Desk Research.
This is just a fancy name for something we already do in a research i.e, collect existing data from various platforms and consolidate them. The data can be from physical or digital platform. Desk research is the base for every research because it helps us form a basic understanding of the problem we are trying to solve.
Time Taken
1-2 Days
Level of Difficulty
Hard
Materials Needed
Sticky notes, pens
Participants
Design Team
- Effectiveness 95%
Step by Step Instructions
#1
Use a huge board (physical) or frame(online) and use sticky notes to paste the data you have gained from the desk research. The data can be used as it is or be a general interpretation of it.
#2
Divide the board into multiple parts and dedicate each of them for data related to the topic and subtopics you are researching.
#3
Use different colors of sticky notes to easily distinguish between the subtopics.
#4
Form connections between the sticky notes across subtopics to get a different perspective.
#5
Make sure to mention from where the data was derived/taken from so that is becomes easier to track the source.
How did I use it?
This tool came in handy for the research phase of my MA Strategic Design 1st semester. The project was related to climate change and as a team(3 members) we were able to collect huge amount of data on the subject, requirement, client and target group.
By keeping track of the desk research topics we were able to form new subtopics by forming connections between other topics and furthering the research.
