The research process to develop an acoustic system for schools.

The project was carried out at the University of Arts in Poznań and co-financed by EU funds.

Our client: Foundation that organises and supports activities for the development of preventive health care. Its main goal is to create acoustically friendly school rooms.

Team: 4 professional designers with experience in interior and industrial design, a constructor and an acoustic engineer.

My contribution: planning the research process, researching user needs, team workshop to summarise the research, writing the report, presenting to the client, designing a new range of acoustic systems for schools, prototyping samples, user testing.

research summary

Research process

👉🏼 I took responsibility for writing the research plan, after meeting with stakeholders. I took care of determining research goals and questions, respondent groups, tools and timeline. I also wrote research scenarios, questionnaires for online surveys and introduced my team to the main rules for conducting IDI.

👉🏼 We recruited the right participants through social media and networks. As we had no extra budget to outsource recruitment.

👉🏼 I conducted several in-depth interviews on-site and remotely, and two on-site ethnographic studies in the school.

👉🏼 At the beginning of the analysis process, I conducted a short online workshop for a team to give structure to our online work. We collected data from each tool and drew conclusions. During the workshop, we cross-analysed the data using affinity diagrams to understand the relationships between the statements we collected.

👉🏼 I created a mind map to summarise all the information collected during the research phase. The map included quotes from the interviewees, conclusions from the team, photos and design recommendations. Later, we used it in the ideation phase to create design concepts following our discoveries.

👉🏼 We produced a detailed report to present our findings to the client. I was particularly responsible for formulating the final conclusions and design recommendations. Together with a team, I presented the results of our research to the client and discussed project development.

research phase in the design process

Research tools and questions

👂🏼IDI

We conducted IDIs with key stakeholders such as school principals (8) and architects (3). I ran 4 out of 11 online sessions. What we were looking for was:

• Decision-making processes in the public sector
• How renovations are carried out so that we can adapt our product
• How new features of our product can meet the expectations of architects and designers

👁️ Ethnography

I conducted 2 ethnographic studies and collected photographic data from several schools. We ran research in primary and secondary schools before (8) and after (2) acoustic modernization to understand:

• What does the functionality of the classroom look like; how do the users use the space?
• What spatial possibilities there are for equipping classrooms with acoustic systems
• What's the visual aspect of a classroom and how can our product improve it?

💬 Online surveys

Working together with another team member, I wrote online surveys for quantitative studies. In total we conducted questionnaires with teachers (40) and students (20) to learn:

• Which areas are the acoustic priorities for our direct users?
• What the biggest disadvantages of excessive noise in schools are?

📊 Desk research

As a team we researched the current market to address:

• Values proposed by competitive brands
• Essential functions that occur as standard
• Gaps in the marketplace
• Inspirations for new products