Lesson 8: Social Research

Suggested Time: 60 minutes
Overview
Students will learn about how companies study the habits of consumers in order to develop or improve product lines and associated advertising. Sometimes designers work to solve existing needs; other times, they create needs that consumers didn’t know they had. In this session, students will explore a Nokia study on how people carry and customize their cell phones. Using the results of the study as a foundation, students will build their own study on how clothing options may affect how people carry phones and other objects.
Vocabulary
Objectives
Next Generation Science Standards
Common Core Mathematical Standards
Required Project Materials
Multimedia Resources
Optional Multimedia Resources
Before the Lesson/ Background Information
The Lesson
Part 1: Finding Questions (20 mins)
  1. Go over main points from “A Cross Culture Study on Phone Carrying and Physical Personalization”. Help the students to understand terms and concepts that are new to them. One strategy is to begin from the conclusion of the study, which is a nice concise summary.
  2. Work with the students to summarize the research process used in the study. Encourage them to relate the study to personal observations they’ve made. How do people they know carry their cell phones?
  3. Encourage them to look around the room. How are other students carrying their cell phones? What would happen if they replicated the same study here in class?
  4. The study found that in most cases, males are more likely to carry their phones in their pockets, while females usually use purses or handbags. Ask the class why they think this is the case. Introduce the idea of a hypothesis.
  5. Perform a mini-study. Out of the students carrying their phone in a purse or handbag, how many of them have pockets on their clothes? How many students who have pockets use them to carry their phones? What are some possible reasons for the results?
  6. Introduce the following questions:
  7. Divide the class into two mixed-gender teams, one for each question.
Part 2: Designing the Study (40 mins)
  1. Each team will try to figure out how to design a clothing or accessory line that people will use. They will each identify important questions, interview members of the other team, and use their results to design a product line will fulfill needs directly identified by research participants.
  2. Students will first discuss what they need to know in order to design their product line. They should come up with a list of questions and use these to design an interview. The interview should focus on the user’s personal experience. Students should figure out how to adjust the questions for gender or existing phone-carrying habits.
  3. Arrange the students in pairs, consisting of one person from each group, and have them interview each other. They will alternate roles as the researcher and the user.
  4. Students should return to their groups and compile the results in a spreadsheet.
  5. Help the students arrange and analyze the data.
  6. Based on the data, what is an idea for a product line that will fulfill needs directly identified by research participants?
  7. Each group should present the results of the data. They can use National Geographic’s “Engineering Process” worksheets to organize the information if they like.
Homework Due Next Class
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