Throughout semester one of Design Studies, I researched the topic of service design for public transport, particularly trains and train stations. For this I used secondary research methods, reading journals and articles on behavioural psychology. The aim was to investigate how the general public use the services and to find out their attitudes and feelings towards them. Although secondary research was both beneficial and appropriate I now feel that to obtain accurate results I would have to carry out further research methods and experiments.
To begin with I would undertake a ‘Design Safari’, (a term coined by Chris Davis, founder of Live/Work in 2008) in which I would visit my local train station and both Glasgow Central and Queen Street, this way I could observe passengers behaviour and detect any patterns or differences. While carrying out my observations I would try to blend into my surroundings as much as possible as to not influence the results. It would be interesting to see the contrast in ‘ rules’ and ‘common etiquette’ between the bigger train stations and the smaller local stations. Would ample security of police officers around Glasgow Central create a regulated atmosphere with little crime? And why is the same level of security not apparent in Glasgow Queen street, is it because it doesn’t need it? Another interesting aspect is that of the seating arrangements, do they sit in clusters, pairs or in strange sequence? I would like to be able to visually document examples of insolent behaviour but I don’t feel this would be very safe, especially not in my local station. The differences in behaviour and ethic will also differ on the social background of the passengers, I would have to take this into account and get as wide a variation as possible in order to get a balanced view.
During my observations it would also be important to report on the surroundings as this is very influential on how the passengers behave. Are the stations well maintained? Are the standards substantially lower for the local stations than in the grander city centre stations? If so why? What are the seating arrangements and are there plenty of seats? Is the station properly lit? This alone would darken moral. Likewise the conditions on the trains are just as important, do fellow passengers enhance the overall experience? Do they feel safe? I feel that with this research technique the fact that my observations would be based round particular times and day I would have to repeat the process for as long as possible and try to work out an average. This could on some occasions prove to be a problem had I not sufficient time to carry them out fully. Regardless I see this type of observation carried out to its full potential to be a very successful and reliable approach to finding out about human behaviour.
Another research method that could prove helpful would be to interview some of the commuters, doing so I would certainly achieve more informative results and first hand opinions by doing so. My chosen method would be a simple set of interview questions designed to encourage subjects to elaborate fully, I would conduct my interviews over a long period of time and as frequently as possible. I feel that a questionnaire would be more suitable as a large number of subjects will be rushing to get to their next destination although a simple recording would mean that I could ‘walk and talk’ with the commuters. My method of delivering the questionnaires would be to discretely circulate the passengers either sitting or standing for a period of possibly ten minutes, just enough time to get comfortable and just enough time to scribble down some answers before they catch their next train, I would say ‘targeting’ passengers leaving the station would be more at ease than those coming into the station providing they are punctual. English speaking tourist would probably be very receptive as their opinions would be based around first impressions and gut instinct, especially when looking at how the surroundings effect passengers. The only disadvantage I can see with this method is that the subjects would have time to write down a considered answer rather than an immediate answer which recording could ensure, also they could disregard something as being irrelevant when it is in fact highly important to my investigations.
A very important opinion I could not ignore would be that of the employees and security, they I imagine would be extremely opinionated in response to my questions and here I think a voice recording would be perfect as they would have more time on their hands and I imagine will insist on making their opinion heard. Although in this case the interviews could be biased and no doubt very negative yet still important. This would also be a perfect opportunity to interview somebody higher up in the company, I wonder if the senior employees are aware of the minor issues and hand and if they have any intentions of resolving them. Although this could cause some friction and I would want to be held responsible for any uproar!
Throughout all this primary research I would have to continue to use the research skills I would normal use like the library, online journals and the ‘cross search’ too. I would also be collecting as many images and video as possible to produce balanced and factual results. My experiments would have to run over an extended period of time to ensure I got as much data as possible although not all research methods I have learned would be suitable on this occasion I feel it is all about convenience for the subject as well as myself throughout and of course I could never put either myself or others in danger. Although these are my assumptions on which would suit the situation best I will learn through experience with trial and error but I can only hope to obtain as impartial information as possible.
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