Design Ethnography

Snapshot

Overview

This unique course provides students from a wide range of backgrounds with an opportunity to immerse themselves in the tools, techniques and controversies of user research and design ethnography for the hi-tech, globalised industries of the future. The course has been developed by an inter-disciplinary and research intensive team of academics guided by an international Industry Steering Group which includes practitioners from companies like Intel, SAP and Microsoft in the US and the BBC and British Telecom here in the UK. Our goal is to provide a rich and challenging inter-disciplinary course for those seeking professional expertise in the fields of user research and design ethnography.

What are Design Ethnography and User Research?

For most companies, understanding the complex web of relationships between people, technology and design - the 'user experience' - can be vital in acquiring the competitive edge necessary in today's market place. User research has become an important function in almost all design-oriented industries: from car manufacturers through software development companies to the service industries. Central to many of these activities is the practice of 'design ethnography'. Ethnography is the study and representation of people acting in their cultural settings. It relies on social research methods such as observations and interviews in 'the field'. Design ethnography draws on and adapts these techniques to gather and represent data and insights on design requirements and to leverage these within design and business contexts.

Our Aims

The MSc/Diploma Design Ethnography addresses an industry need for user researchers and design ethnographers who are sensitive to the complexities of delivering high value user data and insight, particularly in global and multi-cultural design and business settings. For user researchers in the design, media, hi-tech, manufacturing and service industries the challenge is not just gathering data, but understanding it in ways that provide 'actionable insights' and then presenting the data and insights in ways that are meaningful and useful within design processes. The wordy reports beloved of traditional ethnographers are of little use in the fast paced, complex and visual worlds of product and service design, manufacturing and engineering. Our graduates will play an important part in developing and refining the particular forms and styles of user research and ethnographic practice that emerge when applied in a design context.

Career Prospects

Prospects for graduates exist across a variety of settings. Typical graduate roles might include: design ethnographer, user research specialist, design strategist, design researcher, user experience specialist, usability analyst, or market researcher. Typical employers might include:

• Design agencies
• Market research firms
• Manufacturing industry
• IT companies
• The media
• Financial and other services
• User experience research consultancies
• Government and NGOs exploring e.g. e-citizenship, e-health, etc.

Course Content

The course provides a rich grounding in design ethnography and user experience / usability research. The course is delivered jointly by the Schools of Design and Computing, and the teaching team embraces the full range of professionals graduates would be likely to encounter in industry; from engineers and usability experts, through design managers, user researchers, designers and design ethnographers. Their rich and varied research activities inform the course and provide access to the very latest advances in the fields that contribute to design ethnography and user research.

You will study three modules in each of the first two semesters (Sept- May), at which point you can if you wish graduate with a Postgradate Diploma. If you are taking the masters degree, you would complete your studies with a self directed major field study project (June-Sept). The project can be undertaken anywhere in the world and supported and assessed electronically where necessary

Semester 1

• Strategic Design and Innovation - Explores the design lifecycle and the latest methods for design innovation through hand-on projects.
• Design Research Methods - Introduces you to various methods for generating useful research insight for design.
• Experience Research 1 - Experience Research 1 Immerses you further in the key tools and methods needed to undertake interview and observation based fieldwork, and introduces the challenges of a) understanding what your client or company needs to know and b) turning field data into actionable insights and information.

Semester 2

• Strategic Information Design - Uncovering actionable insights from user research is useless unless you can communicate the results of that research effectively. This module provides you with an introduction to issues involved in strategically managing information design in business and design settings.
• HCI and Usability Engineering - When you have finished the module you will have a broad understanding of: design criteria for good human-computer interfaces, choice and evaluation of interface technology, physical, sensory and cognitive human capabilities, interactive computing and usability engineering methods, and human-computer interface testing.
• Experience Research 2 - This module considers the issues and difficulties inherent in translating ethnographic insights into useful 'material' for design from the perspective of the various stakeholders.

Semester 3

• Hothouse Summer - The aim of this module is to give students experience of developing, conducting and presenting a real-world user research project. The project can be conducted anywhere in the world, and managed and assessed remotely if necessary. Students will be guided in the production of a project brief, and supported through the course of their field study project by a supervisor from the staff team. The nature and outputs of the project will obviously vary from student to student and topic to topic, however in all cases the focus is to provide our students with a chance to apply and extend the full range of techniques and ideas they have been exploring on the taught modules.

The opinions expressed here are personal to Dennis Wixon and do not necessarily represent Microsoft Corporation or any of its subsidiaries.

Who Should Apply?

Anyone seeking a career in design ethnography, user research, usability analysis, strategic design or marketing within the design, manufacturing and service industries. We welcome students with undergraduate degrees in anthropology, sociology, marketing, psychology, computing, product design, interaction/interactive media design, HCI or human factors, media and communication studies. We also welcome applications from people with alternative qualifications (including relevant work experience).

Entry Requirements

Entry to the MSc/Diploma requires a good Honours degree in one of the following areas: anthropology, sociology, marketing, psychology, computing, product design, interaction/interactive media design, HCI or human factors. Graduates from other disciplines, or those without an undergraduate degree but with relevant work experience, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

English Language Requirement: IELTS of 6.0 (or equivalent), if your first language is not English. Please check our Language Requirements page for details of equivalent grades from other test providers, and information about the University of Dundee English Language courses.

Sources of Funding

Information about the School of Computing scholarships can be found on the School of Computing scholarships webpage.

Other sources of funding for postgraduate students can be found on our Scholarships webpage.

Contact

Please feel free to contact us with any enquiries you may have prior to completing your application.