Gap between theory and practice

One of objectives of this study was to contribute towards a framework (a conceptual model) encapsulating design and evaluation of risk communications for young children. This chapter hoped to contribute to a holistic understanding of the academic research as well as an anecdotal understanding of practice. This study identified relevant theories surrounding child development and materials currently used in practice, which may be of relevance to designing risk communication for young children. Relevant theories include Piaget’s genetic epistemology theory (Piaget, 1973) and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (Lantolf et al., 2015). The principles in the conceptual model are underpinned by developmental stages and psychology and presented in a manner that aims to be accessible to designers and other stakeholders involved in child safety. Such information

110 can be applied to serve as a bridge between warnings research, design and other fields that relate to safety perceptions and behaviour of young children. The relationship between theory and practice is illustrated in Figure 4.5.

Figure 4.5: Theory practice relationship

The literature and resource review has described the best practices for the design of warnings for other groups and has determined recent studies that consider the characteristics of individuals from a population relevant to the design of risk communication. However, theory and methods that have been applied in research contexts are often difficult to implement in real life. A more detailed description of tools and methods used by industry type is required, as is not easily understood how designers might use this information in practice. In short, there is a gap between theory and practice, and there is a need to further obtain the requirements from designers and other groups involved to better develop a practical aid that helps to create awareness among risk communication developers that offer easy-to-use information and tools to apply the methods to diverse target groups (in this case, young children).

Conclusions

The overall aim of this exploratory study was to answer the following research questions:

• What types of tools and resources are currently available for designers when designing for children?

• What types of information is the researcher able to source from academics and practitioners?

111 The study has provided a comprehensive understanding of what materials are readily available for designers along with the complexity designers are face in sourcing information and materials to aid in design decisions. In addition, the study has provided an understanding of the difference in knowledge between academics and practitioners of types of available resources, the different formats and where to source them. In doing so, the review of the resources has built upon the previous research in the field and currently available guidelines from empirical research (Waterson & Monk, 2014; Waterson et al., 2012) in expanding on the design and valuation guidelines.

The study has considered a set of issues and future agenda for the design and evaluation of a toolkit aimed at design practitioners and other experts in the field. A literature review consolidation was performed consisting of a documentary analysis of recommended reports provided by external experts, media items on the subject and child-safety websites, which provide an overview of previous work in relevance to unintentional injury and the developmental stages of young children. An examination within the literature was subsequently conducted, and a risk management framework was developed by the researcher based on previous work. The framework requires further development in providing a clearer understanding of how it might be used and developed for the purposes of design practitioners.

The model has been further developed to include anecdotal information on children's development stages and caregiver interaction; however, the requirement for qualified child supervision is not defined as to what these interactions are between child and caregiver to improve safety. Components of moderators that are specific to children, such as age-related changes, dependence on caregiver, motivation, gender and cultural differences, were further identified from the content of the included resources. The next step is to gather requirements from designers in everyday working practices to map the risk management tool onto the design process.

Indeed, it was found that there is no such thing as design for all the children covering 3– 12 years old. At a minimum, children’s age ranges were distinguished into three categories: young (3–5 years old), mid-range (6–8 years old) and older (9–12 years old) children. Different needs range far beyond the imperative to design differently for pre- readers, beginning readers and moderately skilled readers.

The review of the resources has drawn upon a sample of published studies, in conjunction with the theoretical literature and methods, combining risk communication theory and design practice. The framework could be implemented as a set of questions

112 that a design practitioner should ask to guide the choice of design and create the associated project methodology. The design aid should reflect state-of-the-art knowledge on risk communications and should be easily connectable to already existing models discussed in the previous chapter to aid in the process of how this evidence- based knowledge can be translated into an understandable format for stakeholders. The next chapter provides the requirements of stakeholders for the design aid to meet these needs. A more detailed description of tools and methods used by industry type is explored in the following study (Study 2).

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