Student Ambassador Blog Posts

In some GSD assignments there can be the opportunity to choose an alternative format through which to display your research or learning. One example of an assignment where this can be the case is in the final-year Dissertation module, which is where I decided to produce an alternative submission instead of the typical 8,000-word research paper.

Alternative formats can take many forms, but I decided for my dissertation that I wanted to use primary co-creation methods to produce a photovoice essay series. The photovoice essays were displayed on an interactive website-style page, and this output was accompanied by a 2,000-word written report of my research process.

Opting to produce an alternative format can sound daunting, but I found it to be hugely beneficial to use a creative method to display the findings of my dissertation research. However, like any research, the project did involve a lot of work and careful planning – with this in mind, I would like to use this blog post as an opportunity to share some insight into my thought process and experiences of choosing to use an alternative format for my dissertation.

When I initially started to consider using an alternative format, it was after a discussion with my dissertation supervisor about the methods and outputs that I wanted to produce in my research. My project aimed to investigate individuals’ experiences and perspectives on the topic of climate action, and generating a creative output made the most sense in the context of the research I wanted to produce. Furthermore, having completed primary research in the form of surveys and interviews in other modules throughout my time studying GSD, I also wanted to take the opportunity to undertake a different type of research and develop skills in another research method to those I had already done.

Undertaking my research with the use of an alternative format in mind for my final project output was somewhat different to my usual experiences with primary research, because I did not have a written results or analysis section in my final report. Instead, the alternative format was supposed to answer the research question in its own right, accompanied by the report to explain the research process, and so I took into consideration the need for the creative format to be clear in demonstrating my findings. However, despite the use of a different format, a lot of the steps I took through my research project felt very similar to what I would do in an assignment that used more traditional methods.

Overall, I would say that I found my experience with an alternative format to be a great opportunity to develop my learning further, and to produce a creative output that gave a more detailed, nuanced answer to my research question. While using an alternative format is a big undertaking that does require a lot of work and should only be done after careful consideration of the risks and benefits, there are definitely times that it can be a great choice for assignments!

Hopefully this blog post has given you some insight into alternative formats for assignments and what my thought process was like for choosing to produce a creative output for my dissertation!

Maya Lindley

Final-year Single Honours GSD