Princess Woy

I am a design researcher interested in exploring user behaviour and perception in all areas of design. I'm currently working on a PhD in Service Design.

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Stage 1: Return of the Flowchart

Once I had an idea of the types of topics that I was interested in, what I find joy in researching and the aims of the wider research group that I’m situated in – I went back to my flowchart that I created in Miro and started filling it in. I really think this process can be useful for any kind of research, including undergrad or master’s level.

*Please note this isn’t what I filled it in with but instead an example from my undergrad dissertation.

Each black heading follows on from the one on the left – so initially you think broadly about what interests you and then specifically what about your research areas is intriguing. When filling this in, you already need some kind of idea or area you want to know more about. Once that is filled in, you collect keywords that are important to search for as the next stage is a small initial lit review.

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Stage 1: Finding A Research Topic cont.

After looking back at why I’m doing a PhD, I continued with reading and doing the activities from the books I mention in my reading list post. Which led to me thinking about originality and how I could contribute to knowledge (it may be a bit early considering I don’t have a well-defined topic) but it was interesting to do, and it’s definitely sparked some ideas. Particularly what I could research that could develop into an originality category.

I’ve not listed them here, but you can find a list of originality categories in the book “The Postgraduate Research Handbook”.

How can my research be original?

This is a list based on the original categories outlined in the book “Doing Postgraduate Research”, I’ve noted down the originality categories that my research could belong to.

A development or improvement on something that already exists

Applying an existing idea or theory to a new field or set of data

A new research tool or technique

A new model or perspective

I then also highlighted the aims of my original research proposal, that got me into the PhD. Having re-read the original research proposal, I identified more appropriate originality categories and how they could be combined in several different studies to create one output:

Once this was done, I went back to my flowchart/diagram.

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Stage 1: Finding A Research Topic

So, Stage 1 – here’s what I ended up doing as part of Stage 1 of my reading list, it was super helpful to have a think about why I’m doing a PhD and the kinds of areas I want to explore.

Why am I Doing This?

Current Reactions:

Why I want to do a PhD:

I see a PhD as a good opportunity to lead my own in-depth research project on something that interests me, which I may not be able to do in industry. I also see it as a graduate program for researchers – in that you get some training and support as you develop as a researcher before being set loose upon the world. An additional point is that it would lend me credibility if I were to set up a business within this design area.

Expected Outcomes/Results

A doctorate

Several published papers

Me Personally

Experience in service design in industry contexts

Teaching experience

A knowledge of whether or not I enjoy academia

What I will be able to do that I couldn’t before

Confidently lead a long-term research program

Advise companies on their service design

Previous Reactions (From original personal statement)

Why I want to do a PhD:

Passion for research

Enhancing the experience of users

Experience = everything that a person is sensing/feeling (physically, psychologically, physiologically) in response to an action (using a device, viewing a UX design, utilising a service touchpoint)

Combine my passions for user research and design to aid in the creation of new meaningful experiences.

I see myself focusing on developing research related to psychology, physiology, and its intersection within the design of everyday objects to create enhanced experiences.

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Reading List Stage #1

Several days ago, I took out a number of books from the university library about social sciences research and postgraduate research – I’ve managed to skim read through them all and note areas of interest that have then helped me to form a plan for the next 6 months. This plan involves undertaking some of the activities within the books as well as conducting my own research and background reading.

I'll update with the activities that I've done as I go about doing them, currently I've planned 6 "stages".

This is the first stage and a list of the highlighted book sections in the order that I will read them, the book titles are in bold:

Stage 1: Finding a research topic

The Postgraduate Research Handbook

Stages of asking the research question [pg. 62]

Doing Postgraduate Research

“Why are you doing this” finding goals & aims [pg. 21]

Real World Research

Bias & Selecting a topic [pg. 49]

The Postgraduate Research Handbook

Questions about research & getting started [pg. 15]

Help/guide on research topic picking [pg. 56]

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PhD Skills Audit

As part of starting my PhD, I thought it would be a good idea to do a skills audit (it was also recommended by my universities’ doctoral student handbook). So, I looked around for a template that I could fill out – one preferably based on the Researcher Development Framework created by Vitae (a non-profit with a focus on personal development for researchers).

I couldn’t find any templates based on the framework, so I created one in word and am releasing it for anyone that wants to use it. Your university might have one available to you or a planner that you can use – but since I haven’t officially registered yet, I didn’t have access to one.

There’s a PDF version and a word template.

Doctoral Research Skills Audit Template.pdf

Doctoral Research Skills Audit Template.dotx

I’ve also filled it in, here’s a small sample of mine:

After filling it in, I highlighted the areas that I needed to work on – this may be through workshops offered by my doctoral college or gaining skills on my own via independent learning. Either way the four major areas for me to work on are:

C2 Research Management

C3 Professional and career development

D2 Communication and dissemination

D3 Engagement and impact

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PhD Planning Diagram Post #0

I’ve got some free time before teaching starts this term – so I thought I’d engage in some planning for my PhD (even though I’m not registered yet).

To help me map out and visualise the initial process of finding a PhD topic, I’ve adapted a diagram from a book about literature reviews. Specifically, from “The Literature Review” by Lawrence A. Machi. In the book, this diagram is used as an illustration of the purpose of a complex literature review, I’ve expanded on it and used it as a way to visualise the process of selecting a PhD research topic.

This diagram helped me pick my first PhD research topic and helped me do my undergraduate dissertation, so I’m re-purposing it for my current PhD area. It’s quite a large diagram, so I’ll probably do in-depth posts on each stage, as I go through them. But for now, here’s the overview:

(*The notes used in here are based on my undergrad dissertation as I don’t want to share too much about my current research, someone might get to it before me! 😉)

For a larger picture check out the medium post here

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A bit more about me

What is my PhD on?

Well, that is TBD (to-be-decided), I’m currently in the first initial stages of looking into the area that I’m in to determine a specific research question I can dig into. The broad area I’m looking into is – “consumer behaviour/perception within a circular economy”.

I'm also part of a UKRI funded project run by my supervisor on Food To Go Circular Product Service Systems.

What do I "teach" on?

I assist on a UX and Service Design Masters course in the UK – this semester I’ll be on the modules ‘Design Research Methods’ and ‘Usability Principles’.

What’s been my journey so far? // How did I get here?

My journey so far consists of a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Design and Technology at Loughborough University in England as well as a year’s experience of being a Consumer Insight Researcher for a global joinery company. Both of those experiences helped highlight to me the kind of designer I want to be – a Design Researcher; someone who focuses on gaining insights from users and consumers to then develop novel solutions that create meaningful experiences.

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Hello World!

I bring to you another blog about Academia & Design.

One that's specifically journaling my journey over the next 5 years as someone in a Post Graduate Teaching Assistant (PGTA) post. So, what does that mean?

Well, it means:

I’m a part-time PhD student (UK).

I’m also a part-time teaching assistant (essentially an under-developed lecturer).

So, this blog will be filled with weekly posts about what I’ve been up to in the academic world and in the design world, this’ll include:

Tidbits about my PhD process; finding an area to research, awesome bits of literature etc.

Posts about being new to the academic world, the lifestyle and balancing research with teaching (assisting)

Any design work that I end up doing that’s not under NDA

Tips for design researchers; tips on methodologies, guerrilla research, helpful process diagrams.

Additionally, I plan on running a design consultancy in my spare time (but we’ll see if that really comes to fruition)

Hop on and come along for the ride with me 😉