Q: Blog on 1-2 new ideas you have for creating participatory tools or other novel approaches that might be useful in your research project.
Reply:
Our project for Fisher Price involves interviewing a tough crowd (or so we hear), the notorious 3-6 year olds. Having been informed by several seasoned interviewers that children under seven are not ideal to work with, Team Brute Force has been trying to brainstorm a tool that might not elicit the most ideal responses, but will at least make it fun to interact with the kids and better understand their behavioral patterns during this period of development. Only one member of our group is actually a parent, so we generally have very little insight into what it is like to raise a young child of pre-school age, unless Max puts his two cents in.
Our tool for interacting with young children might not be the most novel, but it involves us better understanding which toys the participating children like best. We intend to spend some time with them, hanging out in their "play area" (When I was growing up we had a "playroom" in our house and we were allowed to draw on the walls with markers, etc. It was great.) and ask them to show us their favorite toy and explain to us, to the best of their ability (we're not looking for a lot of rational thought here) why they like that toy best. Of course we are not sure of the end product or service we will design, but hearing about the favorite toy will hopefully lead to some revelations about what is needed/desired in this particular market. Additionally, just being allowed a glimpse into what kinds of toys these participating children own will hopefully enlighten us a little to what parents, grandparents, etc. are interested in purchasing for their children and grandchildren. It might also give us some possible insights into discrepancies between what parents and grandparents think their progeny should own and what the kids actually want to own.
P.S. It was mentioned last week that some students have been adding additional posts to their blog. I don't do this because I maintain another blog and it's hard enough maintaining one somewhat substantive blog as it is~oy! (Not that this blog isn't substantive...but you know what I mean, right?) But I wanted to post the link of my other blog here so you can feel free to peruse...a lot of the posts revolve around what I'm making/learning at school. I will also repost any of the posts from that blog that I think are worthwhile onto this one.
My other blog:
http://things-are-looking-up.tumblr.com/
So much blogging!
P.P.S. According to my blogger dashboard, my comments are enabled and I'm pretty sure they are working because a friend recently commented about an old post...but I have yet to receive any school~related comments on this blog:(
Hi Kristin - if you get this comment, pls email me and let me know. I'm still finding that most of our comments are rejected so trying to find out why. Your approach is worth trying - be sure a parent is in the room with you at all times (for your protection). With young children, observation and non-verbal exercises work best. For example, give a child two toys then ask them to give you one back. The one they give back is their least favorite.
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