa status.
All participants will be invited to view my final project to see the outcomes of my research.
In general:
Your thoughts on 'Home' reminded me that when I worked on MA Innovation Management we used to do a 'discourse analysis' of trends/buzzwords/concepts, across different sectors. Also mapping, what is included in the binary structure of culture, the 'anti-home' ('away'!). 'Home' on the surface is ...homely, but of course it includes, always included, all sorts of other significations, for Freud the 'unheimlich' the 'uncanny', is literally translated as the 'unhomely'. But just to say, appreciate your radar/skillfulness around cultural blind-spots such as 'home', which as you suggest can bring many different significances to the table beyond the 'norm'. — JOR
My next blog posts will explore how I plan to analyse my gathered research, and my project schedule.