QRM Copilot — Design your study

Before you start

What are you studying?

A short working title is enough — you can refine it later.

Layer 1 — Philosophy

What's your stance on how knowledge is formed?

Pick whichever comes closest — most real projects lean rather than sit purely on one end.

Positivism

Reality is objective and measurable; findings should generalize.

Interpretivism

Reality is socially constructed; meaning matters more than measurement.

Pragmatism

Use whatever combination of methods best answers the question at hand.

Realism

There is an external reality, but our access to it is shaped by perception.

Artism — QRM

Artifacts — sketches, models, objects — are legitimate carriers of knowledge in their own right.

Mentalism — QRM

Mentifacts — intuitive, pre-verbal understanding that precedes or exceeds language.

Sociological Method — QRM

Sociofacts — values and social structures read through sensory and illustrative registers.

Layer 2 — Approach

How will you move between theory and data?

Choose as many as apply — combining deductive and inductive reasoning (or adding the seductive approach) is common in multi- or mixed-method work.

Deductive

Start from theory, test it against data.

Inductive

Start from data, build theory from patterns you find.

Seductive — QRM

Draw participants in through sensory and visual appeal before or alongside analysis.

Layer 3 — Strategy

What form will the inquiry take?

Choose as many as apply — a multi- or mixed-method design often pairs an established strategy with an illustrative or outlier one.

Survey / Experiment / Case study

Established strategies for structured or bounded inquiry.

Ethnography / Grounded theory / Archival research

Established strategies for immersive or theory-building inquiry.

Illustrative design — QRM

Build understanding through sketches, models, or multisensory representation as primary data.

Outlier study — QRM

Treat the atypical case as data-rich rather than noise to discard.

Layer 4 — Choice

How will Quaillustrative sit alongside your other methods?

Standalone

A Quaillustrative Study on its own — mono-method.

Combined with one other method

Multi-method: Quaillustrative alongside quantitative or qualitative work.

Folded into a mixed-methods design

Quaillustrative integrated with both quantitative and qualitative strands.

Layer 5 — Time horizon

Over what timeframe does the study unfold?

Cross-sectional

A single point in time.

Longitudinal

Repeated over time to observe change.

On-the-spot — QRM

Discovery arising immediately from a single sensory encounter.

Layer 6 — Technique

What will you actually collect?

List the sensory or multisensory materials you'll gather or produce — sketches, photographs, soundscapes, textures, models, participant drawings, and how you'll analyze them.

Your design

Research design summary

Saving is optional — nothing is stored unless you enter an email and click Save.

Back to overview

Design your study, layer by layer.