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# Making Sense - How to validate assumptions?
- URL: https://www.woll.io/journal/making-sense-how-to-validate-assumptions/
- Published: 2021-11-16T17:48:43.000Z
- Updated: 2021-11-24T17:38:44.000Z
- Author: David Wollschlegel
- Tags: ZHdK, design, Sweet Dreams Are Made of This, #Import 2025-08-30 22:09

For todays class we read essays about qualitative and quantitative research. For me it was particularly interesting, that also qualitative research "is a thing" and is a respected form of research. Often in discussion with friends, most of them studying something related to science, argumentations with qualitative research are often not respected or not really valued.

I see the point that qualitative has the danger of being biased, but in design projects I do not understand the requirements and needs of users out of quantitative research. Quantitative research is nice to confirm a hypothesis ans test your assumptions but, not to find out what you actually want to know. One lecturer once said: "If you do quantitative research, you already know what you want to know".

Therefore, I want to further read into the topic of mixing those two research forms together. 

## Developing a research questions

We also quickly discussed on how to develop a research question. As I already knew, a research questions should be narrow and specific. What was new to me, is the questionare that helps to further narrow it down:

My starting question was "how to improve a patients situation in hospitals?". Then you have to answer the following questions and redifine the starting question:

- Is your question answerable?
- Is your question a multi-part question?
- Is your question to open-ended?

After the last question my end result was: "How to bring a patients desires into the evaluation of medical treatment?" 

Nevertheless, it could be more specific. "Patients" and "desires" are still two very open terms.

I also got another recommendation called the "[scientific rule of three](https://www.schreiben.zentrumlesen.ch/wissenschaftlicher%5Fdreisatz.cfm?ref=woll.io)":

**Thema**   
Ich untersuche / arbeite an / forsche über …  
**Erkenntnisinteresse**   
weil ich herausfinden möchte, wer / was / wann / wo / welche / warum / wie / ob …  
**Absicht**   
um zu zeigen, wie / warum / ob …

## Readings

Be familiar with some research terminology:   
\- Mackenzie, N.,Knipe, S. 2006\. "Research Dilemmas: Paradigms, methods and methodology". Issues in *Education Research*, 16 (2), 193 – 205.  
  
In brief, qualitative research:  
\- 'An Introduction to Qualitative Research' prepared by Christina Hughes, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick.

Look at examples of research & design in HCI:   
\- Zimmermann J., Forlizzi J. 2014\. "Research Through Design in HCI*"* in J.S. Olson and W.A. Kellogg (eds.), *Ways of Knowing in HCI*, Springer Science+Business Media, New York.

Learning by doing:  
\- Tin, Mikkel B. 2013\. "Manifesto: Making and the Sense it makes". In *Studies in Material Thinking*. Vol.9 Inside Making.