Abstract
Empathy and assessment for innovation in ageing and dementia can be challenging. Hence, a systematic investigation to examine conceptual designs methodically should be explored with theory and practice. This mixed methods study aimed toward a codesign methodology that aids and evaluates design output through valuation in design with realist, constructivist and pragmatist lenses. Evaluators used a new Openness-Playfulness-Relatedness-Adaptedness for Health (OPRAH) matrix to assess 18 student designers’ solutions for ageing and dementia after each workshop. Results revealed that teams’ mean scores were lower in Playfulness and Relatedness. Teams who used one of our newly introduced empathy mapping methods, See-and-Shoot, scored significantly higher in Adaptedness. Differences were observed among teams of varying educational backgrounds, with secondary school student teams scoring lower in Relatedness than undergraduate/graduate student teams. ChatGPT 4.0 was deployed for design evaluation using a rubric. Compared with human evaluators' mean scores, AI evaluations showed lesser variation in scoring Emotional aspect and Sensibility in design but not Implementability. This result suggests that AI viewed the criteria in the rubric given literally, compared to human evaluators who might not just see the criteria as they are because of their background and experiences. To conclude, we recommend harnessing AI capabilities, clustering methods and assessment markers to aid researchers/practitioners in holistic assessment and mitigate subjectivity bias. Integrating AI into our new codesign methodology can provide an adaptive approach to research on empathic design assessment and mitigate the challenges involved in human evaluations. Future work could explore AI integration to address difficulties in ideating and assessing designs that deal with complex interlocking challenges, especially in co-designing integrative solutions with the community.