Leeds Thesis Template

The Role of the Designer in the Facilitation of Meaningful Play between Disabled and Non-disabled Children Anne-Marie Moore Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation School of Mechanical Engineering December 2016 - ii - The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own, except where work which has formed part of jointly authored publications has been included. The contribution of the candidate and the other authors to this work has been explicitly indicated below. The candidate confirms that appropriate credit has been given within the thesis where reference has been made to the work of others. Chapters 1- 2 and 4-7, make reference to jointly authored publications developed by researchers involved in the Together through Play project. Details of publications used are as follows, in order as corresponding author: 1. Moore, A. M., Holt, R., and Beckett, A. (2014, September 4) The Emergent Role of the Social Designer. In Bohemia, E., Rieple, A., Liedtka, J., & Cooper, R. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference: Design Management in an Era of Disruption. Paper presented at the 19th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference, London College of Fashion, 2nd- 4th September (pp.1971- 1987). Design Management Institute. 2. Holt, R. J., Moore, A. -M., & Beckett, A. E. (2014). Together Through Play: Facilitating Inclusive Play through Participatory Design. Inclusive Designing (pp. 245-255). Springer International Publishing. 3. Holt, R., Moore, A. -M., Beckett, A., ‘Together Through Play: Facilitating Meaningful Play for Disabled & Non-Disabled Children through Participatory Design’ 11th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, Bremen, Germany (12/06/2012 - 15/06/2012). Repository URL: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/93102/. The candidate acted as Principal Researcher for the work contained within these publications and this thesis. She was solely responsible for the production of the first publication listed, with named authors providing support through review or modification only. She co-authored the latter two publications. Dr Raymond Holt acted as Principal Investigator for the Together through Play project and PhD Supervisor to the candidate. He was responsible for the production of the latter two publications, with named authors providing support through review or modification. Dr Angharad Beckett acted as Co-investigator for the Together through Play project and was Co-supervisor to the candidate. She provided support through review or modification on all three publications listed. - iii - This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of Anne-Marie Moore to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2016 The University of Leeds and Anne-Marie Moore - iv - Acknowledgements The Together through Play project was funded through a Leverhulme Trust Research Grant, Grant number - F/00 122/AZ ‘Facilitating Meaningful Play for Disabled Children through Participatory Design’. The candidate would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for giving her the opportunity to take part in this study. She would also like to thank the children; teachers; parents and carers for their involvement in the project and for enabling the research to take place. At the University of Leeds, she would like to thank Dr Holt and Dr Beckett for their supervision; the undergraduate students for their participation and contribution to prototype development, and workshop staff for assisting in their manufacture. She would also like to thank her friends and family for their support, particularly her parents, Maryte and Frank, and her partner, Chris, to whom this work is dedicated. - v - Abstract User-centred design seeks to respond to the needs and aspirations of the end user at each stage of the design process. Yet when attempts are made to engage children as users in the design process, the pre-existing power differentials between adults and children can lead to the silencing of children’s voices. As disabled children are amongst the most marginalised of an already disempowered group, for them, this problem is further compounded. This calls for a new approach towards user-centred design with disabled and non-disabled children. This thesis draws upon the methodological aspects of Together Through Play - a three-year, interdisciplinary research project at the University of Leeds, which sought to develop understanding of children’s needs and aspirations for playing together. It reflects upon the processes that led to the emergence of rich, sociological data through this case study. How to encourage designers to truly listen to the voices of disabled children and how to effectively convey the aspirations of disabled children to product design and development teams, became key emergent issues. With the intention of addressing the power imbalance between designers and children in the design process, the researcher employed and adapted methods of cooperative inquiry, an approach to creating new technologies for children, with children (Druin, 1999). Reflections upon the methods employed are used to inform a set of guidelines for design curricula for interaction design (IxD) with children and child computer interaction (CCI) researchers seeking to work in the area of user- centred design with disabled children in the future. - vi - Table of Contents Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. iv Abstract ................................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .................................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1 Introduction to the Problem .............................................................. 18 1.1 Context and Research Question ............................................................ 23 1.2 Aims and Objectives .............................................................................. 25 1.2.1 Research Aims ........................................................................... 25 1.2.2 Objectives .................................................................................. 26 1.3 Background to the Study ........................................................................ 26 1.3.1 The Significance of Play ............................................................. 27 1.3.2 The Social Model of Disability .................................................... 28 1.3.3 Children’s Rights ........................................................................ 29 1.3.4 The Role of Design in Play ......................................................... 30 1.3.5 Play and its Significance for Designers ...................................... 31 1.3.6 The Together through Play Project ............................................. 32 1.4 Thesis Structure..................................................................................... 33 1.5 Summary and Conclusions .................................................................... 35 Chapter 2 Understanding Disabled Childhoods ................................................ 36 2.1 Disabled Childhoods and the Nature of Play for Disabled Children ........ 36 2.2 The Role of Disabled Children in Research ........................................... 40 2.3 The Social Designer - Changing Ways of Thinking ................................ 44 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................... 46 2.4.1 Disabled Children’s Play Experiences ........................................ 47 2.4.2 Approaches to Research with Disabled Children ........................ 47 2.4.3 Roles and Responsibilities of the Designer ................................ 48 Chapter 3 Inclusive Design and Participatory Design ...................................... 49 3.1 Inclusive Design and User-centred Approaches..................................... 49 3.2 Participatory Design ............................................................................... 52 3.2.1 Cooperative Inquiry .................................................................... 53 3.2.1.1 Mixed Methods ............................................................... 53 3.2.1.2 Issues of Voice ............................................................... 54 - vii - 3.2.1.3 Adultcentricism ............................................................... 54 3.2.1.4 Ethics ............................................................................. 55 3.2.1.5 The Value of Participatory Research with Children ......... 56 3.2.1.6 Researcher Reflexivity ................................................... 57 3.3 Summary ............................................................................................... 58 Chapter 4 Research Design and Methodology ................................................. 60 4.1 Methodological Considerations .............................................................. 62 4.1.1 Research by Design .................................................................. 63 4.1.2 Mixed-method

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