“We designed our custom research methods to
analyze issues of way-finding, traffic flow, space
allocation and service usage...”

allows designers to gain insight into and
highlight opportunities presented by a
particular problem. Results from the Discover
phase provide usable data and credibility to the
Design and Deliver phases.

The Emily Carr team worked with a similar
system, creating methods for user engagement
to generate usable data to be synthesized and
analysed for design and delivery to the client,
in this case Lions Gate Hospital, Vancouver
Coastal Health and IBI Group. In “Healthcare
Now,” Frog Design states that “the healthcare
experience isn’t just about medical needs: it
includes financial issues, personal goals, and
daily behaviour. That’s why effective innovation
starts by understanding people—both patients
and professionals—and by considering how
their needs can be met and aligned.” Through a
series of research methods designed to engage
the hospital community, including visitors,
patients and staff, the Emily Carr team set out
to understand the real needs of the Lions Gate
Hospital foyer users.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES /

Participatory research methods can be
customized to a given project. In the case of
the LGH foyer renovation project, the Emily
Carr team noted that a healthcare setting is
particularly unique. When conducting research
involving human participants, care must be
taken to ensure that participants are not put at
risk; receiving approval from the Emily Carr
Research Ethics Board is a critical part of

the process.

Upon approval, the Emily Carr team proceeded
to carry out a series of custom research
methods including ethnographic research,
visioning sessions, space-related studies and
an engagement session involving an interactive
architectural model. Data gathered from
multiple, participatory exercises designed
around the research question allowed for
cross-referencing and triangulation of
information, allowing us to generate viable
recommendations.

Ethnography

Spending time in the foyer space interviewing
volunteers, visitors and staff allowed
researchers to take note of the subtle
interactions that occur in the space on a day-
to-day basis. Observations and interview notes
were carefully documented and made available
to all team members using Google Docs, an
online, file-sharing system. This rigorous
observation tracking allowed the Emily Carr
team to reference our notes and added another
layer of depth to the findings generated in
other exercises.

Quantitative data is also important to the
research process; for the LGH project, the
Emily Carr team conducted a survey over an
eight-hour period, gathering 130 responses.
(mace 2) The survey questions were designed
to investigate how participants used the space,
definitions of user types (e.g. staff or visitor,
first time or experienced) and what features
and services were most used. The survey
results, combined with statistics provided by
the hospital cafeteria and the volunteer-run
information desk, allowed the research team
to create information graphics and visually
outline how the space is currently used.

IMAGE 1 / The Emily Carr team conducts a visioning session exercise with LGH stakeholders to tap
into their tacit knowledge of what a hospital should be like.