In designing an online exam system for MLIS students, it is critical that I begin my design research by developing a thorough and sufficient hunt statement. This hunt statement will help narrow my focus to the specific problem and will serve as the overarching guide in shaping my research planning and process. For this online exam system, my hunt statement would be, “I am going to research how graduate students, in distance and technology-focused MLIS programs, interact with online exams so that I can design an online exam system that will meet their needs.”
After determining resources that I may need (in addition to cost and time requirements), I would begin recruiting for test subjects. As Saffer (2010) states, I may need to know basics
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I am in agreeance with Saffer’s approach towards conducting design research—I will “go to them … talk to them … and write stuff down” (p. 83). In other words, I will conduct interviews in places that the students will most likely be (or have identified they will be) when they are taking their online exam, whether it’s a home, library, office, or café. Through directed storytelling, I would ask subjects to tell stories about specific exams they’ve taken before: what their experience was, what was the format of the exam, what did they do to initiate and complete it, what would they do differently if they could re-take it, etc. I’d also ask them to give me, as Saffer puts it, a “desk/purse/briefcase tour” to gain insight on the subject’s personality and work habits (p. 88). In addition, I would also ask subjects to draw their experience to show the “lifecycle” of their online exam test taking experience (p. 89). Though interviews are powerful too, they may not suffice as the sole information gathering mechanism and so to supplement this, I would need to perform field observations in common places that students might take exams in a non-traditional class