Gerontodesign Method Part 1

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.” 

-Albert Einstein 

How start to "gerontodesigning"?

Firstable we need to know what type of investigation dominates the research,for this purpose we quot Edgar Morin:

"... we think that there is still a vast field of social science in which there is more than taylorians stages of rationalization of intellectual labor and where full of personalitycan only contribute to scientific rigor. The rigor of reasoning is more important thanthe calculation. The question is more important that the questionnaire ".


Nothing is just black or just white, specially when we talk about a human being, we know that the study of the "persona" its complex, and for this reason we have to start a mix investigation, using qualitative and quantitative data.



The quantitative data will come from all the statistical data and anthropometric data, even from some medical information, socio demographics and economics.

But, how we are going to quantify emotions, attitudes and culture of human beings?



According to Aida Silva, General Manager of Marketing Resources Toschi, qualitative research is done to answer the question "Why?" While quantitative research addresses the questions "How many or how often?" The process of qualitative research is a process of discovery, the process that looks for evidence is the quantitative research.

Qualitative research is used as a mechanism for generation of ideas, can help evaluate a quantitative study. Qualitative research uses in-depth interviews, there is a probability sample such as is interpretative.


As a designers we need, we must know how to do a qualitative research, because we are designing for the people! There are some steps that we need to follow in order to achieve a great investigation result, and mainly valid.




Qualitative sampling


According to Serbia, 2007, the qualitative sampling should not be framed in a classictypology sample because the researcher needs, first, dive into the problem from the field. From a previous theoretical and empirical understanding of the subject and the subject under study, the field will allow you to obtain the conditions for a correctinterpretation of the study (Serbia, 2007).


The qualitative sampling is not about statistics, its about the proximity and familiarity with the person that we want to study.


So, when you start your own gerontodesign or design investigation remember to adjust it to the qualitative sampling, it will lead you to have more "human information" than statistical information, but be careful! the numbers are important to, just think how you will using it.



Qualitative Analysis


"During a round process on the data, the investigator should look for the saturation of speeches about topics of interest to develop descriptions and increasingly abstractgeneralizations from the interpretations of the discourses" (Serbia, 2007).