The work aims to sort out the definition of participatory design and summarize the main research points aiming at the ambiguous concept of participatory design, so as to explore the future direction of participatory design methods based on design methods and multi-dimensional analysis from the perspective of method characteristics. With the development line as the research base, the highly cited definitions at each stage were compared to clarify the research points of participatory design. With the design methods as samples, the single-dimensional analysis and multi-dimensional comparison of the design methods were carried out through the four dimensions of behavior patterns, research attributes, design processes, and method forms, and the commonalities and characteristics of each method were summarized through maps, so as to explore the future direction of participatory design. Based on the study, the paradigms of various participatory design methods in the design process are clarified and presented in the form of visualization, and the following three conclusions are drawn from the study, namely, the trust level of the research parties determines the advancement of the design process, the diverse design methods can promote research and the appropriate design methods need to be selected at different stages.