• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.243-264
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of R&E programs in gifted high schools/science high schools and to provide suggestions for the better program. The sample included 21 R&E coordinators in the gifted high schools and science high schools. They filled out the survey, asking about the R&E program; then, the researchers interviewed the coordinators based on the answers of the survey. The results are as follows: 1) The R&E guidelines and related materials were not enough to use. 2) At the planning step, students and the mentors received were provided a little information, such as ethical issues, students' information, the roles of mentors/ students, mentor's research interest areas and products, etc. 3) At the research step, 80% of the schools had the monitoring process but the details were not written and saved. 4) At the evaluation step, the rubric of the product evaluation existed; the rubric of performance process were established by half of the schools. 5) At the closing step, 100% of the schools had the final product materials; the results of the evaluation and the information of the mentors were saved by 2/3 and 1/3 of the schools, respectively. Discussions and suggestions were included for the better R&E programs.

• Archives of design research
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• v.18 no.4 s.62
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• pp.95-104
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to estimate the determinants of product design and analyze the impacts of product design on quality competitiveness, product reliability, and consumer satisfaction in an attempt to provide a foundation for the theory of design management. For this empirical analysis, this study has derived the relevant measurement variables from a survey on 400 Korean manufacturing firms during the period of $August{\sim}October$ 2003. The empirical findings are summarized as follows: First, the determinants of product design are very significantly (at p<0.001) estimated to be the R&D capability, the level of R&D expenditure, the level of innovative activities(5S, TQM, 6Sigma, QC, etc.). This empirical result can support Pawar and Driva(1999)'s two principles by which the performance of product design and product development can be simultaneously evaluated in the context of CE(concurrent engineering) of NPD(newly product development) activities. Second, the hypothesis on the causality: product design${\rightarrow}$quality competitiveness${\rightarrow}$customer satisfaction${\rightarrow}$customer loyalty is very significantly (at p<0.001) accepted. This implies that product design positively affects consumer satisfaction, not directly but indirectly, by influencing quality competitiveness. This empirical result of this study can also support the studies of for example Flynn et al.(1994), Ahire et at.(1996), Afire and Dreyfus(2000) which conclude that design management is a significant determinant of product quality. The aforementioned empirical results are important in the following sense: the empirical result that quality competitiveness plays a bridging role between product design and consumer satisfaction can reconcile the traditional debate between QFD(quality function development) approach asserted by product developers and conjoint analysis maintained by marketers. The first empirical result is related to QFD approach whereas the second empirical result is related to conjoint analysis. At the same time, the empirical results of this study can support the rationale of design integration(DI) of Ettlie(1997), i.e., the coordination of the timing and substance of product development activities performed by the various disciplines and organizational functions of a product's life cycle. Finally, the policy implication (at the corporate level) from the empirical results is that successful design management(DM) requires not only the support of top management but also the removal of communication barriers, (i.e. the adoption of cross-functional teams) so that concurrent engineering(CE), the simultaneous development of product and process designs can assure product development speed, design quality, and market success.