Assignment 9- Another Who, What, Why
Assignment 9A-
Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2
o
Who: During
my interviews I tried to interview people from the entire spectrum of environmental
knowledge, and also interview people from different sexes to understand if
there was a difference between genders especially when it comes to masculinity.
I tried to interview people without telling them any information about
single-use plastics and their impact on the environment just to make sure I was
not selling the product rather testing the waters. My first three interviews
were with men who were somewhere in the middle of the environmental knowledge
spectrum. I choose them because I wanted to get a sense of if there was
actually a stigma attached to straws. What I found was there is an overall stigma
attached to using a reusable straw, and it is not a masculinity issue. The root
of the issue lies in the stigma that people who use the straws are “hippies” or
the classic “tree-huggers.” This stigma has developed from generations of
propaganda that people who care about the earth are radicals. While this stigma
is a concern for me morally, I do not think the belief is widespread therefore
not a concern for the product. My last two interviewees were both female and
both had little knowledge on the topic, therefore were not informed on the
metal straw movement. While I did not gather anything new from these I did
solidify my belief that the market is bountiful. However, one piece of
information that I found interesting from this research is that after the
interviews one woman asked why I thought of the product. After explaining the
negatives of single-use plastics, her beliefs shifted completely.
o
I interviewed one high school male, one male
college student, and one retired adult male and surprisingly I did not see a
large difference between the answers of the three. It might be this way because
of the three subjects I chose but the three did not show any difference in
interest or disinterest for the product. However, when it came to the female
college student and a retired-age woman the answers were completely opposite.
The college student had heard of similar products from her friends and
therefore was more open to the idea. Whereas, the other woman had no idea why
the straws were even a big deal.
o
What:
A statement that has been rattling in my brain lately is that the use of
single-use plastic straws come from the fact they are a part of our everyday
culture or just because they are so easy to come by. To go a little deeper do people
use straws because they actually like they or do people use straws because your
waiter just immediately places you in front of you and your muscle memory does
the rest.
o
Why: I
believe that if something can be so easily engrained into our everyday lives
that we can change it because the need is so strong. We only have this Earth
and eventually everyday things will cease to be normal and we will react accordingly.
Inside
the Boundary
|
Outside
the Boundary
|
|
Who:
|
o
Anyone of any age or gender who has a strong
environmental conscious
o
High school students who feel a passion to
change the world
o
Anyone looking for an easy way to make a
change
o
Friends of the people listed above
|
o
People from older generations who do not feel
any environmental responsibility
o
Anyone who buys into the stigma of “tree-huggers”
o
Anyone who doesn’t want to carry their own
straw around
|
What:
|
o
To reduce single-use plastic waste
o
Start a movement of being more environmentally
conscious
|
o
To eliminate all single-use plastics entirely
o
To place blame on pollution from people who do
not use the straw
|
Why:
|
o
It is an issue that we can all work together
to fix so easily
o
Saving so many marine species
o
Saving our own homes
o
The beginning of eradicating single-use
plastics
|
1.) Overall great post. I personally found it hard to answer all of these questions thoroughly , but you seemed to do so precisely.
ReplyDelete2.) I liked the summary of interviews. I think getting different genders and environmentally knowledgable interviewees was a good strategy.
3.) If I am being a perfectionist, I would critique the chart to be a little more wider. I am not sure if you made it like that or if the blog changed the format after being submitted but it could be easier to read if it was more wide than long.
You have some interesting finding from the interviews. Some issues we take lightly greatly influence peoples decisions to adopt a technology or not. The perspectives from different classifications of people in the respondent pool opens up to further opportunities within this idea. I believe social entrepreneurship can be hard to sell sometimes especially to realign peoples attitudes to adopt a technology. I believe this is a strong idea that can sell easily, however, understanding the little factors or issues influencing your clients to use the straws is the key to succeed with the idea.
ReplyDeleteHey CJ, I remember reading your last part to this assignment and being interested in it. I really like your thought process and how you conducted your experiments I do think however you should have opened this assignment with an introduction that explained kind of what your idea was again in the beginning so I could follow along without having to go back to your older post. I do find it funny how peoples stance on using a multiple use straw after realizing the environmental waste we have happen with plastic straws.
ReplyDelete