THE ROLE OF DESIGN IN

RESEARCH AND THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN

DESIGN

Soumya Alva Anne LaFond

Core Group Spring

Meeting 2015

Impact of public health programs Did the intervention work? What was the effect on the target group?

Performance evaluation To improve the quality of the program

Other questions How or why did the intervention work? Implementation research Operations research

Research and Evaluation in Public Health Programs

Input of the end user in program design and planning

Continuous process of iteration and program adaptation

Pivot or change in design

Programs using Human Centered Design are Different

Evaluation is challenging

How have things changed during the life of the project?

Attribution: What is the impact of the intervention?

Is the Theory of Change valid? What is the value/effect of design? Is the project different because of the

application of HCD?

Evaluation Questions to be Answered in HCD Programs

Document how design thinking approaches were applied at different stages of the project

Document the effect of applying design thinking techniques

What are the supporting factors and barriers to success? What was the role of design thinking?

Additional Analyses to be Conducted in HCD Programs

Example: CARE COMMUNITY HUB (CCH) & the “CHN on the Go” Mobile App in Ghana

Where: 5 districts in Great Accra and Volta Regions, Ghana The hypothesis: community health

nurse motivation and job satisfaction can be improved through development and deployment of a mobile suite of tools (CHN on the GO mobile app) Partners: Concern Worldwide, JSI,

Grameen Foundation, and ILC Africa

Care Community Hub (CCH)

Includes the perspective of Community Health Nurses and Supervisors in designing the mobile app Ongoing process of obtaining and

incorporating feedback from users (CHNs and Supervisors) to modify modules and content of the mobile app

The Use of HCD in CCH

Answer questions relevant to public health programs in general Answer questions on the role of HCD

for example… Empathy Problem definition with user needs User buy-in and sense of ownership Pace of uptake of the intervention

Evaluating CCH in the Context of Design

Multiple data collection methods Baseline data collection Endline data collection Performance monitoring Ongoing Process documentation Interviews with end users involved in the design

process Interviews with other program end users Interviews with program implementers Interviews with clients/community members

Mixed Method Approach: Triangulation of Data