Co-research with adults with intellectual disability enhances research relevance and inclusivity.
Category: User-Centred Design · Effect: Moderate effect · Year: 2017
Involving adults with intellectual disabilities as co-researchers, when supported by appropriate infrastructure, leads to more relevant and inclusive research outcomes for all stakeholders.
Design Takeaway
Design projects should prioritize the inclusion of individuals with intellectual disabilities as active participants and collaborators throughout the design and research process, ensuring their voices shape the final outcome.
Why It Matters
This approach shifts the paradigm from researching *about* individuals to researching *with* them, ensuring that design projects and research initiatives truly reflect the needs, experiences, and perspectives of the target user group. It fosters a more ethical and effective design practice by embedding user voices at the core of the research process.
Key Finding
The review found that involving individuals with intellectual disabilities as co-researchers is beneficial, but requires specific support systems to be successful and is often not systematically implemented in current research.
Key Findings
- Co-research with adults with intellectual disability can benefit all stakeholders.
- Adequate infrastructure is crucial for empowering co-researchers with intellectual disabilities.
- Many current research projects lack systematic involvement of people with intellectual disabilities.
Research Evidence
Aim: What are the benefits and challenges of co-research with adults with intellectual disability, and what infrastructure is needed to support it effectively?
Method: Systematic Review
Procedure: The researchers systematically reviewed existing literature to identify studies that involved adults with intellectual disability as co-researchers. They analyzed the reported benefits, challenges, and necessary support structures for such collaborations.
Context: Intellectual disability research and user involvement
Design Principle
Empowerment through inclusive co-creation.
How to Apply
When designing products or services for individuals with intellectual disabilities, establish a co-research framework that includes them from the initial ideation phase through to testing and evaluation.
Limitations
The review's findings are dependent on the quality and reporting of the included studies, and may not capture all potential benefits or challenges.
Student Guide (IB Design Technology)
Simple Explanation: When you want to design something for people with intellectual disabilities, it's best to ask them to help you design it. If you give them the right tools and support, they can be great co-designers and make the project much better for everyone.
Why This Matters: This research highlights the importance of directly involving the intended users, especially those from potentially marginalized groups, in the design process to ensure the final product is truly user-centered and effective.
Critical Thinking: How can design teams ensure that co-research with individuals with intellectual disabilities is genuinely empowering and not merely performative, and what are the long-term implications for design practice?
IA-Ready Paragraph: This systematic review by Di Lorito et al. (2017) underscores the significant benefits of co-research with adults with intellectual disabilities, emphasizing that with adequate infrastructure, these individuals can be empowered co-researchers, leading to more relevant and inclusive research outcomes. This principle is directly applicable to design projects aiming for genuine user-centeredness, advocating for the active inclusion of diverse user groups as collaborators rather than mere subjects.
Project Tips
- Identify potential co-researchers early in your design project.
- Develop clear communication strategies tailored to your co-researchers.
- Ensure your research environment is accessible and supportive.
How to Use in IA
- Reference this study when discussing the ethical considerations of user involvement and the benefits of co-design with vulnerable populations in your design project's methodology or justification sections.
Examiner Tips
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of how user involvement, particularly co-research, can lead to more impactful and ethically sound design solutions.
Independent Variable: Involvement of adults with intellectual disability as co-researchers, adequacy of support infrastructure.
Dependent Variable: Research relevance, inclusivity, stakeholder benefits.
Strengths
- Systematic approach to literature synthesis.
- Focus on a critical but often overlooked area of user involvement.
Critical Questions
- What specific types of infrastructure are most effective in supporting co-researchers with intellectual disabilities?
- How can the findings of this review be translated into practical strategies for design teams working with diverse user groups?
Extended Essay Application
- An Extended Essay could explore the development and implementation of a co-design framework for a specific product or service aimed at adults with intellectual disabilities, drawing on the principles of empowerment and infrastructure support outlined in this review.
Source
Co‐research with adults with intellectual disability: A systematic review · Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities · 2017 · 10.1111/jar.12435