What Kind of Research Method is this? This is something I've been confused ever since I started my undergraduate research.

My research related to User Interfaces. Based on some of the previous years undergraduate research or from some research in the same year as me, as far as I see, have these steps:


Suppose we wants to design new interface for a system-X
We do the survey about the interface of system-like-X (but not X) to the users
From the survey, we get the data: what the users don't like from the present system interface, which part should be improved, etc
Then, we propose the new design based on that data
We then, again, test that new design with users


And now, my steps, according to my advisor


You design the new interface
Test it


I'm so confused, because, based on what would I design the interface? What standard or principle I should used? Also, in my case, I have to implement or develop the testing tools myself, which means that I got more work to do compared to my friend's workload. Could that be why step 1-3 skipped? But this is academic, I can't say the reason I choose that design is because "well, because that feels good/looks nice!". But my advisor never told me by what should I based my design on, she just "Yes, you design it first". But that's not my question here.

My questions are:
In this case, where if I do not base  my research on data, by what should I based it on? Should I use a principle to back it on or what? Is there a research method like this? What is the name of this research method? 

In case I ask in wrong place or there's lack of information, please tell me.
You can base it on the data collected by other people already. There are many facts about user behaviors available in various research papers. This list has a seemingly good compilation of conferences.

So you base your design on facts and observations and user preferences that someone has published. Then your contribution can be using those principles to create a user interface for a domain, device, or a situation that no one else has explored yet.

I am not a usability person, but since the question was on research method, I thought I would provide my opinion.