Interview & Observation
What our team is working on is an interactive mobile game that can provide useful information about how to prevent domestic violence, more specifically child abuse. Our prime goal is to awaken people who are indifferent about their neighbor and pinpoint major evidences of child abuse which people normally overlook, and ultimately make those who have played our game notice those evidences in real life and make a report about hidden violence.
In order to achieve our goal, we thought, what we have to do first is to clarify whether people are indeed disinterested in what is happening around them. Based on this idea, we conducted 2 interviews and 3 observations so that we are able to examine how much people are incurious about others and the specific reasons for the detachment.
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Interview Questions
[Neighborly Concern]
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Do you know the faces of your neighbors living next door? What is your relationship with your neighbors? Be specific as much as you can.
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Have you ever received help from your neighbors when you needed it, or have you helped your neighbors in any way?
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Have you ever participated in a festival or program at a social welfare center or community center in your neighborhood? If so, what kind of activity was it?
[Personal reflection on domestic violence]
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Could you explain in detail the domestic violence cases you have encountered through news, acquaintances, SNS, etc.? Please feel free to express your opinions on the current situation, your views on reporting/punishment procedures, etc.
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Have you ever had an experience of helping someone who was in a difficult or dangerous situation? If so, please describe.
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Have you ever encountered content (such as prevention methods, response methods, etc.) related to domestic violence through media? If so, could you describe the content?
01
Interview_1
[Interviewee Information]
20 years old
Female
University student
Residing in a metropolitan area in South Korea
[Neighborly Concern]
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No, I don't know them very well. I recently moved into this residential area, so I only know the face of one elementary school student next door. He is a 5th-grade boy. I've only greeted him. I don't know which elementary school he goes to. I haven't met his guardians yet.
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I helped my neighbor by holding an umbrella for them on a rainy day. I remember an adult who helped me when I was carrying heavy baggage. However, there has not been continuous interaction with that person since then. We have a relationship where we greet and ask about each other's well-being when we meet.
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No, I haven't had such experiences recently, as there are no events like market days or festivals in the neighborhood. It doesn't create an opportunity for interaction with neighbors.
[Personal reflection on domestic violence]
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Based on what I have seen in the news, I understand that the number of domestic violence cases has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. As people are not engaging in outdoor activities as much, there is a decrease in attention paid to the people around them, leading to a rise in violence. I have also heard that people's awareness of domestic violence has decreased, resulting in a lack of understanding about its existence. Therefore, I believe there should be a thorough review of the phenomenon where the police take no action against the victim and perpetrator due to a lack of awareness about domestic violence. Furthermore, I think there should be strong punishment for domestic violence, and the notion that family problems are private should be eradicated.
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I have never witnessed someone in a difficult or dangerous situation.
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I have seen a public service advertisement related to domestic violence. Unfortunately, I do not recall the details of the content. Still, I remember that it provided the contact information for reporting agencies and quoted statistics on the number of domestic violence cases. While watching the advertisement, I understood that domestic violence frequently occurs and causes suffering for victims, but I don't remember the content well after some time has passed.
02
Interview
[Interviewee Information]
22 years old
Female
University student
Residing in a metropolitan area in South Korea
[Neighborly Concern]
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Yes I know them. But I simply just say hi when I meet them. No more than that. The sound proof in my room is terrible so I also got to know that their grandchildren often visits them on the weekends.
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I never had any kind of interaction other than greetings.
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Yes, I have an experience of selling secondhand goods on a local flea market and donating the fund I raised. I also personally participate in a school club that sells handmade accessories and donate all the sales to a local welfare center in my neighborhood.
[Personal reflection on domestic violence]
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My parents have worked in the management of domestic violence cases, and I know well how to identify and report domestic violence. However, the victim may not be aware of the damage himself or herself. And even if others report it, without clearly grasping the damage, more additional damage may occur. So, it seems that it is not easy to report .
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I have no experience in this.
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There seem to be cases where it is absurd or too provocative at all. However, even those poor examples in media, I think we need to be alerted continuously to prevent domestic violence.
03
Observation 1
1) Plan Observation
We conducted the observation inside the studying-room where everyone is busy with their assignments. In order to notice the clue of child abuse, which is extremely minor and somehow hidden from others, we concluded that the ability to care for others while one is busy with their own business is needed. According to this consideration, we thought holding an observation inside the studying room will possibly be one of the best options.
