Foodhall

Day 3: Feedback data

Starting to collect some feedback data now. Trying lots of different methods such as a "foodhall feedback" book, little books dotted round the place for people to express themselves with questions on the front page, "voice men" where i stuck men on a notice board with a pen and asked people to voice their opinions, if they have any suggestions or improvements for foodhall and a box with a yes or no answer. Going to leave this all up for the next month to see if feedback can be gathered using any of these methods. 
I also spoke to individuals, asking them about their experience at Foodhall and developing more of a relationship and getting to know people better. I have learnt that everyone of course is very very different and therefore the way to collect data specifically qualitative data needs to be gathered in different ways. For exapmle, Dean is very open and happy to talk about his past life whereas Martin doesn't want to talk about personal life experiences.

Carrying on

Day 4:

Am going to carry on with the feedback strategies i have implemented so far - I think that by the end of the time I am done (hopefully) the books would have been filled up nicely and feedback given. 

I focussed more today on asking volunteers questions too see how they have been impacted. I did this with a pretty professional looking zoom voice recorder thing thing, was fun. Asked the following questions;

1. when did you start volunteering at FH?

2. Why did you decide to start helping out at FH?

3. Do you think FH has helped you in anyway?

4. What particular aspects of FH has helped in the gaining of these skills?

5. Do you think your life would be different without FH?

6. Do you have any suggestions that you think FH could improve on?

7. Would you recommend volunteering at FH too a friend?

I only got two responses but was great conversations ad learnt a lot about the impact that Foodhall has on the volunteers just by talking to two people. 

I also spoke to Isaac who is in charge of the "plates and asked him some questions" they are as follloweeeddd...

1. Can you give me a brief summary of what plates is?

2. when deciding to create this branch did you have any aims or intentions? 

3. Do you think these aims have been met?

4. How often does plates happen and who usually takes part?

5. How do you think plates could be improved?

One of the problems I had today was that there were lots of NCS kids and so there weren't many volunteers so it was difficult to collect lots of data - however I just listened to all the voice recordings and they're amazing! Such a great way to collect data love love it. Found out some really interesting stuff and theories that can definitely be developed on. 

Day 5:

Did the same thing as i did yesterday in terms of trying to find out more about the impact that FH has on the volunteers. I also conducted a focus group and asked the NCS people what their first impressions of FH is. Felt a little lost and confused because there was so much going on at FH today and forget about my role as a researcher, wanted to try and collect data but found myself sort of helping and chilling and helping out at the culture market and research and then actually not doing any of it so went home and typed up the recordings. Then....... called laura and had a great interview on the phone which is handy. Off too meet Toby in the park too to ask him some questions. Need to type this all up and then input it into the impact report in an easy to read way. HOWEVER just realised i am being very biased! after listening back to mine and Laura's conversations I realised i am putting my own opinion of Foodhall as "great" and this may be influencing what other people are saying. I only do this to try and encourage them to speak more openly. When I say my experience then it sparks up more of a conversation and more data is collected. But yeah I obviously see FH very positively and need to revert back to being more of an impartial researcher so that volunteers don't feel obliged to respond in a socially desirable way. HEADS UP EMs. 

Day 7:

Today was a day to gather consent from people to ask if I am able to use the information in the report. This was quite a lengthy process as I had to individually explain the project, show them what I have used and then ask them to read the information sheet provided and sign the consent form. I spoke to Dean and explained that I used his story on the blog and that I was unsure whether to use it in the actual report or not because I hadn't asked his permission and it was a very personal story. At first, he was a bit annoyed, but I said I would read him what I wrote and if he didn't like it I would be more than happy to delete it and nobody would ever see it. After reading the story that I had put together about his life he really felt touched and got a bit emotional / excited and said he liked it a lot. He gave me permission so was all cool. Everyone seemed happy actually too be a part of it, some people didn't want their names used and one person didn't want their photo used but that's fair enough. 

Day 8:

So today, I took a step back and conversed with people, through observations I was able to get a better grasp of individual's personalities and likes and dislikes in terms of how to sensitively collect data from individuals. Firstly, spoke to man1 (don't want to say his name as I didn't get consent) who told me all about his life. His years in the army (fifteen) trying to make his way to sergeant, which he ended up doing in the end and how his son managed to do this in the space of five years. He went on to explain the lives of his twelve children, two of them who are in prison due to selling crack cocaine and heroin and the other ten who are doing well as doctors etc. He then mentioned his wife of thirty years who, after a night of sleep, woke up to find dead. He's a really strong guy, spoke about this with calmity and has his methods of relaxing such as fishing (which he does only with sweetcorn and is disgusted at his friend who uses maggots and puts them in his mouth before using them as bait to warm them up).

I then spoke to women1 who didn't look good. Her skin was pale, hands brusen, hair greasy and was sweating profusely. She said she had been in a bad place for the past three days and hasn't eaten or drunken since. I understand from other members of Foodhall that she uses. She has mentioned before that the council estate she lives in is very rough with a dealer living right below her who raped her and stuck her crutch up her vagina. I am very worried about women1. She said she is "stuck". She has lost both confidence in herself and her independence and therefore relies on men to help her who treat her badly. Despite this, she religiously comes to Foodhall, making an appearance every Thursday and Friday and has made good friends with people (such as man1) who is a good guy. There is only so much Foodhall can do in this situation, provide the space for her to come in, get some food, feel safe, sit in an armchair, have some support and a glass of water. This is a prime example of Foodhall creating a huge impact on an individuals life. However, this is really difficult to measure - it is unkown to both me and women1 the true impacts that Foodhall has. But after she left she had food in her belly and was able to seek friendly advice, support and see friends. The consequences of Foodhall in this way is powerful but of course difficult to measure. 

Unkown is a bit mad with Foodhall. A little conversation regarding the they wanted more responsibility in the running and organising of FH. They asked a couple years ago to start up a workshop and suggested the idea too Foodhall but they didn't follow through on it. Unkown has made great friends such as Y and Z which is why Unkown comes but Unkown feels as if they haven't been heard and is angry at this. 

I'm not sure why man2 comes to Foodhall, I think for the company and the coffee, he didn't eat any food. He is a super talented guy who makes amazing pieces of artwork.

Man3 made me mad, he asked for a cup of tea whilst I was clearly busy, I explained I was busy and told him to go make himself one if he really wants - he told me "a lady never tells a man what to do". Made me think about the nature of some of the men who come to Foodhall - they can be very patriotic and dominant and talk over each other. This may be one of the reasons why the male to female ratio is so high. I would like to see more women at Foodhall and so would this person...  

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Ideas on how to attract more women