Week 7: Research Methods
This week’s guest lecture is by Martin Hosken, a lecturer in critical theory who teaches at Falmouth University on both the postgraduate and undergraduate Graphic Design Courses.
The Question: How do you approach research methodologies for your academic journey?
Part 1: Curiosity
Martin’s first point that “A disproportionate amount of energy is spent trying to unpick and understand the language and terminology of academic research” is a very good one. I’m finding it hard to follow, not the topic itself but the way in which information is delivered. Indeed some of the terminology used (the first of many -ologies) even sounds made up. So yes, quite a lot of energy has been spent on that.
“At the centre of research is knowledge”
My definition of research is: To look for information new to oneself which will either increase your knowledge on a subject or back up, prove or fault an idea.
Martin’s next question: “would you consider research as a science, an art or even a craft? Do you consider it primarily an academic exercise? Or is it an activity of life?”
I’d say it’s both an academic exercise and an activity of life. When asked to perform research, it feels like a formal undertaking. You should go and look for information which is likely to be new to you, on this course for example. However, day-to-day we have to look up and learn new information to complete various tasks as we go along but this doesn’t feel such a task, it’s just something we do, could that be because it feels like something less formal, less academic?
Next we’re asked to spend some time looking around the room we’re sitting in whilst listening to the lecture, to be curious about why things are like they are and to imagine if things were different:
I’m sitting the the studio for work.
The room is above a shop, it’s quite a big room but there’s a beam across the ceiling which may have once been where a wall was but it doesn’t make sense to be there.
I think the room was once part of where the shopkeeper and family used to live because there’s a trace of a fireplace at one end and a picture rail around the walls.
The livingspace must have been modernised at some point because there’s a sealed gas pipe going towards where the fire once was.
The carpet is horrendous and the wallpaper is magnolia painted woodchip.
There are many plastic casings around the picture rail and skirting boards where the wires to new plug sockets have been added.
The windows are old and draughty but someone has made a secondary layer, it’s a bit DIY but isn’t bad.
If the room had floorboards instead of the carpet it would look much more like the studio I would like it to be.
The carpet is glued down.
Part 2: Philosophy
How can we gain and collect knowledge?
There are many ways in which we can collect knowledge, the most obvious and convenient is to search Google (although research may be needed to confirm this), it means, for most of us, that we don’t really have to move. Next is a reference library where we can look things up or talking to experts on the subject you are researching. Questionnaires and surveys conjure up images of clipboards in the high street, but again we have the internet to save time and maybe effort with site like SurveyMonkey (surveymonkey.com) for example, where you can set up your own surveys and market research and email to a mailing list you may already have or post the link on social media to get responses.
The philosophical debate that underpins the nature of knowledge are deep and ancient. The ancient Greeks where fundamental in defining the nature of knowledge debating between the Rationalists and the Empiricists.
Rationalists claim that the starting point of knowledge is reason and not the senses. Without reason we cannot organise our senses or our experiences.
The Empiricists say that senses and experience are the the starting points and that without experiences there would be no knowledge.
Common research terms:
Is it Method or Methodology?
These terms are often confused or thought to have the same meaning with Methodology seen just to be a more fashionable way to refer to a Method when they are actually two completely different approaches to research:
Methodology = A branch of knowledge. It deals with the generation of new knowledge, it’s what you need to know to know how to do your research. A practice, a procedure or a rule to follow.
Method = The way you’re going to do what you’re going to do.
Is it Qualitative or Quantitative?
How will you find out the information you need?
Qualitative = Observe and interpret collected data into results. Open questions or interviews which allow for flexible responses.
Quantitative = Discovering facts, collecting measurable data.
What are Defined Sources?
There are two categories for sources of information you might be using in your research:
Primary – this is where information comes from direct sources, it’s first-hand information from eye witnesses or gathered statistics relating to the subject.
Secondary – information created later. The researcher didn’t have first-hand experience of the event or subject they are looking into but have gained information from a reliable source such as verified books or reports.
Analysis
With research comes analysis where we might need to revisit what we have found. There are two forms of analysis: formal or contextual.
Formal analysis comes from a direct description of what a person has done and how they have done it.
Contextual analysis refers to the wider context of what is being investigated and how it might fit into or affect things.
Questions
If you research requires you to ask questions, maybe for analysis, data or to find out new sources, those questions must be good ones:
- Questions must be relevant
- Questions must be manageable, you have to be able to access your sources
- Questions must be substantial and original, there’s no benefit to asking the same things as everybody else
- Questions should be clear and simple but fit for assessment
- Questions need to be interesting, avoid quick or convenient questions to engage your readers
Literature review
At the end of the lecture we were introduced the ‘Literature Review’. However this is a term which can often cause confusion but put simply: “a literature review is a considered look at the existing scholarly authorities that exist around a certain subject”.
