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Ethnographic research with construction workers
Overview
Overview
Background
In India, construction workers often face significant challenges in accessing basic necessities, leading to a lower quality of life for both themselves and their families. This project aimed to reduce these inequalities through design research. and introduction of alternate information dissemination methods, enabling workers to better access their rights and improve their standard of living.
Activities
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Contextual interviews
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User observations
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Affinity mapping
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Insights generation
Tools
Miro
Google sheets
Timeline
4 weeks
Problem space
Insufficient access to satisfy basic requirements, has resulted in reduction of quality of life for construction workers in Pune, India
Inadequate wages
Substandard housing
Insufficient skill development opportunitie
Lack of access to education for children
No health insurance & pension
Problem & Recommendation
Problem
Our research revealed that the lack of availability of information dissemination sources, led to lack of knowledge of government schemes for the workers
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Education, health and housing schemes which aim to enhance the quality of life of construction workers are already are in place in India
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However, the workers aren't aware of the existence of such schemes
What did we do
Suggested the information dissemination through inclusion of infographics about the different schemes, on the packaging of construction materials which the workers are in regular contact with
Suggested the following interventions based on the touch points of the workers during their daily activities:
1
Most workers come in regular contact with new construction materials brought to the site at regular intervals
Include infographics about government schemes packaging of construction supplies
2
All workers sit together after 9:30 PM and watch TV in the single device present in the vicinity
Regular advertising of government schemes through targeted advertising
Why did we give this recommendation?
01 Research details
Location
MITID, Pune (as this location was accessible to us as college students)
Research questions:
1
2
3
4
Built and natural environment
Where do the workers live? What are their living conditions?
Where do the workers work? What are their working conditions?
​Temporal patterns, interactions and activities
What kind of activities do they perform at morning, afternoon and night? How are these different? What are the common patterns in these activities?
Workers concerns
What types of concerns do the workers have? Do these concerns match with the problem areas stated in the aim of the research?
Cultural/social cues which determine their behavior in the space
Are there any particular actions that they perform, which is a result of their environment?
Research details
02 Primary research
Primary research
Method
Primary research using Contextual inquiry, to obtain rich data combining observations and user stories
Conducted observations & 1:1 contextual interviews across multiple 15-20 minutes time slots​ with 4 participants
Since participants in the study were full time workers, they couldn't talk to us at a stretch. To account for this we broke down our interview timing into smaller slots
Data collection
1
Built and natural environment: Lifestyle and working conditions
Key point:
1. Little to no contact with people outside their immediate circle, which includes other workers. The contractor who oversees all the activities at the site gives instruction for the day as a group
Other points
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Workers use of napkins as headscarves to protect their hair from getting tangled in tools/ Don't use any other protective gear
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Kids of the workers are exposed to the dust and chemicals as there are no creche facilities for toddlers
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Workers and their families live in the same vicinity in houses made of tin sheets
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Since workers don't have direct access to electricity, they re-route the town's electricity line to power their devices
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Workers collect water in vessels from the water treatment plant present in the vicinity, to cook, clean and bath
2
Temporal patterns, interactions and activities: Daily schedule
Key points:
1. Everyone come together as a community to watch TV after 9:30 PM on the single TV in the neighborhood
2. All workers have high contact with construction materials brought to the site at regular intervals
Children
13:00-13:30
9:00-13:00
7:00-9:00
6:00-7:00
13:30-18:00
18:00-21:00
21:00-21:30
21:30-23:00
Men
Get ready for work
Work on-site
Lunch break
Work on-site
Have dinner
Relaxing, Watching TV,
Sleeping
Women
Clean, cook, take care of kid, get ready for work
Work on-site
Lunch break
Work on-site
Return home to cook, clean
Have dinner
Get ready for work
Go to site with parent
Lunch break
Go to site with parent
Return home with mother
Have dinner
Relaxing, Watching TV,
Sleeping
Playing, Watching TV,
Sleeping
3
Workers concerns
Key point:
1. Most anxieties and concerns were persistent due to uncertainty in job, lack of access to healthcare, pension and basic education for child to secure their future
"The uncertainty of my job scares me."
"I don't have any pension which will help me when I stop working here."
"I can't pass on anything to my kids to secure their future."
"Healthcare is so expensive...tomorrow if something were to happen to me or my kid I don't know what to do."
"I have difficulty in maintaining the household with an irregular income."
"We are here now...then we will go somewhere else...its been so long since I met my parents, I miss them."
"My kid will have to follow my footsteps."
"My kid doesn't have access to education which will help him live a better life than me."
Other points
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The uncertainty of their job and the lack of pension after retirement, is a concern for most workers as they don't have the capacity to secure their family's future
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Low incomes coupled with expensive healthcare makes day-to-day living mentally taxing
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Lack of access to basic education for their children is guilt inducing as they will inherit a comparable standard of living
4
Cultural and social cues which determine their behavior
Key point: Only the husband owns a phone as he is considered the head of the family, and affordance of more than one phone in the family is low
Other points ​​
While the men work for longer periods of time on-site, overall the women work for longer hours as they also take care of all household and child rearing duties
Data
03 Secondary research
Research on existing solutions
Existing government policies which aim to increase standard of living of workers
Government policies providing basic living necessities like housing, education to workers children, skill development for workers, ration card to buy food at cheaper rates etc are in place for the workers
Skill development, technological up-gradation & certification plan
Food plan scheme
Critical illness scheme
Child benefit plan
Educational assistance to the children of workers
Construction workers housing scheme
Secondary research
Analysis
04 Analysis
First level analysis
Exploring scope for intervention
Primary research
Lack of housing
Lack of permanency in job
Lack of education for kids
Lack of financial corpus for kids
Unsafe environment for kids
Secondary research
Lack of knowledge of government policies like Construction worker housing scheme, Skill development up gradation & certification which they (workers) are entitled to
Problem
Lack of availability of information dissemination sources has led to lack of knowledge of rights
(through govt policies) the workers are entitled to
Unsafe environment for workers
Lack of pension
How might we disseminate information related to government schemes to construction workers, to make them aware of the basic rights they are entitled to, thus increasing their standard of living
Second level analysis
Exploring touch points for information dissemination: Informative packaging of construction materials & Targeted advertising on TV
Workers spend major part of the day in the site, in contact with equipments and materials like hand saw, sand, cement etc which are brought to the site regularly
Scope to work on informative packaging
While within each family, only the husband owns a mobile phone, all the workers come together after 9:30 PM to watch TV
Scope to use TV for advertising about policies
05 Recommendations
Recommendations
Recommendations based on touch-points
Informative packaging
Packaging of supplies handled by workers on a regular basis can have infographics about the various government schemes in regional languages, to help disseminate information directly to the workers
Targeted advertising
Regular advertising of government schemes through targeted advertising on television can be considered, as workers sit together at night after 9:30 PM and watch TV
Reflection
Reflection
Observations play a key role in research as they help in establishing connection to things the participants say
Blending in with the participants context is important while conducting ethnographic research as its makes them feel comfortable
Observing users/participants expressions, subtle actions/ behaviors and their context plays a key role in developing a deeper understanding of the user
Ethnographic research involves taking active steps, like dressing to align with the participant's environment, to make them feel comfortable in engaging with observations and conversations
Getting feedback from users while developing concepts is crucial, as it helps in quickly evaluating its strength
Involving the participants when formulating design solutions is critical, as getting first hand user feedback is invaluable to understand the success of an intervention
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