Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Research structure
In this research, objects and intimate people were used as a starting point, through a systematic user study process; people’s needs can be explored when they are
preparing the gift for their loved ones. Why people left something for their loved ones and what was the meaning behind the gift can be found.
Due to the sensitivity of such topic, especially in Taiwan, where most people regard death as a taboo and avoid talking about that. To deal with this dilemma, the target users were defined as those who have already purchased before-death contract, with the assumption that they have already thought of death before and made some preparations.
For the purpose of obtaining a thorough understanding of users, as well as their perspectives, related values and experiences, this project was carried out through two stages. Firstly, in-depth interviews were conducted to understand users’
motivations of leaving things and their expectations of these artifacts. In order to make user to be prepared, respondents were asked to imagine preparing a final gift to their loved ones before the interview. Through the interview, the reason behind their opinion toward death could be collected. In this stage, existing services are also used to concrete people’s idea and opinions, and also their preference. Secondly, it was assumed that these objects are highly related to people’s daily life and the intimate persons around them, therefore, probes were used to collect the important person and objects in order to realize the context of their motivation to leave the objects behind. Respondents were also asked to prepare a last gift for their loved ones. By taking down the process by camera or diary, there was a chance to observe their purpose and the difficulties they met.
In this probe, it was also assumed that people care about preserving themselves, therefore, their personal lifestyle and what object they want to keep as a symbol of themselves were also collected. These objects can be used to represent themselves or represent their concerned of the family, as Csikszentmihalyi’s research, the connection between the user and the object and their loved one was clarified in this
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research. Through different user research method, their opinions and the objects in their life are collected.
Fig 3-1 Research structure 3.2 In-depth interviews
The first part of the study was interviews about leaving memorial objects and preparing a last gift for the loved ones. In the interviews, two kinds of users were defined, "expert", people who have already thought of leaving something for their loved ones and having a plan for the gift; through interviewing “expert” participants,
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their opinions and experiences about preparing this gift was collected. The other kind of user is "everyman", people who did not have this situation in their minds before; they did not have a clear vision, but still have some preference about this gift.
In this research, one of the participants in the interview is a cancer patient, she was regarded as an “expert” and the interview focused on her experiences of preparing this memorial object, the other participants were regarded as “everyman” and the interviews were focused on their opinions and their expectation of this memorial object.
There were two parts of the interview: their opinions about preparing the relic and their views on existing services. Each session lasted 90-120 min and was recorded.
Due to the sensitivity of this topic, especially in Taiwan, where most people regard death as a taboo and avoid talking about it, in the in-depth interviews, on a specific group aged 35-60 who have already purchased before-death contracts was focused, with the obvious assumption that they have already thought of death and are more acceptable to talk about death. Seven people who have already purchased
before-death contracts participated, 2 men and 5 women, covering a range of professions (teacher, housewife, customer service, merchant, office worker).
Table 3-1 List of participants of in-depth interview
Number Gender Age Occupation
Participant 1 Male 35 Teacher
Participant 2 Male 44 Customer service
Participant 3 Female 54 Housewife
Participant 4 Female 53 Housewife
Participant 5 Female 62 Merchant
Participant 6 Female 53 Retired teacher
Participant 7 Female 57 Office worker
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3.2.1 Preparations before interviews
From the pretest interview, most of the users do not have a clear idea about the gift, in order to obtain a more in-depth discussion; four parts of questions were given before the interviews.
Table 3-2 List of questions before interviews
Number Question
Question 1 If you want to give your loved ones a gift before you leave, who will you choose to give this present?
Question 2 Please try to imagine this gift, what will it be?
-Will the gift changed with the different target?
-What will you do to make the gift more meaningful?
Question 3 In addition to physical gift, what contents will you leave?
-In the process of preparing the gift, what data will be necessary to collect?
-What is the purpose of collecting these data?
Question 4 What situation you want when your loved ones get the gift?
3.2.2 Interview Part 1 - Interview with their personal experiences and opinions The interviews were started by questioning participants about the most precious things or the important person in their lives. Participants were asked about what they wanted to prepare for their loved ones and what contents they would use. The interview also focused on their reasons for leaving such a relic behind. There were five sections in the interviews. Firstly, participants were asked about their personal experiences and their motivations of buying the before-death contract, in this part, the main task was to understand their feelings and explore their need toward this memorial gift. Secondly, the interview was focused on the memorial objects, participants were asked about what kind of objects they will leave while they leave.
Thirdly, participants were asked about their motivations about leaving this gift and
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how can they transform the relationship with their loved ones toward this gift.
Fourthly, in order to combine this memorial gift with digital contents, the content people want to preserve and the important memories in their life were also collected. Fifthly, during the previous research, people tried to gain control over other’s psychic energy, according to this, the emotional part of this gift were also concerned. In this part, participants were about their ideal situation in their mind when their loved ones get this gift.
