DESIGN RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: FINAL COMPILATION & REFLECTION
10/4/2025 – 14/7/2025 (Week 1 – Week 14)
YANG YANG /0363575
RES60604 / Design Research Methodology
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's
University
Instructions
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Presentation slides
Presentation vedio
Tutorial Feedback Form
Reflection
Instructions
Task 1
Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Presentation slides
Presentation vedio
Tutorial Feedback Form
TASK 1 & 2 : RESEARCH PROPOSAL & CRITICAL REVIEW
| Week | Item | Feedback by Lecturer | Action by Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Module introduction & briefing of all tasks | ||
| Week 2 | Be more specific and detailed in defining research problems, objectives and issues. | Narrow and identify the topic of the paper and define keywords. | |
| Week 3 | Approve | Regularise the wording of the article. | |
| Week 4 | Approve | Filling in more information | |
| Week 5 | Approve | Find reliable information and provide literature references to make the information in the article more reliable. | |
| Week 6 | Article formatting and fonts not up to standard | Organise the format of the paper to make it more up to specification. | |
| Week 7 | Approve |
TASK 3: RESEARCH DESIGN – PRIMARY DATA
| Week | Item | Feedback by Lecturer | Action by Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 8 | Module introduction & briefing of all tasks | Modelling more questions for the questionnaire. | The questionnaire questions were modelled based on finding more relevant literature. |
| Week 9 | Reselect the form of some of the questions asked and rephrase the text to make it more complete. | Changes completed | |
| Week 10 | Reword the wording of some of the answer choices. | Changes completed | |
| Week 11 | Approve | ||
| Week 12 | Get the article formatted and reword the summary section. |
TASK 4: RESEARCH REFLECTION REPORT & RECORDED PRESENTATION (Weeks 12–14)
| Week | Item | Feedback by Lecturer | Action by Student |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 13 | Approve | ||
| Week 14 | Approve |
Reflection
Experience
In the process of completing this design research task, I have a more in-depth and systematic understanding of the role of artificial intelligence in the immersive experience of games. This research project, with the theme of "How does AI-generated dynamic behavior affect players' sense of immersion", has enabled me to have a practical experience of academic research methods and logic in every step from the initial research proposal to questionnaire design and data analysis.
Part of Task 3 is the most challenging for me because I need to design the questionnaire, collect data and conduct analysis by myself.
Of course, some difficulties were also encountered during the research process. For example, how to transform survey questions into scientifically quantifiable questionnaire items, or how to make the result analysis more academic. These problems made me more aware of the differences between academic research and general writing. It is not just about expressing opinions, but more importantly, supporting opinions with evidence and expressing ideas with a logical structure.
Through the completion of the entire project, I have not only improved research skills such as literature review, questionnaire design, and data collation, but also become closer to the role of a "researcher" in terms of thinking mode. As a design student, I believe that these abilities will have a long-term impact on my future in directions such as game design, user experience research, or interactive storytelling.
Observations
During the Task 1 stage, I preliminarily understood the current application status of AI in modern video games by consulting a large number of relevant documents, especially how non-player characters (NPCs) can interact more realistically with players through natural language processing and emotion recognition. In the past, my impression of AI mainly remained at the "technical level", but as my reading deepened, I found that AI can actually affect players' emotional investment and sense of story participation, which was an angle that I hadn't seriously considered before.
In the critical literature review of Task 2, I learned how to evaluate the validity of research literature from multiple dimensions, including whether the research questions are clear, whether the methods are reasonable, whether the discussion is in-depth, etc.
Findings
Several articles on the application of generative AI in games impressed me deeply. They pointed out that AI NPCs can make non-preset responses according to player behaviors, thereby increasing the variability and emotional resonance of the game. This also made me realize that "immersion" is not a simple matter. It is a complex experience based on multiple factors such as character logic consistency, behavioral naturalness and emotional feedback.
Through this survey, I learned that players' feelings about AI behaviors are actually very detailed: they like NPCs that can "remember" them, initiate conversations actively, and change their attitudes according to the development of the plot. These feedbacks verified the views I put forward in Task 1 before, and also made me understand more that AI behavior is not the more complex the better, but should be reasonable, natural and in line with the game situation.
Overall, this research experience has made me more convinced that the combination of technology and emotion is an important part that cannot be ignored in future game experiences. And AI, as a tool capable of driving interactive behaviors and emotional exchanges, its design logic also requires us designers to think and shape from a more delicate and human-centered perspective.
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