Feedback From My Interim Viva Voce, from the 20/10/14…

I’ve just listened to the recorded feedback my tutor, Bethan Gordon, gave me yesterday after my first interim Viva Voce presentation. While listening I’ve made some detailed notes. Some of these points may seem critical but they are all beneficial, they will form the foundation for my work in the coming week (and beyond) as I approach the start of my concept sketching phase.

Issues With Presentation:

– Too much text on slides.

– Consistency in slide layout.

– Introduce yourself and your topic, including background.

– Contents slide.

– Summary slide. Highlight the key findings to date.

– What works really well on paper doesn’t always translate well onto the digital screen.

– Consider using Prezi instead of Powerpoint.

– Brief needs to dominate a slide.

– Too much time spent discussing the survey, need to find the ‘salient points’.

– Represent some points pictorially.

Moving Away From ‘Justification’ to ‘Applied’ Research:

– Justification research is stating the facts to show there is a need.

– Need to move onto applied research.

– Currently have multiple aims, but I need one aim with multiple objectives (e.g. how we get there).

– Reference throughout to move away from speculation.

– Need to show demographic of the survey for credibility.

– Find the themes from the research, pull them out. – Less time on justification research, be more ‘punchy’ with showing the justification research.

– Justification research should: ‘set the scene, be rock solid, referenced, backed up (maybe) by the interview with the GP.’

– I highlighted what the problems are, but we need to know why they are problems. Only by understanding why they are problems, can we can understand how to solve them. Stating the problem isn’t enough. Pick apart the problems.

– E.g. I stated the fact (based on primary research) that people feel marginalised, this is the justification, but, to be able to solve the issue we would need to understand why they feel marginalised, what’s the consequence of that ect.  (this would be applied research) we can then start making mental pictures, looking at different ways of solving it.

– I have ‘good research’ but it’s coming out with very ‘obvious outcomes’,  I need to ‘dig deeper into individual elements of that research’.

– Summarise the research every now and then to establish where I’m up to.

– Beth suggested I need to work in a more diagrammatical format.

– Remember the importance of ethnography is to establish what people really do against what they think/ say they do. This could be the key to resolving the issue on this project. – Consider creating a simple poster in communal areas of the art school to encourage people to approach to discuss their asthma with me. (pass this by Beth first for ethical approval).

– Use YouTube as a form of ethnographic research, but issues found using YouTube may need to be cross referenced with primary research ethnography.

– For more information on poor inhaler technique, consider talking to experts and analyse existing research in more depth making sure to consider. Potentially get a group of inhaler users together, observe their inhaler technique to see if people correctly take their inhalers.

Medical Reserach:

– Beth highlighted I need a stronger medical theme throughout.

– Find medical regulations.

– Need to know the standards, not just British. – Leads to expansion of the brief.

– Anatomy and physiology of breathing.

– Consider clever ways of breathing e.g. things from nature (biomimicry). Osmosis, diffusion, ect.

– Better understanding of other inhalers, what’s already out there?

– I need either a ‘systems diagram’ or a ‘state transition’ diagram of how existing inhalers work.

– Consider: ‘Getting the inhaler (prescription), Giving it to the patient, to the person having it, to haw they use it, how they maintain it’ I need to use a systems diagram to understand how the existing format works in order to find issues. Need to tease out the issues with diagrams.

– Consider a hierarchy of all the issues I’ve found to establish which ones are most important, this will only be possible from observation of people. The ‘human element.’

Positive Points:

– Cross referencing –  Very good, relating survey results to secondary research and linking to GP’s discussions.

– ‘Excellent empathy test.’ – props and engagement are helpful.

– All questions in survey brought together and analysed together well.

– Using colours to highlight issues on the boards ‘worked really well’.

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