Design Research Dissertation // Assignment 1

 03.04.2023 - 21.05.2023// Week 1 - week 7

Lim Yi Xvan 0354552

Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

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Instruction

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Tasks 

Section 2: Literature Review

We are required to create an outline of our dissertation in a Literature Matrix for this assignment using the data, findings, from the 5 articles we used for literature review from our Design Research Methodology tasks from the previous semester. 

Link to Literature Review Matrix:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CFBCQaRlBbkgX3qkwqWB7y06a96P59CDkrqzzBjdpAk/edit?usp=sharing

I made some notes on the revisions for my sub topics at the side on column R & T of the literature matrix after getting Dr. Hayati's feedback. I then added extra compare and contrast points and made the required title adjustments to the literature review. Additionally, several phrase constructions have been modified for clarity.

We were given the assignment to complete a literature matrix as the foundation for our literature review section as the first step in writing our dissertation. My literature matrix was created using the articles from Design Research Methodology that I had critically read. Then, using the matrix and my critical evaluation from last semester as a guide, I composed the initial draught of my literature review. 

Link to draft of Literature Review:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-3idWAlc9LPLw0yp9uKMcgi4AKlOCbXCJP4584GRPCI/edit?usp=sharing

Fig 1 - Literature Review Draft

Section 3: Methodology

I formatted Section 3 of the draft dissertation in accordance with Dr. Hayati's instructions and the data from the materials given and provided on Google Classroom on how to write the Methodology which I help is very helpful as a guidance through the writing process.

Fig 2 - Methodology Draft

Section 4: Findings & Discussion

I rewrote the Survey respondents' analysis from the Primary Research for Design Research Methodology in the results section. Most of what I written in this section was copied and pasted, with a few minor structural adjustments here and there. In the qualitative analysis from the Survey, I also captured few screenshots from qualitative responses of the survey. 

Based on the discussion section of the Primary Research for Design Research Methodology, the discussion part was expanded upon. Besides, I've also added in new information and data I've just researched and restructured the sentences and paragraphs to make them more logical and create clarity.

Fig 3 - Findings & Discussion Draft

Final Draft Dissertation:

Fig 4 - Final Draft Dissertation

I reread what I had written in the previous parts before writing the dissertation's conclusion and abstract. The conclusions drawn and the limitations stated in the preceding parts were taken into consideration when writing the project design recommendation section. 

I was actually not quite sure on what to be added into the appendices but I've added the  questionnaire structure slides and its structure justification in it so that it's easier for readers to navigate and understand the forming of the questions.

For the picture credit list section, I couldn't recall where I got it from and couldn't manage to provide a complete list of it. However, Dr.Hayati said it's fine as I can do it on the next assignment.

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Feedback

Week 1

General Feedback: You can add on other data and articles to enhance your research if what you had from last sem wasn’t enough.

Week 2

General Feedback: Complete the reflection report and fill in your reflection.

Specific Feedback: Findings must be in part of the dissertation. Some titles and texts can be reduced in the literature matrix as it’s slightly too long, cut paste and some parts will do. Reposition and re edit on certain things commented for the matrix.

Week 3

General Feedback: In the dissertation, we should describe ourselves as a third-person, avoid using “I, myself”. You should use your name.

Specific Feedback: The literature review looks like plagiarism due to no citations in it. Need to add on citations and indicate further as now it’s just reporting it. Avoid this in the next round. With citations will allow us to distinguish this is our own statement and now plagiarism. Within the sentences and paragraphs, you’ll need to reflect if you have covered all and reviewed all the articles.

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Reflection

This project was difficult, to put it mildly. In contrast to Design Research Methodology, where I may write more freely without being constrained by a structure, I had to rewrite and write all of my points for this project using a specific structure for each section. Although it did make it simpler to compose the topics for this new dissertation because I had documented my critical review and primary research approach in full last semester. The MIB and resources on Google Classroom specify the ideal word amount for each component, so I also had to determine out how to extend my points to make them longer and more informative, especially for the Discussion part. 

Aside from that, I had to spend time reformatting all the section headers, table and figure numberings, and figure captions to create the pagination tool because there weren't enough tools in the web application of Google Docs for formatting pagination.

Despite the fact that I have submitted my assignment late, I was glad to have understood the task's objectives and general outline.