Research is the gateway to informed decision making. It is also a process to eliminate bias and confirm or debunk assumptions. This project stems from the uncertain times that we faced during the pandemic, and the resultant anxiety that led the author physically incapable of getting up and doing something they needed. The project begins with an ambitious idea - to simulate the conventional qualitative design research process on a virtual platform, with a second objective of increasing the reach of inquiry and automating certain analytical parts. It was soon found that tools for these exist in the digital space especially for professionals and enterprises. The focus therefore shifted to the student designer, or an enthusiast, who might not have access to such tools.
With the newfound objective, the project examines student design projects for tools and methods used to take an idea to a design brief, carried out remotely during the pandemic. It is achieved by recording and categorizing the methods in four separate yet overlapping segments- reaching out to people, retrieving new knowledge, recording the information and analysing the information. These segments are then over-simplified into action verbs to promote action. This gives birth to the CACA Framework. Connect-Ask-Collect-Act is a simple four step process to go from doubt to action. The idea behind CACA is to identify particular actions in Design Research, and to categorize them into four buckets of actions. Namely, Connect, Ask, Collect, and Act. These buckets are named as they are, to promote the relevant actions for the remote user.
Action, Cards, Design, Remote User, Research
