Research Design and Field Studies

The aim of the course is to give the students the theoretical, methodical and practical knowledge on how to carry out an individual or collaborative master project associated with media design and interaction design for the media. Through participating in the course, the students will develop a concept for a practice-based research project, which will be empirically grounded in user data specifically collected for the project.

The course is organized as a series of workshops that together will lead to the development of a project description for the master project: In the course, the students will develop an idea that they will present to external companies. They will also conduct an empirical study of potential target groups for their project, and develop a project description.

The course exam is an individual project description. In those cases where the students wish to collaborate on a master's project, they provide one project description each that depicts how the different subprojects are connected.

A student who has completed the course should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• Can write a clear description of a planned research project in media and interaction design.
• Can choose relevant theories and methods in the planning of a practice-based research project within user-centered media and interaction design.

Skills

The student

• Can integrate ideas related to innovation, software development, and media design into a research and development project.
• Can use qualitative methods for the assessment of user experience associated with a medium.
• Can plan and perform advanced user studies in line with relevant ethical standards.
• Can obtain scientific literature related to specific issues and topics.

General competence

The student

• Can evaluate ethical, practical and methodological issues related to a specific research and development project.
• Can plan and carry out empirical studies for understanding users of a specific media technology, and evaluate the ethical and socio-cultural implications of the study.