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Research paper : Designing products and services based on understanding human cognitive behavior (M. Akamatsu et al.)−155−Synthesiology - English edition Vol.4 No.3 (2012) isn’t the “way of doing the research” using the CCE by building the initial hypothesis, hypothesis testing research? Although verification is difficult, for example, if the framework of the product and service are synthesized appropriately, the product or service unseen before is accepted by society or users, and this leads to the change in society, wouldn’t this fact be verification that the construction of the framework according to the initial hypothesis and the CCE process was appropriate?Answer2 (Motoyuki Akamatsu)I said this was not a hypothesis testing research because the research scenario followed is to conduct the research to the stage of designing the function of the product or service based on the hypothesis (or to determine that it cannot be realized with the current technology), as long as the hypothesis is not wrong without carrying out the strict “verification”. Of course, the hypothesis will be proven correct if the functions of the product and service are compatible with the user and as a result, it is accepted by the user or society. However, I would like to state that the objective of the research scenario in the paper is to synthesize (it is “synthesiology”) and is not to recognize by hypothesis testing (it is not “epistemology”).In a specific example, in the research of the behavior of the elderly people in train stations, the hypothesis was “there are several different types of impairment of cognitive function in the elderly, and they are impairments of attention or executive functions”. When the CCE experiment was planned and conducted based on this hypothesis, it was found that the behaviors in the train station were different according to the types of cognitive function impairment. It can be said that the different types of functional impairment existed, but the objective of the research was not to test the hypothesis that “there are different types of functional impairments”, but to propose ways to provide assistance according to functional impairment. (This does not mean that positive proposals could be made. For the group with attention function impairment, the subject could not pay attention no matter how many signs were placed in the station, and it was found that signs were not good ways of assistance.) The research scenario may include the hypothesis testing process, although it is not the objective of the research.6 Intervention during behavioral observation and experimental settingQuestion (Masaaki Mochimaru)I think some kind of intervention may be involved in behavioral observation. Unless the intervention is in line with the product or service that will be created, it will not lead to good synthesis even with deep understanding of the behavioral observation with intervention. For example, in the case of service that displays heavily processed, real-time information or service that returns some information by integrating remote information, IT must be used for the intervention, and I think the performance of the experimental IT itself will affect the behavior observation. How should such cases be considered?Answer (Motoyuki Akamatsu)One approach is to create the experiment setting with technological limitations such as remote information as the given condition. For example, if there is a delay in communication, the experiment can be conducted by simulating the delay, if one wants to understand what kind of information provision is pleasing under this condition. How such technological limitation is set as the given condition will differ, for example, depending on whether the researcher wants to use the device or the system as is but wants to improve the contents, or whether he/she can change the performance of the entire device or the system.In the CCE as a method of synthesiology, I think it is important to set the limiting condition for intervention according to the structure of the product and service to be realized. However, I think we can obtain an innovative product or service that never existed before, if we select the critical parameter for the CCE under no limitations or assumptions as much as possible, rather than setting the structure of the product or service at an early stage and setting them as given.7 Quantitative data for product designComment (Masaaki Mochimaru)I think the typical procedure to create a product is to convert the qualitative hypothesis or model obtained by CCE into some sort of quantitative data, and utilizing them in the design of the product or service. Do you have thoughts on how to convert the qualitative model into quantitative data or design?Answer (Motoyuki Akamatsu)The quantitative data needed for product design can be determined by conventional human factor experiments at the stage when the provided contents are determined to some extent by CCE. I think the CCE method will function effectively to discern the preliminary stage for determining the quantitative specification of the product or the requirements of the product and the system.

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