Design Research Methods Flashcards

This flashcard set covers design research methods, the techniques designers and researchers use to learn about people, contexts, and needs before and during the creation of products, services, and systems. The material moves from foundational ideas, such as why research matters and how research questions are framed, through generative methods for discovering needs, evaluative methods for testing designs, survey and quantitative approaches for measuring patterns, and finally the analysis and synthesis steps that turn raw observations into decisions. Each group progresses from basic definitions toward applied judgment, so later cards assume the terms introduced earlier.

To study effectively, read each question and answer out loud before flipping the card, then explain the idea in your own words without looking. Pay attention to the reasons behind each method, not only its name, because exam questions and real projects often ask you to choose a method for a situation. Review the cards in order at first, then shuffle them across groups to practice recognizing which method fits a given goal. When you miss a card, write a short example of your own that uses the concept. Repetition spaced over several days will help the distinctions stick.