HSOC-368: Child-Centered Research

Designers rarely have access to children and teens or their worlds when creating products, images, experiences and environments for them. Therefore, fine distinctions between age transitions and the day-to-day experiences of children and teens are often overlooked. Children and teens are a complex user groups where knowledge of child development, children and youth culture today, play behavior, ethics in research and children's rights are all important to create better products, services and environments for healthy child development. This course is for students interested in expanding their research methodologies when creating diverse products and experiences for kids and teens. It is open to students of diverse disciplines that would like to learn new approaches to inform their work from a child-centered perspective. The course will include relevant theories, play exercises, guest experts and collaborative and individual assignments. It covers primary and secondary research methodologies on designing for and with children. Primary methods include observations, concept testing, interviews, surveys, focus groups, play testing, user testing, collaborative design, and post distribution and longitudinal studies. Topics for secondary research include child development theories, historical research, children and youth culture, pop culture, design culture, cross cultural perspectives, trend research, sustainable production materials and technology, safety, human factors, inclusive design, ethical business practices.