For a recent studio based project, I was asked to thoroughly research a fruit or vegetable allocated to us that is researched by the Scottish Crop Research Institute . The SCRI has "a combined objective that is key to the development of a vibrant sustainable Scottish economy in the generation of food that creates wealth whilst being healthier and safer". Our aim for the project was to produce a broadsheet with a focus from our research and also a 3D typography installation. I was given raspberry. For my research I used mainly the internet and leaflets/handouts given to me by the SCRI. If I were to do the project again, it may be useful to apply some of the research methods I have learned in design studies.
I decided to focus on ellagic acid which is found in particularly high quantities in raspberries and has cancer inhibiting properties. This fact is highly publicised on the internet and was quite easy to find a lot of information about. The SCRI has their own website which also gave me a lot of information about what they do and the fruits and vegetables that they research. I think it would have been beneficial to use cross search to see if there has been any studies done on the health benefits of raspberries as they may be more reliable than information found on websites. It would be interesting to see if any new information that is not yet very well known has been found out about raspberries. I usually always use brainstorming techniques at the beginning of studio projects now as a quick way of jotting down my initial thoughts and ideas about how I can tackle the brief and give myself options to research further.
There are several primary research techniques that would be helpful in collecting information for this project. The visual experiment technique could be effective in this case, I could use a series of pictures of things that are associated with raspberries or perhaps photographs of the different uses for the fruit, or even the variations in colours (a lot of people are unaware that raspberries come in 4 different colours). Having people interpret related pictures in their own way would likely through up some interesting information about people's assumptions and thoughts on these visuals that I would not get from health and nutritional facts.
Observation would also be an interesting method to use in this case. I could perhaps observe people within a supermarket environment to see what food stuff people buy. It would allow me to see whether certain types of people buy healthier foods or junk foods. Students are stereotypically known for having quite a bad diet but is this true? It would be interesting to see what kind of people are most likely to pick up a lot of fruit in their shopping and I would also be curious to see if people pay much attention to the packaging and the nutritional values of the food items before deciding on them. It would be good to watch people going about their food shopping in a natural setting, although I would have to be subtle and blend in so I did not make people feel uncomfortable. The problems with observation in this case is that I would only be making assumptions about people's choice of food, I would not get any facts from it, the people could be shopping for people other than themselves. Also, food shopping is quite broad and I might not get much valid information directly related to my fruit.
Interviews could also be an effective research technique to obtain information for this project. There are several groups of people I could talk too to get a range of results. It would be interesting to interview people from SCRI to find out how they begin and carry out their own research as research into how they can improve their fruit and vegetables is very key to their business. It would be helpful to interview a variety of people from the institute who are in different job positions (scientists, researchers, sellers, admin staff etc) to see whether their responses and attitudes to the questions differ in any way from each other. Again, I would create a set of indirect, open questions as this would give me more interesting answers. I could perhaps ask questions relating to their food shopping, what kind of foods do they buy and if packaging makes a difference to them. Usually packaging for fruit is transparent and very plain, would more people buy healthy fruit if it had more exciting packaging? Or does the fact that people working at SCRI know so much about the benefits already that the packaging would not make a difference to them? I would also be curious to see how people working closely with these fruits answers compare to people that have less knowledge about them, such as design students. Although design students don't have as much knowledge about the science behind breeding these fruits to perfection, they probably have a better understanding of visuals and packaging and it would be interesting to see the variations in results. I would need to keep the questions the same and the best conditions to use to conduct the interviews in would probably be a room at university as I could invite several different groups of people there to ensure consistency for valid results.
I think applying these research methods to various studio projects could be very effective. It would allow me to use information that is factual and well researched and may give me the opportunity to enlighten myself and other people with information we would not otherwise have known. I have come to realise that using research from the internet might not always be the best option for research as it might not be completely accurate and anyone has access to that type of information. If I were to conduct research myself using the methods I have learned in design studies I might get more interesting outcomes and make more of an impact with my work. If I were to conduct my own research for studio projects I might uncover some really interesting information that could make an impact on a bigger scale rather than just presenting information that is already know but in a high visual standard. After all, I want my work to tackle issues that can make an impression on a big scale, as well as looking good aesthetically.
Bibliography
(2010) Scottish Crop Research Institute
http://www.scri.ac.uk/ [Accessed March 29 2010]
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