4 - Lab: Can You Really Study Design in the Laboratory?

Abstract

This chapter discusses that it is impossible to study a phenomenon like design in the laboratory in its entirety; design has many faces, only some of which are appropriate for laboratory studies. The trick, however, is to see which ones are. This chapter is about the logic of laboratory studies. Actual research tends to be impure in terms of logic; in particular, early stage user studies aiming at inspiration tend to be done with probes and contextual inquiries. They are qualitative and inspiration-oriented and are typically combined with laboratory-style studies. For example, Stephan Wensveen used cultural probes for inspiration in the early stages of his research. Experimental work typically happens in concept testing and selection and in the evaluation phase of the prototypes. Although the ethos of this tradition comes from experimental psychology, researchers borrow from other ways of doing to complement it.