3.2.3 Interview Part 2 - Interviewing with existing services
In the second part of the interview, 8 currently available death-related memorial services were prepared in case sharing, each service was presented in an A5 size card with 2-4 related pictures and descriptions of the service feature. In this part,
participants were asked to express their views of each service and choose three services they like and explain the reasons.
Table 3-3 List of existing memorial services:
Service image Name and description Service Feature
Vidstone
Physical, Combination of tombstone,
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A mail service that help people send mail to
Web Memorial Service Web-based virtual
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3.3.1 Introduction of cultural probe
In order to obtain the emotional context between the participants and objects in their life, probe was chosen as a method to collect their lifestyle and their cherish objects. Probes are design oriented research toolkits that are based on
self-documentation and invite users to share their experiences; probes are focus on users’ subjective world rather than looking for specific answers from the users. In Mattelmaki’s research, the most important reasons of using probes are enhancing design inspirations and gather information. (Mattelmaki, 2005) Probes are used to gather answers from any point of view especially when the design goal is fuzzy. Due to the convenience of media technology, the visual image of the real environment or object can also be collected easily to present the detail of their life. In the probes, participants are asked to note their everyday life, they can help researchers or
designers to discover new design opportunities and broader the research problems.
3.3.2 Workbook plan
After obtaining the preference of the users in the interviews, it was found that when people face death, they concerned about sharing their precious memories with their loved ones more than preserving their lives. In order to obtain more information about the interactions between users and their loved ones in their everyday life, cultural probes were used to gather the information, including the people they cared about, the important things they preserved, the situation of the final moment they want and the personality they want to preserve. For the sake of making users comfortable and relieved when doing the workbook, non-invasive strategy was also
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used in this research for better understanding the issue around death. A scenario of taking a train to outer space and never coming back was used instead of facing death.
Besides, in order to have diverse opinion, the age of our participants is from 25-70 years old and not necessary to have a before-death contracts.
Nine people aged 25-70 participated, 5 men and 4 women; in order to collect the things in their lives, participants were asked to take photos of the objects they wanted to give to their loved ones and the things that can represent them. In order to understand their preferences for using technology to enrich the content of the relic, participants were also asked to choose the technology they might use. The data of the workbooks were collated into flow models, with the object they chose and their motivations.
Table 3-4 List of participants of workbook
Number Gender Age Occupation Education
Participant 8 Female 28 Self-employed Master
Participant 9 Female 34 Teacher Bachelor
Participant 10 Female 53 Housewife Associate degree
Participant 11 Male 42 Artist Bachelor
Participant 12 Male 47 Technician Bachelor
Participant 13 Male 67 Retired High school
Participant 14 Female 52 Administrator Bachelor
Participant 15 Male 31 Sales Bachelor
Participant 16 Male 31 Travel agency Associate degree
3.3.3 Workbook content
There are 7 days divided into two parts in this workbook, in the first part, users were asked to imagine if they are going to leave in 6 days, what their wish will be and
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what are they going to leave? On the last day, participants were also asked to imagine if they had already left their loved ones, what messages they will send to their loved ones via this memorial service.
Fig 3-2 workbook package
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Table 3-5 Contents of the workbook
Part A - Before leaving
Flight Diary – 6 days before departure
What are they worried about before they leave?
Who are the people you most concerned about?
-Please list three persons who are most important in your life, and explain why.
-What do you want to say before you leave?
Is there anything you have to do before you leave?
-Please list two things you have to do before you leave.
How to say goodbye to your family or friends?
-Please describe the way you want to say goodbye to your loved ones, including who will you invite, where and when will it be hold, what will you do and what objects will you need.
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Flight Diary – 5 days before departure
What are the precious things in their life?
What are the most precious things in your life?
-Please take a picture of the most precious thing in your life.
-Who will you give this thing to?
Is there anything that can make people think of you?
-Take a picture of a thing that can make people think about you.
-What's the relationship between you and this stuff?
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Flight Diary –4 days before departure
Try to make user
participant in our design
If you are going to make a special gift for your loved ones, what will this gift be?
-Who will you give this gift to?
-What will it look like?
-What do you want to say through this gift?
-What are the functions of this gift?
Try to use the image stamps to collage the feeling of this gift.
-Please choose the stamp we provide that can meet the feeling of this gift.
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Flight Diary –3 days before departure
How will people enrich the content with computer technology?
Please choose three technologies we provided to help you accomplish this gift.
-What will you do with this technology?
-Are there any different if you use this technology?
Try to find some problems they may encounter.
What will you collect to during the preparation of this gift?
-Please take a picture of the material that you will collect when you preparing this gift.
Do you have any difficulty when organizing these materials?
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Flight Diary –2 days before departure
How to preserve their personal information
If there is a robot which can copy your personal identity, -what will you leave for your family or friends?
