Abstract

This short note provides guidelines on how to report about design research. It is intended as a guide for students who need to write a paper about a design research assignment, e.g. in the ARE course. It can also be used to report about Master’s projects or even about Ph.D. projects.

The most difficult part of writing the report—and indeed of doing the research—is figuring out what problems you need to solve. Is it a practical problem or a knowledge problem? How many problems are there? How is your answer evaluated? Section 2 treats the problem of the problem, and it is the largest section. Once you understand the problem to be solved, the rest is relatively easy. Sections 3 and 4 describe how you report about your solution to a practical problem and to a knowledge problem, respectively. The subjects treated here are treated more elaborately in the course Problem Analysis and Solution Requirements (PASR).