As an ICT student or professional, you will have to solve all kinds of ICT challenges. To do that, you will need to answer questions to arrive at a suitable solution, such as "What does the end user really want?" and "Are there perhaps already existing solutions?". When finding an answer requires more than a quick Google search, you will need to conduct (a little) research to arrive at a good answer. But how?
Choosing suitable research methods can be very tricky. There are many different research methods and just as many reasons why one method might be more suitable for your project than another. The DOT framework offers a good way to understand the differences and similarities between the various research methods, so you can select a suitable method, or a suitable combination of methods.
This building block first explains the framework with the accompanying research strategies and trade-offs. This is followed by a concrete example of what this could mean in practice. Next, there is a description of a number of ways to use this framework and the list of methods (also available as a deck of cards) to choose suitable methods to answer the most important questions in your project.
P.S. Research is "methodically answering questions leading to relevant knowledge for the creation of professional products" (Andriessen, 2014). Research is about obtaining the information you need to arrive at a good solution for your project. This means that research is not something that you only need for your final project (thesis), but that it is simply part of your job!
P.P.S. The DOT framework has been developed by Koen van Turnhout et al. (2013), lecturers at the HAN. The images have been reproduced by the letter and have been used with their consent. The explanation has been copied for the greater part from the CMD methods and ICT research methods websites, with small adjustments here and there. The knowledge clips have been created by Tom Langhorst van Fontys for "Praktijkgericht onderzoek voor ICT" (EN: "Practically-oriented research for ICT").