8 minute read
Resident Survey and Interview
Before the interview and prepared questionnaire phase, I contacted the property manager of the Jilin Grocery Worker Housing, Shouping Chen, who has worked for 15 years at the complex. According to Shouping, the residents live in the middle or lower class due to lower pension fees. The residents are currently in a difficult situation. Residents are dissatisfied with current living conditions but they lack the funds to buy a new apartment or the ability to repay loans to do so. Moreover, Jilin Grocery Worker Housing is located in the city center, which means if builders are interested in investing in this area, the property owner can sell their property for a great price. However, due to the property market downturn, residents are stuck in this complex.
I prepared some questions about how my design might be relevant, but also to gather more information about the residents’ lifestyles. This helped me get a deeper understanding of the user group from different angles. For example, what's your daily routine like? How would you describe your current situation? Do you feel satisfied? What potential needs do you have, or what aspects of your living standard could be improved? How can design help? What does happiness mean to you? Have you been to a coffee shop or bubble tea shop? ...
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Shouping said that Spring Festivals are the busiest time for the community, so the interview time was set for the Chinese New Year, February 12, 2022. Most families choose to spend this time with their loved ones. The interview was assisted by Yingying Zhang.
To understand the user group better, I invited 20 residents to fill out the survey form and 3 residents to do the interview.
How many children do you have?
01/23 no children 17/23 one children 04/23 two children
01/23 three children
Living with your family or not?
15/23 living alone or with their spouses 6/15 Weekly contacts with their children 9/15 Monthly contacts with their children or longer 8/23 living with their spouses and children
Age 45
2
50
6
60
9
70
Your daily activities?
21/23 Walking & Exercising 16/23 Growing vegetables & flowers 12/23 Getting Groceries & Shopping 12/23 Play Cards & Mahjong 11/23 Watching TV & Listening to Video 08/23 Using Phone/Technology 04/23 Spending time with pets 03/23 Reading & Writing 01/23 Community activities
3 3
80 85
Assuming the community has a public space for residents, what function of space do you perspect?
"Gym" " 健身房吧，我们挺需要的 " "Community Area" " 活动室 " "Game room" " 麻将室 " "Reading room" " 读书室 " "Tea Room" " 茶室 " Describe a recent happy experience.
"My monthly pension fee was increased!” " 最近涨工资了，很开心 " "I won the cards game!” " 打扑克赢了 " " I celebrated New Year with my family" " 过年孩子们都回来了 " "I reconnected with old friends” " 最近和之前的朋友又联系上了 " "I don't know” " 我不知道呀 " " I made new friends” " 我交了几个新的老伙伴儿 " "I still have a good health condition" " 身体还行，还算健康 "
When you chat with neighbors, what topic do you discuss?
"Salary" " 聊工资 " "News" " 聊新闻，聊局势 " "Property price of Jinlin Gorcery Working housing" " 聊最近房价 " "Children" " 聊家长理短，聊孩子 " "How to make Suancai" " 聊腌酸菜，储存冬季菜蔬 " "Health Condition" " 聊身体情况 " "Food price" " 聊最近物价 " "How to grow vegetables" " 聊春天种什么菜，家里种了什么 " Could you describe what you did with friends or neighbors last time?
WenHai Gao
Age: 82 Apartment building No.1 Length of residence: 47 years
Wenhai's education level is relatively high at his age compared to others in the complex. After graduating from Changchun University of Technology, he began working in 1961. Having worked for a few years in a technical school, he was transferred to the Jilin Grocery Company. In 2001, he retired as a manager of the real estate department. He still occasionally had some business contacts to assist some companies with making those reports after he retired, but he hasn't done it as much in the past two years.
Family: WenHai lives with his wife. She had a heart bypass surgery before and needs his help. In the past, WenHai had six siblings, now only four are still alive. He has a son and a daughter who all live in Changchun. "My family gets together at least once a month," he said.
Daily activity: WenHai frequently uses his mobile phone, watches TV, grows flowers, and goes for a walk after dinner in Nanhu Park every day. He likes to invite his family over for dinner, and he enjoys preparing the food and entertaining them. As always, Chinese New Year is celebrated at his apartment this year, and the whole family comes to celebrate.
"I used to enjoy dinner with my friends and a glass of wine, but because of my wife's current situation, I rarely go to dinner with my relatives," he said.
GuiLan Zhao
Age: 83 Apartment building No.2 Length of residence: 42 years
Guilan has lived in the Jilin Grocery Worker Housing for 42 years. Her husband used to be employed by Jilin Grocery Company. She is the oldest interviewee in the group. Her physical health is excellent, but her hearing is not great. She believes that she can take care of herself.
Family: Guilan's husband passed away many years ago. She has a son and a daughter. Currently, she lives with her son who takes care of her daily needs. Her daughter lives in Changchun and this year, she was at her daughter's home celebrating Chinese New Year. However, Guilan said she preferred being at her own home to be more comfortable.
Daily activity: "Most of the time I have a variety of habits, such as growing flowers, taking care of small vegetables and watching TV. Nowadays, due to seasonal reasons, the stairs will freeze because of the low temperature. I try to avoid unexpected accidents, so I choose not to go out frequently and stay safe. I am working on knitting wool socks today" she said. Guilan shows us her plants on the windowsill. “In the summer or when the weather is nice, I usually play poker with my neighbors. I can play for up to three hours every afternoon and I enjoy chatting with my neighbors" she noted.
ShuFen Wang
Age: 68 Apartment building No.9 Length of residence: 20 years
ShuFen lives in Building No.9, the last apartment building built by Jilin Grocery Worker Housing where most of the tenants live. Unfortunately, we were unable to conduct the interview at home because she said the room was too messy, so the interview took place outside.
Family: ShuFen has lived in the Jilin Grocery Worker Housing for the past 20 years. She has lived alone since her spouse passed away four years ago. Her daughter is the only child and works in Beijing, returning home only once a year. Sadly, she could not return home to celebrate this year's New Year with ShuFen because of the pandemic.
Relationship with neighbors: Since she has a bright personality, neighbors who rent out the unit often ask her to help them communicate with tenants. She said much of her social interaction is with the residents of the neighborhood.
Daily activity: ShuFen's daily routine involves walking for 30 minutes, listening to the radio for 2 hours, and watching television. She prefers to stay at home and feel at ease. Getting out is mainly for living necessities, such as grocery shopping and paying the electric and water bill.
Surprisingly, ShuFen has another other activity: collecting waste. She said, "for me, picking up plastic bottles and other recycled materials isn't just about making a little money, it's also about feeling like you're doing something worthwhile." Picking up waste often brings her into contact with different types of people. Many of these people are younger and are happy to tell her where there are empty bottles to pick up.
Based on previous research, the feedback I received from residents made me feel surprised. For example, most of them have never been to coffee or bubble tea shops. It might be because of cultural preference or low socioeconomic status, among other reasons. But it inspires me to rethink possible opportunities for the elderly to engage in new things. Another piece of unexpected information for me was when they answered the question, “could you describe a happy moment recently experienced or talk about your definition of happiness?” This question is not difficult to answer, but more than half of the interviewees chose to skip it. I observed that they were trying to answer the question but they did not know how to.
The whole interview process allowed me to rethink the goal of design intervention and determine that it should fully focus on meeting the needs of the user group. Also, think about how the intervention could contribute to people’s phycology aspect, feeling happiness.
