‘Explorations’ complete!

4.2.1.0 (What’s this number?)

I travelled back to Lebanon in July to undertake PhD-related fieldwork. It’s been a week since I am back in London, and I will be going through a synthesis phase, absorbing, deciphering and analysing the large amount of information collected over my trip. Part of my fieldwork has been the Cultural Probes that I have written about in a previous post, and that I presented at RNUAL 3. I called these ‘Explorations’.

'Explorations' kit: Contents

In summary, ‘Explorations’ are a collection of different probes packed in an envelope. I held a briefing meeting with 6 activists living in Beirut, Zahleh, Tripoli, Nabatieh, Keserwan and Shouf, and gave each activist an envelope to complete on their own, and 1 to 4 other envelopes that they can pass on to friends or neighbours in their area. So each participant had a week to complete their ‘Explorations’. I then met again with the activists in a concluding interview to collect their and their friends’ ‘Explorations’, and discuss any issues and feedback that came out. The total completed ‘Explorations’ were 18. The aim of ‘Explorations’ was to give me initial hands-on insight into the lifestyles, opinions and tastes of young people from different social groups in Lebanon. A lot of my research had been through a review of slightly dated literature on social group dynamic in Lebanon, and this was my initial attempt to understand my target audience on a practical level, and with the least researcher influence (considering that my ignorance of these target groups can impact research outcomes at this early stage). Before the briefing meetings, I was slightly anxious about how participants will respond to ‘Explorations’. This is because previous researchers suggested that their initiatives with young Lebanese has often been met with apathy. However, and to my surprise, the first briefing meeting with the Zahleh and Beirut activists was very enthusiastic. The Beirut activist loved the idea and tasks of ‘Explorations’, and a participant from Zahleh even emailed expressing interest, passion and admiration for the probes! The activist from Tripoli was also very helpful in taking the time to show me around the neighborhood and introduce me to a member in the municipality who is well informed on social integration initiatives on a local and national scale. Additionally, a number of activists were happy to support future stages of the fieldwork. I cannot thank the activists and participants enough for having the courage and patience to help me with this research phase. Over the next few days, I will be going through the responses received from the different ‘Explorations’ kits, to construct qualitative profiles of individuals who constitute some members of my target groups. It would be very useful to take these profiles into account when designing the next stages of the fieldwork. Below are detailed photos of ‘Explorations’ and the different probes they consisted of.

'Explorations' kit: Closed envelope

'Explorations' kit: Open envelope

Introduction: Letter introducing the research and 'Explorations'

Photos: Take 5 photos of things you like, then 5 photos of things you don't like

The World: Colour in your 5 top countries in the world

Lebanon: Mark 5 regions you have visited in Lebanon in the past year

Friends: Draw your network of friends and describe each in 2 words

Glimpse: Use your imagination to write a profile about the people on the cards

Incident: Record a 10 second message telling about an incident in your day

Opinion: Answer in one word, to each word on the back of the cards

Journal: Express yourself every day, each page proposes a different topic

Journal: Draw a map of the journeys you've taken today

Journal: a colour and a symbol that mean something for you

Journal: Your top 3 priorities, and 3 criteria for your lifetime partner

Journal: Your fear... Your dream...

Journal: Your favourites...

'Explorations' kit: Envelope and pencil

© Designed by Joanna Choukeir © Photographed by William Choukeir