Design Research Methodology -Task 4

 22/9/2025 - 4 /1/2026 / Week 1 - Week 14

YANG SHUO / 0384037

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Design Research Methodology -Task 4

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Module Information

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Final Report

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Presentation Slides

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Presentation Video

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Feedback

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Reflection

Experience

This project was heavier than I expected because every part was connected. When I wrote the questionnaire, I realized small wording changes could affect how people answered. After I got the responses, the work didn't get easier, it just changed. I had to clean the data, make charts, and then explain what the numbers actually meant. The open-ended answers took the most time. I read them several times, removed the irrelevant ones, and grouped similar points. Some days I felt stuck because the results were not always clean,  and I wasn't sure if my explanation was strong enough. With feedback from my lecturers and friends, I slowly got a clearer direction and finished the study on time.

Observation

What I learned during analysis is that it's not enough to say "most people agree". The more important part is where answers start to split. In my results, some items had very strong agreement, but questions about discomfort and real life influence had more mixed responses. That made me more careful in the discussion, because it shows not everyone reacts the same way. It also reminded me that charts look neat, but writing the explanation still needs judgement.

Findings

I also want to talk about my topic choice. At the start, I did hesitate, because gender is a sensitive issue and it's easy to trigger arguments. But I still chose it because I feel gender stereotypes in character design have been around for a long time. People often notice them, but they also get used to them, so the problem is easy to ignore. I wanted to understand this topic better through actual data, not just online opinions. I also hoped that asking players directly through a public survey could make people pay more attention to it.

From the results, I learned that research is not just about  getting an answer. It's about asking questions in a way that people can respond to clearly. The scale questions showed the general trend, and the open-ended answers gave real examples from familiar games and characters. That made the findings feel more real to me. I also learned that mixed answers are still useful. They show where the topic becomes personal, and where people do not react in the same way. Overall, this project helped me connect player feedback with character design issues, and it gave me a clearer idea of what I need to improve before doing a dissertation.