-What will you leave for the whole world?
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Flight Diary –1 days before departure
What situation they want when their loved ones get the gift
Where will you place this gift in your house?
-Please take a picture of this place and explain why.
Do you have any expectation how will they keep this gift?
What is the situation when they get this gift?
-What feeling do you expect when they get this gift?
-Use the image stamps to collage the feeling you want when your loved ones get this gift.
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Part B the interaction between the gift and the loved ones after they leave Flight Diary –1 days after departure
What interactions they want between the gift and their loved ones?
What message or stuff will you send to your loved ones after you leave?
-Who will you send to?
-When will you send?
-Why?
Their personal opinion about this gift and the
-Can this gift represent your feeling?
-What is the purpose of preparing this gift?
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workbook -Are there any way that can improve this gift?
-Can this gift keep the connection between you and your loved ones?
-When will you begin to prepare this gift?
-How long will it take if you are preparing this gift?
-What is the meaning of this gift for your loved ones?
- What is the meaning of this gift for you?
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Chapter 4 Results
After data gathering process, the interview data was captured to statements and analyzed with affinity diagrams. Affinity diagrams were used to categorize the values of various roles. In the case sharing part, ladder interviews were used to construct mean-ends chains. This technique is used to find unconscious motives and the values behind them. It can help researchers to meaningfully connect product attributes with consumer’s values.
4.1 The affinity diagram of in-depth interview
The results of in-depth interview were collated into affinity diagrams. There are five parts in this affinity diagram, including the motivations of leaving something for the loved ones, the motivations of keeping oneself, existing contents for autobiography in the daily life, concerns of this memorial object and the difficulties of preparing this memorial gift.
Table 4-1 Affinity diagram of in-depth interviews
Level 1 Level 2
(A) The motivations of leaving some objects for the loved ones
a1) Strengthening the relationship
a2) The expectations of giving a better life for the family
a3) Releasing the grief of the loved ones a4) Previous experiences of losing someone (B) The motivations of
keeping oneself
b1) Sharing personal life experiences b2) Proving the existence in the world
b3) Having a good impression in other people’s heart (C) Existing contents for
autobiography in the
c1) The record of daily life and self-expression c2) The backup of life record
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daily life c3) Preference of using the way they communicated before
(D) Concerns of this memorial object
d1) Do not want to trouble other people d2) Worrying about the privacy
d3) Do not want to leave anything to unfamiliar people
d4) Hoping that this gift can be kept permanently (E) Difficulties of
preparing this gift
e1) Do not have time for preparing this memorial gift e2) Do not know what to leave
(A) The motivations of leaving some objects for the loved ones
In this study, it was found that what users most concerned about was not preserving themselves perfectly, but determining how to build a new link with their loved one through the items they left. Their motivations of preparing this gift are the love of their loved ones, it is highly related to the person they love. They want to express their feelings to their loved ones toward the gift, and create a new bound that last long.
a1) Strengthening the relationship
For intimate friends or family, people shared memories and expressed thankfulness, concerns, blessing or regrets to strengthen the links between each other. In order to keep an image in their loved ones’ heart, they tried to find an important element between themselves and their loved ones, the best way they chose was using the shared memory, they hoped people can remember those memories by the events they experienced before, for example, their common habits or the movie they loved can help them recall the days they hanged out together. People hope their loved ones can keep their memories; they preserved group photos with precious
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memories instead of individual photos. When their loved ones received the relic, people hoped that their loved ones would be happy and savor their ‘reruns’.
[Quote 01] Participant 7: “ I want to give the gift to people who were close to me and will miss me."
[Quote 02] Participant 2: “I want to leave some photos for my children, they can tell stories to their children.”
They care about people who are close to them, with whom they got along, they don’t care about other people, memorial gift is only meaningful for the intimate friends. People tried to find out the important element between themselves and their loved ones in order to enhance the relationship and live in their loved ones’
heart.
[Quote 03] Participant 7: “The gift should represent the relationship between us, if possible, I want to prepare something suitable for each of them.”
a2) The expectations of giving a better life for the family
When people are leaving, they worried about their family mostly. There are two different kinds of subjects they worry about, one is their parents or mate. They try to leave some valuable objects to improve the lives of their parents and mate, showing the appreciation for the care and love. Valuable objects are the most common things they want to leave for this kind of loved ones, through these valuable objects, their family can live a better life in the future. The other kind of subject in this situation is their children. In addition to some valuable objects, people also leave something that can educate their loved ones, especially for their children, through this kind of
educational relic, they hope their children can learn something from this gift, even get some inspiration for their life.
[Quote 04] Participant 7:"I would like to leave a ring before, but now, I will leave the
[Quote 04] Participant 7:"I would like to leave a ring before, but now, I will leave the