Group Charlotte Kirsty Emma Paul Ellis
What problem did you identify?
The problem we found out was that people in the city of Leeds (Bridgate) were either not aware of where bins were located or that they were to lazy to to use the bins.
What evidence did you find to support your decisions?
From our questionnaires we discovered that there was a problem with litter in Leeds centre. Also form the two maps we found that people were dropping rubbish in the centre when there are bins metres away form where they dropped it.
What methods did you use to gather your evidence and what forms did you take?
We made a questionnaire basically asking if people thought there was a problem with litter in the centre of Leeds, and asked questions more in depth about rubbish in leeds such as do you think the bins are well located... ect. I also sent a copy to the Leeds council to find out more information, ie when is the worse time for littering in Leeds centre, day or night? what day or the week ect. Also as primary research we also took photographs of the litter as visual evidence. And Ellis and charlotte walked around Bridgate with two maps off google and marked all the bins on one and marked litter found on the floor on the other. As secondary research we collected information of the internet including facts and figures, and found out that Leeds came second in the uk for giving out littering fines.
What methods of research did you find useful and why?
I thought that our primary quantitative research of marking the bins and litter on the floor in Leeds was really useful as we could identify where the problem occurs most often. Only thing we could of done to develop this research if we did it on different days or times to make the research more in depth and there might be one day of the week where litter occurs more than others, it could even be somewhere else than the bins we thought were the most problem, littering at a different time. However this would of taking along time if we did it seven days a week and every few hours.
How did these inform your response to your problem?
Knowing there was a problem we knew that people had littered within metres of the bins, and from our questionnaire people said they littered because they didn't know where the closet bin was located. So we decided that we wanted to make the bins more easy to find and make people use them.
What methods did you counter as problematic?
I sent a questionnaire to the council however they sent an email back saying they would respond with in ten days, however when you have to collect the research with a week its not to helpful. They still haven't got back yet either. Also as i mentioned the method with the two maps could of been more accurate if we did it for seven days a week, at different times in the day, because saturday could be more of a litter problem than tuesday for instance.
How did you overcome this?
We didn't because it would of taken too much time a whole week and every few hours of each day, however if the council would of responded we could of found out the busiest time for littering and could of gone out then and compared it to the research we collected.
What research could you have carried put that would have proved more useful?
The two maps.
List five things that you have learnt about the design process over the last two weeks?
1. Quantitative Research
2. Qualitative Research
3. You don't always have to produce a poster
4. "Everything you do should be easy and interesting"
5. Analyse research throughly to then develop an outcome using information gathered
List five things you would do next time?
1. Develop broader research methods
2. Get on the streets more to discover more of the problem
3. Use research to develop our outcome
4. Produce a better outcome (more professional)
5. Work as a team rather than individuals
