Abstract
There is growing recognition that methods that elicit the perspectives of vulnerable and marginalized people are essential in understanding the needs and aspirations of this group and therefore necessary when developing impactful policies, services, and environments that support them. Creative elicitation methods, which privilege participant voice, can be useful for conducting research with such populations. This chapter explores how research informed by care ethics, appreciative inquiry, and communicative methodology can support participant self-determination through the achievement of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. By advancing deliberate, iterative, and care-full research design that emphasizes belonging, dignity, and justice, cultural probes provide practical potential and ethical utility as a research method. The effectiveness of this care-full cultural probe approach is demonstrated and examined through a case study of a co-design research project concerned with designing for health and well-being at home with and for older adults.
TopIntroduction
Eliciting the perspectives of vulnerable and marginalized people is essential when seeking to understand their needs and aspirations and to develop effective solutions—be they policies, services, or environments—that meet the requirements of the demographic in question and potentially other user groups as an inclusive design strategy (DOGA, 2018). Culturally safe research methodologies are a fundamental right of research participants and essential for conducting research that is beneficial for participants. Unfortunately, many participants are exposed to research methodologies that can negate their voices, invalidate their lived experience, and exacerbate their vulnerability (Wilson & Neville, 2009; Rieger & Strickfaden, 2016). Moving beyond the ethical principles of research beneficence (considering participant welfare) and non-maleficence (doing no harm), this chapter advocates the adoption of methods that actively support participant well-being (Novek & Wilkinson, 2019) and privilege participant voice (Rieger 2020a; Rieger, 2020b).
Home-based self-quarantine and working arrangements have increased to meet physical distancing requirements relating to COVID-19 health precautions and thus prompted a reconceptualization of how homes can support flourishing health. Developing an understanding of designing for flourishing health at home is of particular concern for researchers interested in supporting the rapidly growing older adult population who desire to age-in-place (GCMA, 2020). Countries around the world are experiencing a demographic shift toward older adults becoming a significantly larger subset of the population. Population ageing (UN et al., 2020) has resulted from a combination of individuals living longer and decreased fertility rates. As more people live to the age of 100 (Gratton & Scott, 2016), these extra years can be accompanied by personal and societal challenges relating to the quality of health and environmental support of that health. According to the World Health Organisation (2018), if these additional years of life are lived in good health and in a supportive environment that allows occupants to do the activities they value, the quality of life experienced will be of nominal difference to that of a younger person. Considering the home’s newly established prominence in our daily lives as a result of COVID-19 and preferences for a growing number of older adults to age-in-place, it is vital designers develop a thoughtful understanding of why it is important to design for home health, what constitutes a health-supportive environment, and what can be done from a design perspective to enable people to spend these extra years in good health and a supportive environment.
A growing body of research advocates involving older adults in design decisions that relate to their lives and homes. Capturing lived experience data is a way to better understand what has been and continues to be desired and needed in the home environment, as it acknowledges that experience results from interactions between individuals and settings and provides the means to “delve into the co-constitutive creativity emerging from individual participation in the studied events” (Olafsdottir et al., 2017, p. 359). Recording lived experience involves capturing life narratives of the past as well as situated experiences relating to the present (Frie, 2011). This approach has the potential to portray the personal preference of the participant and, if conducted with and for older adults, can inform design knowledge when articulating preferences of other user groups (Light et al., 2016).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Autonomy: One of Self-Determination Theory’s three tenets; refers to the need to have a feeling of control in life, feel ownership of behavior, and maintain volition in actions.
Eudaemonic Well-Being (EWB): A perspective on well-being that originated with Ryan and Deci’s (2008) AU51: The in-text citation "Ryan and Deci’s (2008)" is not in the reference list. Please correct the citation, add the reference to the list, or delete the citation. take on eudaemonia and evolved into a combined subjective and objective interpretation considered in both narrow self-realization and broad flourishing terms. This paper applies the broader definition that represents a eudaemonia-driven perspective on flourishing physical, mental, and social health (see Waterman, 2013 ).
Relatedness: One of Self-Determination Theory’s three tenets; refers to the need to enjoy good social relations, promote effective relationships, and establish a sense of belonging.
Cultural Probes: A design method to elicit thoughts and feedback from user groups that commonly includes a collection of design activities for the user to complete in their own time, often in the comfort and privacy of their home (see Gaver et al. 1999 ). Also known as a diary study ( Moran, 2018 ).
Eudaemonia: Originating from neo-Aristotelian philosophy, refers to flourishing health, happiness, and “living life in a full and deeply satisfying way” ( Deci & Ryan, 2008 , p. 1). Alternate spelling is Eudaimonia or Eudemonia.
Care Ethics: A feminist philosophical perspective which uses a relational and context-bound approach toward morality and decision making and which emphasizes the importance of response to the individual. Also referred to as ethics of care.
Competence: One of Self-Determination Theory’s three tenets; refers to the need to be able to do enjoyable activities, feel effective in taking action (ideally to the point of mastery), and produce good outcomes and desired results.