Thinkering through Experiments: Nurturing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Design of Testing Tools

Abstract

In order to assess and understand human behavior, traditional approaches to experimental design incorporate testing tools that are often artificial and devoid of corporeal features. Whilst these offer experimental control in situations in which, methodologically, real behaviors cannot be examined, there is increasing evidence that responses given in these contextually deprived experiments fail to trigger genuine responses. This may result from a lack of consideration regarding the material makeup and associations connected with the fabric of experimental tools. In a twoyear collaboration, we began to experiment with the physicality of testing tools using the domain of moral psychology as a case study. This collaboration involved thinkering and prototyping methods that included direct contact and consideration of the materials involved in experimentation. Having explored the embodied nature of morality, we combined approaches from experimental psychology, moral philosophy, design thinking, and computer science to create a new testing tool for simulated moral behavior. Although the testing tool itself generated fruitful results, this paper considers the collaborative methodology through which it was produced as a route to highlight material questions within psychological research.Keywords: collaboration; embodiment; methodology; moral psychology; prototyping; thinker ing. Kathryn B. Francis, Agi Haines, & Raluca A. Briazu 108In this paper, we suggest that prototyping techniques from arts and design practice can enrich ideation when developing fresh or novel research questions. The act of prototyping discussed here has offered insights arising through an on-going collaboration that explored thinking through making 1 to create a physical tool for psychology experimentation. Thinking through MakingThinking through writing is part and parcel of many academic disciplines. However, in the sciences, thinking through making is less explored. This is somewhat surprising, given that in the experimental sciences, the process of designing methodology is integral to the research process. For a psychologist, designing a questionnaire, for example, will involve the formulation and psychometric assessment of items (i.e., questions) designed to measure a particular construct (Kline, 2015). For a graphic designer on the other hand, designing a questionnaire will involve the consideration of font, paper, layout, and coloring. Both the design of the questions and the design of the physical page can have an effect on the outcome (e.g., Christensen, Flexas, Calabrese, Gut, & Gomila, 2014). 2 The process of "mak ing" 3 experimental materials, in terms of its ability to engender new ideas for research, is particularly uncommon in the social sciences. Although psychology acknowledges that interacting with the materiality of our environment is crucial to the way we develop our ability to think and act (e.g., see Piaget, 1976), the integration of material culture in psychology research is still "terra incognita" (Moro, 2015). W...