A mid-year recess for the soul
Completing the first semester felt like a real achievement so I celebrated with tea, a puzzle and sleep, very hardcore.
After 2 very intense block weeks during the first semester, we had to conduct primary research with our chosen sample groups. I had opted to reach out to 5 creatives who worked in data visualization to understand their process and how they’ve experienced changes in the industry as well as a community survey to gain insights into movements and perceptions around COVID-19. Since I was also determined to rest before the second semester, I planned all the interviews for the first week of the recess period.
The universe had other plans though.
Unfortunately, 1 of my participants fell ill and we had to postpone the interview indefinitely. I also became despondent after 2 participants had not responded to me at all and the panic began to set in since I also needed to plan the logistics around a safe community survey considering my health limitations.
However, I managed to conduct an amazing interview with the CEO and Founder of Data Innovator. I had the pleasure of working with her when she initiated the company and with so much experience in public health sciences, epidemiology and a natural creative, the interview was dripping with insight gold. Our discussion went swimmingly and at the end, she expressed excitement at my topic and suggested a friend who worked in the Department of Health who may be able to provide a different perspective. This turned out to also have amazing insights since she was the manager for the national vaccination roll-out campaign and worked with the communities I aimed to understand in my research. To say I was a little intimidated after her introduction is an understatement.
After talking to a friend about my survey, she suggested I speak to a family member who was a social worker in the local district. The social worker proved to be invaluable as she explained that their movement was also limited and it was unlikely that I’d be able to conduct safe interviews in-person and offered to conduct my short survey with the community she worked with via telephone. I then chose to pose my newly developed questions to her as well since I wasn’t able to interact with the community myself.
While my research methodology didn’t quite go according to the original plan, it evolved into an insightful journey with so many new perspectives on my research and the world around me. The isolation of working and learning remotely had limited my circle of communication, so conducting interviews with people I may not have otherwise had the opportunity to talk to was refreshing.
Once transcribed and collated, the data needed to be analysed and as we learnt how to make proper quantitative and qualitative assessments, research themes emerged. This process was really challenging, the depth of the understanding was a lot to absorb after a few weeks of recess. After I finally went through all my data, I realized how much I had gathered and the amazing experiences I was fortunate to have heard. But my nerves crept through;
How do I do justice to people making actual differences in the world through a research report?
Preparing my assignment was extremely daunting since I really didn’t want any of the data I had gathered from my participants to go to waste, they had so kindly taken time out of their lives to share things they are passionate about with me, I felt the pressure to present the insights begin to weigh on me. Because I had to reduce large sections and compress ideas, I was shocked at how well my report was received and owe a great deal to the compassion and kindness of the people who helped me.
Much like the beautiful puzzle I was doing, things were coming together, one piece at a time.
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