Design research for an intimate experience: A study on menstrual products and practices

Abstract

The perception of menstruation is now considered an issue of women's health and well-being; also, it is dealt through the particular gender-based movements in a broader scale. However, women still camouflage their menstrual experiences and products in most cultures in order to be included fully in social life. To understand the underlying complex needs, attitudes and motives behind this phenomenon may lead to the development and design of better solutions, products and/or services. The study aims to design a research methodology to be used/developed for exploring an intimate experience; menstruation, also to interpret this knowledge to reveal design criteria. To determine the appropriate research approach exploratory studies were conducted. In this study, cultural probes and virtual research techniques were performed as exploratory methods that were used to discover menstrual practices of young women. The feedbacks of these exploratory studies fed the research methodology with both informative and generative ways. Unlike probe study and ethnographic approach, more secured and empathetical interaction between participants and researcher was imperative to eliminate the sensitive characteristics of menstrual activities and to explore design criteria for these intimate experiences. Constitutively, a main research approach was developed on an interactive setting that enables experience and idea sharing strategies about menstruation. The main research focuses on particular research tools and methods devised to explore the menstrual practices of young women aged between 18 and 24. Main research study was performed in six sessions with twelve voluntary female participants who were industrial product design students. Each session was conducted with two female participants, a pair of close friends. The deliberate choice of conducting the research with close friends was to use their proximity as a trigger to share their memories. The design of research is constructed on a generative basis. Thus, a generative research setting reminding intimate acts around menstruation was built with visual and physical tools to inspire participants to talk, write, draw and solve their problems about menstruation. These conceived tools were used as catalyst to think and prompt the participants to talk about menstruation and menstrual practices. Briefly, through the familiar interaction of the participants with the help of devised tools and methods, the researcher overcame the unspoken nature of the subject and was able to explore menstrual practices via the participants' memories. Following the verbatim documentation of participants' narratives, the transcribed data was examined in detail using the procedures of grounded theory in order to conceptualize the narrations and draft works of participants to derive design criteria for menstrual problems. With the help of the procedures of grounded theory, the data collected from the participants broken down in detail and grouped with reference to similar patterns. At the end of this integration process, five head codes were emerged as "tactics", "limitations", "failures", "social codes", and "improvements". The categories interpreted as design criteria that have a potential to foster design input were shaped under these headings. Besides, they provided a holistic comprehension about research subject by virtue of mapping the relations between menstrual problems and solutions. Lastly, to picturize the information flow from defined criteria to design activity, emerged head codes and categories were combined and interpreted within the frame of Norman's (2004) processing levels. Through this interpretation, a guiding map about the research subject was visualized for designers; also this mapping eased to be made deductions about the content of research. At the end of mapping process, some deductions were build around the research subject. First, the narrations of participants provide to reveal certain "proportional analogies" about the appearance of menstrual products according to visceral level. In the behavioral context, it has been deduced that women redesigned the product experience according to their needs by making some adaptations and implementations on menstrual products. It was also understood that menstrual practices were performed invisibly behind the other experiences. At the cognitive level, it was revealed that menstrual experiences were taken shape in compliance with cultural and religious conventions. This argument was conceived as the central theme of the research; it has been observed that it affects inferences at visceral and behavioral levels.