Deininger Michael, Daly Shanna R, Lee Jennifer C, Seifert Colleen M, Sienko Kathleen H
University of Michigan, 1305 George G. Brown Laboratory, 2350 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States of America.
University of Michigan, 3316 George G. Brown Laboratory, 2350 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States of America.
Res Eng Des. 2019 Oct;30(4):453-471. doi: 10.1007/s00163-019-00317-5. Epub 2019 Jun 18.
Engineering designers frequently use prototypes to gather input from stakeholders. Design guidelines recommend the use of quick and simple prototypes early and often in a design process. However, the type and quality of a prototype can influence how stakeholders perceive a new design concept and can therefore impact their responses. Additionally, different levels of experience, expertise, and preparedness for providing input to designers may lead stakeholders from different geographical or cultural settings to provide different responses, making the format of a prototype even more influential. Although design practitioners are known to intentionally align their prototyping approach with the specific design question to be answered, it is unclear the extent to which prototyping approaches should vary based on the stakeholders, context, and setting of a design project. To investigate how the format and quality of prototypes influence stakeholders' responses, we conducted a field study with various medical professionals in Ghana. We presented prototypes for a medical device in different formats to stakeholders and collected responses to the design through semi-structured interviews. We found that professional expertise, prototype format, and question type influenced the types of responses that stakeholders provided. These findings suggest that designers seeking input from stakeholders on new concepts should consider context-specific prototyping strategies, especially when designing at distance and across cultures.
工程设计师经常使用原型来收集利益相关者的意见。设计指南建议在设计过程中尽早且频繁地使用快速简单的原型。然而，原型的类型和质量会影响利益相关者对新设计概念的认知，进而影响他们的反应。此外，不同的经验水平、专业知识以及为设计师提供意见的准备程度，可能导致来自不同地理或文化背景的利益相关者给出不同的反应，这使得原型的形式更具影响力。尽管已知设计从业者会有意使他们的原型制作方法与要回答的特定设计问题保持一致，但尚不清楚原型制作方法应根据设计项目的利益相关者、背景和环境而变化的程度。为了研究原型的形式和质量如何影响利益相关者的反应，我们在加纳对各类医学专业人员进行了一项实地研究。我们以不同形式向利益相关者展示了一种医疗设备的原型，并通过半结构化访谈收集了他们对该设计的反应。我们发现专业知识、原型形式和问题类型会影响利益相关者给出的反应类型。这些发现表明，寻求利益相关者对新概念意见的设计师应考虑针对具体情况的原型制作策略，尤其是在远程设计和跨文化设计时。
