What if... self evaluation.

What problem did you identify? 
How do you direct students to interesting and unseen urban areas of Leeds? 
What evidence did you find to support your decisions?
Graffiti etc is seen as vandalism and we collected a huge amount of images to suggest that it can be art when done in the right way and in the right place. Also images of derelict buildings, again usually seen as an eyesaw that may be a really good place for urban exploration.
What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did it take? 
Made use of a variety of research methods. Quantitative primary in the form of graphs of data that we collected from summarising  primary Qualitative questionnaires. And a large amount of secondary quantitative facts, statistics and qualitative opinions collected from the internet etc.
What methods of research did you find useful and why?
I found the questionnaries and information collected from them very useful as it gave us a real view of what peoples views were on our ideas and generally Leeds, but also the form in which they thought it would best be delivered.
How did these inform your response to the problem? 
They gave us information on the forms that our outcome should take shape, such as a map for directing... straight from the mouth of the audience (students)
What methods did you encounter as problematic? 
It can be quite problematic collecting facts and locations about unknown areas of Leeds, as they are not well known, so are not widely publicised.
How did you ovecome this? 
Thorough trawling of internet and also going out into Leeds to find the desired locations was a good way of collecting such data.
What research could you have carried out that would have proved more useful? 
Possibly trying to contact Leeds city council in order to find out more detailed history of buildings and locations of interest for an alternative student guide.

Five things I've learnt about the design process.
-Letting research inform every decision within the process is a good way to work. 
-opinions and qualitative research from peers etc, can often prove just as useful, if not more so than anything sourced from the internet.
-the various terms used to categorize methods of research. 
-The internet is not the only source of research
-When working as a group it is very important to keep in contact in order to discuss decisions made and research collected to inform the outcomes.
 
Five things I'll do differently.   
-Try to work more effectively as a group, communicating with them more.
-Use my research as a tool for my projects development more effectively.
-Try to collate a larger amount of research and of different types to inform my projects. 
-Try to use the internet less and look for alternative sources of research as they proved very useful this time round.
-Try to manage my time when in a group more effectively so as to fulfill the brief to the best of my abilities.