Reflective journal in June

Reflective journal in June

20150102

Jungeun KIM

The research aim was identifying cause of falls for female elderly and developing functional wear to reduce fall risk, and last semester, I thought, my research goal would be protecting hip fracture, and I made a prototype to protect hip fracture, but I needed to extend my thinking space, and I’m trying to extend even now, but still I’m stuck in a hip fracture.

In June, I spent a time organizing research data by open coding and doing a couple of research, overall, I did lots of things in last semester but those things are complex to determine final concept and so it is very difficult to find proof, before this semester, I thought, I’m almost done in my research work, and I was quiet pleased by that, and then naturally, I thought, I can start ideation using data analysis, but ideation isn’t so easy as I’d think, I couldn’t figure out why ideation didn’t go on smoothly, since then I lost the self-confidence I once had, and then, In the class, I learnt the new way to organize my research data by coding, I hope coding can get me out of a slump.

So I started the coding, of course, I went through many trials and errors, such as I was unfamiliar with program which can do coding in computer, so I spent a lot of time learning a program, but after I realized it wasn’t big deal, the real big deal was I disliked the whole my research results from start to finish, that feeling was I never felt before the coding.

When I did open coding, firstly, I organized data what I’ve done step by step from the beginning, and I thought, open coding makes me study my works in its broader aspects, as a result. I collected codes more than 200, it seemed much greater than I had expected and also I finished making Axial coding, which was started from complexity of causes of falling, and Functional clothing to protect falls as below,

                   Category                                  Sub-category                                  Concept

External Causes	Object	Objects in daily use such as Walking Assist Device, furniture, etc. can be causes of falling.
		Objects in daily use such as Walking Assist Device, furniture, etc. can be ways to prevent falling.
	Outdoor Environment	A lot of obstacles that cause fall during travel exist in outdoor environment.
		Risk of falling increases with time. (Season, time)
	Indoor Environment	A fall occurs frequently in familiar daily environment.
Internal Causes	Aging	Physical problems caused by physical deterioration due to aging (Sight, balance, walk, musculoskeletal function, cardiovascular function)
	Fear	Fear of falling hinders activity and mobility, which then becomes a cause of falling.
Lack of cognition	Expert	Insensibility of falling from inexperienced experts
		Problem of lack of convergence from inexperienced experts
	Fall Risk in the Elderly	Lack of knowledge versus the interest in prevention of fall
		Absence of cognition in various methods of fall injury protection

Product Satisfaction	Functionality	Function of protecting a hip joint	Priority to the protection of a hip joint, which is the part of the most vulnerable to death. But disregard the possibility of fracture on other parts
		Limitation of existing protection	Necessity of protective pads’ function and prevention
	Usability	Difficulty in washing due to unpliable pad desorption	Disregard user experience
		Uncomfortable process of wearing	Disregard physical feature of the elderly
	Wearability	Uncomfortable stock size
Social Satisfaction	Mobility	Indispensable outdoor activity	Discomforts of wearing hip fracture,  during outdoor activity
	Aesthetic	Protruding appearance	Willing to wear protective pads for safe outdoor activity, but reluctant to be known to others due to its unique appearance
Self Satisfaction	Psychological (Emotional)	Susceptibility of using ‘elderly’	Body ages, but still youthful mind
		Resistant to word ‘disease’
		Desire of youth
	Practical (Rational)	Choice in wearability rather than aesthetic factor.	Put wearability ahead of aesthetic factor due to limitation of the product that considered physical features of the elderly
		Consideration on economics raised by concern on price	Consumption for healthy life
		Desire of living

I found out category of causes of falling were divided 6 words such as external causes, internal causes, lack of cognition, product satisfaction, social satisfaction and self satisfaction. And then, functionality, usability, wearbility, mobility, aesthetic, psychological and practical were gathered in sub-category.

I figured out key point from coding, which were first thing is priority to the protection of a hip fracture, which was the part of the most vulnerable to death, but that can be easy to ignore the possibility of fracture on other parts of body from falls, so it is necessary to expand protecting area by protective pads’ function and prevention for other part of body except hip fracture. Second thing was existing clothing doesn’t user’s physical features and their own experience such as discomforts of wearing hip fracture during outdoor activity so I realized that they willing to wear functional clothing to protect from falls (protective pads) for safe outdoor activity, but unwilling to be known to others due to its unique appearance, such as a projecting pad. Last thing was Body ages, but still youthful mind, stay young is basic human need, but usually elderly people chose wearability first when they buy clothes, ahead of aesthetic factor due to limitation of the product that considered physical features of the elderly group, and when they spend money for fashion, they tend to be fascinated by healthy life. And most importantly what I found out was complexity of various causes of falling that varies by individuals instead of one simple cause and damage of falling hinders activity and mobility, which then becomes a cause of falling and self-satisfaction Falling Protection Clothes that are personalized and can dissolve damage of falling.

It seems to well-organized work, but I wasn’t happy, I didn’t feel refreshed, I felt so empty, I was anxious that it might be wrong, because I couldn’t feel what I want to communicate to and which is more important than the other, I real concerned about there was no content in my work. unfortunately, I was afraid, if I didn’t get the point in research? those thoughts put me under a lot of stress. All of the process wasn’t clear, but I didn’t want to remove all of the my research work, of course, I couldn’t go back to the beginning of the second semester, that’s physically impossible, but actually, that’s not real reason, I honestly thought, I did my best during the research process, I put a lot of effort into my work, I always cared about feasibility of my work, so many time I asked myself questions such as why I have to do this project? why I have to interview with this person? why I asked this question for them? why I have to go this place? I didn’t do any thing roughly, everything what I’ve done have a reason, even though I’m not satisfied with my work, even though I’m confused about what's the right thing to do here. but I realized that I don’t have enough time I won't waste more time beating myself up over it, also, I thought, all I know is, whatever I do, it's not good enough, so I decided to do Axial coding one more time, the different things than previous open coding was focusing on real thing, do not do everything. Before, all of the work, that meant a lot to me so I tried to manage to do all of the things, of course, every process was meaningful and that have reasons and facts, but I need to focus on specific area, narrow and deep. For example, no more protecting hip fracture, why I can’t stray hip fracture, I need to remove a boundary line, anyhow, if I would make clothing to protect hip fracture, and it can be correct, but there is no one correct, but still I’m stuck in a hip fracture, I need to get rid of hip fracture at this moment.

To sum up, as time goes by, as the research progressed, everything has become more and more complex. After I finished re-coding, I don't know how satisfying that would be, but I just want to be happy with my work, even becoming a time consuming, I will a summary in a moment.