One thing that was suggested as good tool to consider when choosing your data sources was the “CRAAP Test”. An acronym derived from:
C = Currency – is the information you’re using up to date, if not, does it matter
R = Relevance – does it relate properly to your research
A = Authority – do you have a credible author or source
A = Accuracy – is it reliable
P = Purpose – why does it exist and who is it for
Using the method as you choose your sources is a useful way to weed out items which are neither useful or acceptable.
Or just Google it…
Reflection
Analising the analised. Can there really be an -ology for everything?
Yes…
ology | ˈɒlədʒi
noun (plural ologies) informal, humorous a subject of study; a branch of knowledge.
Week 7: Workshop Challenge
The aim of this week’s workshop challenge is to select and deploy appropriate research methodologies to inform a need within a project.
Choose an object you feel has a story to reveal.
Write a 300 word text acknowledging the texts that link to your writing.
Upload an image of object with the title of your written precis onto the ideas wall.
Upload a link to your blog onto the ideas wall, with your image and your 300 word referenced precis, and demonstrating your reflection.
Packaging from the 1930s.
I’ve chosen to research safety razor packaging which was found at a car-boot sale for a few pence on the starting weekend of this task. It’s proving pretty stubborn and so it’s in danger of turning into a long-term project.
Possible subjects to research:
- Printing methods in the 1930s (chosen brand began in 1932)
- Illustrators
- What era are they from and what was the social climate: were they a luxury item?
- Are there collectors or a museum?
- Are they listed in any archives?
- What are their trademarks?
Research
In addition to my internet research, I contacted a printer we use at the studio who put me on to the print shop at Winterbourne House in Edgbaston, a joint initiative with Birmingham City University, where they have a selection of 19th century presses used for workshops and demonstrations.
I sent the packaging sample over to them for information.
Their view was that it wasn’t Flexography as there was no tell-tale ‘halo’ around the image so that meant relief printing wasn’t used. They saw it as offset litho with the illustration having been reproduced using a tone screen to keep the shading detail.
Precis: Things you find…
My favourite things are usually so because they’re printed. But unfortunately, through experience in my job over the last decade or so, less and less people are wanting print and when they do it’s nothing special. There are so many different an modern techniques available as well as a resurgence in more traditional methods which I never get to use.
I often find fascinating examples of print, new or old, it has a wonderful sense of nostalgia. My latest find is a small selection of printed 1930’s safety razor packaging.
These all have wonderful of-the-time illustrations and typography and are made from then standard materials and methods which are now seen as tactile and craft-like.
One in particular stands out for me, it’s the box of Sahara Deluxe, a range made by Edmund Bergfeld & Sohn in Solingen, Germany. Introduced in 1932[1], with it’s a metallic gold ink with it’s an extra push towards luxury where others only use standard flat colours.
Further attention to detail is the treatment of the illustration, through the use of a tone screen, gradients are kept to stay close to the original commissioned illustration.
Printed using the offset process (offset lithography), an economical method of mass-production printing where the images on metal plates are transferred (offset) to rubber blankets or rollers and then to the print media, usually paper, keeping the paper out of direct contact with the plates prolonging their life. The main advantage of offset printing is its high and consistent image quality.
Details of the illustrators who contributed to these designs are hard to find, in his book Design Literacy[2], Steven Heller writes: “many of these razor wrappers were anonymously designed by commercial artists in printing plants that specialised in this and other forms of packaging”.
Contemporary advertising shows the same illustration of the Bedouin man. The significance of the Bedouin man? The majority of Bedouins are Muslim and a beard is regarded as a sign of strong Islamic belief. In many Muslim regions, men are required to have a beard and the longer the beard the better.
Perhaps these blades are so good they might persuade a Bedouin man to take a shave…
Notes:
[1] Edmund Bergfeld & Sohn. Solingen-Ohligs in 1932. Brand names: ‘Daddy Blade’, ‘Extra Bladet’, ‘Globusmann’, ‘Globusmen’, ‘Globusmen Gold’, ‘Sahara’, ‘Sahara Gold’, ‘Servant’. (http://www.archivingindustry.com/cutlers&toolmakers/razormakers.htm)
[2] Design Literacy: Understanding Graphic Design by Steven Heller. ISBN 10: 1581153562 ISBN 13: 9781581153569. Publisher: Allworth Press, 2004
Awaiting responses from:
atgshaving.com
badgerandblade.com
Deutsches Klingenmuseum, Solingen
Thank you to Perry Smythe at Winterbourne House print shop for his advice
Reflection
Finding good research material is labour intensive, online research for this brand went around in circles and it was a noted point to myself that I was in danger of turning the text into an article about razors, rather than the design of the packaging.
With further research over a longer period I would like follow up the messages already sent out for information. A letter, rather than an email, to the museum in Solingen and also the original manufacturers would bring best results.
Why is the final piece a newspaper?
Offset, an economical method of mass-production printing.