2) Observe and after interview
During an observation, the person who was being observed (hereinafter referred to as A) merely looked around. Even there was a huge nosie such as someting crushing hard into something or even someone coughed badly, A never looked up to check what had happened. There was also a person who was groaning while he was putting his head on desk. A simply glimpsed that person and started foscusing on her stuffs.
Though the sound of coughing is quite usual occurance, it was intersting result to find out that the A did not look around after the thump or the sound of grunting. What is even more interesting from this observation is that not even a single person in that space raised their head to check what casued the noise.
After conducting the observation, our team had a chance to have a short interview with A. Below we put the example of the questions that we asked and the related answer fot each questions.
Q. How many people do you remember among those who were in the same space?
A. Three people who were sitting on the same table with us, and one who was sitting behind them.
Q. Do you remeber their appearance or gender?
A. I don't think so. Maybe for gender I guess there was one men but no, I don't think I remeber any specific details about them.
Q. How many people among those you remeber used a laptop?
A. It seems like everyone sitting at the same table has used it, and the person sitting behind was using an iPad I guess... To be honest, I'm not sure.
-> actually none of them were using laptop, A is the only one who was using laptop
Q. Do you remember any noise?
A. Coughing..someone sleeping..I think that's all
Q. If you heard those noises, what is the reason for not checking where the noise came from?
A. Those are other's business not mind. I have never felt that I have to take care of those sounds before. Actually, I was too busy to care my own stuffs.
3) Draw conclusions
To sum up our first observation, we found out people are in truth not so much interested in others. Even the loud noise was impossible to attract people's attention. The most important point from this observation is that the one reason for these indifferent is that people think minding other's business is not a necessary thing to do.
04
Observation 2
1) Plan Observation
When it comes to child domestic violence, people’s indifference to their neighbors is one of the key obstacles to helping the victims. Our team thought that observation-especially shadowing-can give us some insights about whether this assumption is credible or not.
I have conducted shadowing on two participants (my mom and my little sister) and asked them a few questions in order to measure their level of attention to other people in daily life.
The observation was done when walking along the elementary school (from the front gate~to the end of the mural), and there were 3 people (one woman and two boys) passing by while we were walking. The woman was holding a bright pink colored bag, and two boys were swearing in a loud voice.
2) Observe and After Interview
Below are the questions asked, and the participants’ responses. :
Q1: Do you remember how many people were there on the street when we were walking from the main gate to the end of the mural of the elementary school?
A1: I’m not sure… maybe about 5~6?
A2: I think there were two.
Q2: There was a woman in front of us. Do you remember the color of the bag the woman was holding?
A1: I didn’t even realize that there was a woman in front of us.
A2: Black? (* The answer was pink.)
Q3: There were two men passing by. Do you remember what they were talking about?
A1/A2: No idea.
3) Draw Conclusions
Surprisingly, both my mom and my little sister could not answer any of these three questions, even though there were not many people that we encountered. The result of this observation leads to the verification of our assumption that people are not interested in each other.
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Observation 3
1) Plan Observation
We have conducted abother shadowing observation with one participant. This participant is 25 years old, currently in her senior year at Yonsei University, and living in the dorm with her roomate. We thought she could be the representation of young adults in their 20s. We asked her a few questions in order to measure their level of attention to other while wlaking.
The observation was conducted for 20 minutes, from the Songdo 2nd Dormitory to Triple Street A dong. Since Triple Street is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Songdo, there were so many people passing by while we were walking. As a researcher, not only we filmed a video while walking, but also we wrote down notes about unique people who passed by to see if the participant remembers those ppl.
2) Observe and After Interview
Below are the questions asked, and the participants’ responses. :
Q1: From the dormitory entrance to here, do you remember how many people were wearing varsity jacket?
A: Maybe none..?
(Correct Answer : 4)
Q2: How many people were crossing from the other side?
A: No one!
(Correct Answer : 3)
Q3: How many bicycles have passed?
A: 3
Q4: What was the gender of the owner who had a dog leash?
A: Male
Q5: How many strollers have you seen?
A: Probably 10..?
(Correct Answer : 7)
3) Draw Conclusions
When we asked questions on ppl's characteristic in Songdo Campus, she could not remember it a lot of times. However, in Triple Street, she remembered some of the details that she has seen while walking. For the 20 minutes of observation, she did remember something that she's seen in the last 3-5 minute.
From the observation, we found out that although people may seem very uninterested in others, there are people who can read the small details, and they might remember it for a long time. However, it is important to act or ask quickly, so that they do not forget details.
