The release of research I worked on over 2022 applying a service lens to primary school principal’s and how they run a school (i.e. a complex organisation) has given me pause for reflection on the power of service design research.
The quote in the title comes from a member of both Australian and International Principal professional organisations. That kind of comment is always the dream for me as a designer. For me, it’s saying, ‘you understood and explained my world in a way I’m think I always knew, but that you gave form to that – and I can use the form you’ve created.’
As a piece of service design research, the work uses evidence from background and expert sources – and more explicitly, lived experience in context. We created models, hypotheses and findings that we believe enable implementation of solutions because the research intent was to deconstruct the system, through the use of created artefacts, in order to understand if they could be useful in practice.
Designers aren’t researchers in the traditional sense. Designer’s use research to design. We are not after pure learning for the sake of creating new knowledge. We are usually researching a topic through the experiences of all the users involved, from makers to recipients through experts and even non-users, in order to be able to design something to be made or implemented.
As researchers we are seeking data and information that is:
- Contextual – where the research allows the mapping of a person’s world – usually professional or as usage.
- Generative – exploring unmet needs, discovering new opportunities stimulating creativity as part of the exploration.
- Evaluative – investigating effectiveness, seeking to optimise design or assess business potential or usage of a product, service, or experience.
The design research mode applied for this project was contextual – which started in the background research stage, and evaluative as we sought to understand experience and explore how the artefacts might fit, support or complement how people actually operate.
The final result of the research is always going to be more than recommendations because, as a designer, you can’t help but move into describing elements the solution/s; Your methodology and way of thinking compels you to answer the ‘so what?’ to your findings.
Research: “Here’s what we asked. Here’s what we learned. Here’s some recommendations.
Design Research: “Here’s what we wondered. Here’s who was invited and involved on the journey of exploration. Here’s what we learned. Here’s how, those who were invited and involved, could actually use what we learned in practice.
The issue with this is that your solution/s – the thing that can be made, the service that can be delivered – may not actually be exist in a service form with an ‘owner’.
What this means is that the Service Designer has to do the work of bringing the research and results to life. And hopefully the involvement throughout the research journey of stakeholders and users means the ground work is laid for going from design to make.
Another aspect to this life beyond the results was to make the actual report itself as visually accessible as possible by utilising all the elements of information and graphic design. Colour coding, icons and diagrams, and an approach to language that has been described by education experts involved as ‘friendly’ in tone – which I translate to mean ‘we are hearing our voices’. We shall see if this has worked if we experience minimal “it’s a lot of pages!” or “it’s all very busy!” comments that design reports sometimes receive.
Service Design Research and other Research
During the background research for this project there were some key pieces of research that provided foundational insight into Principal experience:
- Amanda Heffernan and Andrew Pierpoint ‘Autonomy, Accountability, and Principals’ Work: An Australian Study Final Report’ July 2020.
- Dr Chris Dolan ‘Paradox in the Lives and Work of Principals’, January 2020
- Sioau-Mai See, Paul Kidson, Theresa Dicke, and Herb Marsh The Australian Principal Occupational, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey, 2022
Our research, in some cases, provides tangible responses to the recommendations of their research and I hope to be able to link with the authors to share the connections.
From the ACU Principal Wellbeing Survey it was positive to read where the authors position their recommendation for a number of stakeholders including researchers.
“WHAT THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY CAN DO:
- Provide high quality research with strong potential for impact.
- Adopt a collaborative and partnership approach to research.
- Look for thresholds that may be the key to administering limited resources.
- Understand school context including its complex relationships.”
Given the approach to service design research and the service design discipline itself is embedded in all of these areas – and the response from academic researchers I’ve worked with over the years has always been ultimately positive – perhaps continuing service design research applied in the education research space could provide a tangible and innovative way of meeting these recommendations.