Further Investigation

Although we managed to gather about 6 contacts, only 2 replied to our request for the arrangement of an in-depth interview. Recruiting participants wasn’t easy as some were unresponsive whereas others do not seem to be facing any social issues or problems after a further chat. However, we do understand that it might seem a little intrusive to have them chat with us for an hour or they simply just do not have the time to talk to us as they have more important problems to focus on in their lives.Therefore, we decided to go for a second round of door-to-door interviews in the estates around Bukit Panjang, Buangkok and Hougang. From the multiple door-to-door interviews that we have conducted, we have come to realize some general trends of issues that residents commonly face around the various estates.

Having garnered more experience from our first round of door to door interviews, we have learnt to be more careful and sensitive with the words we use when interacting with the residents, and on the various probing questions that could allow us to engage with them better. However, we still faced difficulties in getting the participants to elaborate and share more about other potential problems that they may be facing as some tend to be too engrossed and focused on one particular issue, and it wasn’t easy to overcome that. Such interviews serve as valuable experiences as we continue to learn from each resident we interact with, and it is especially encouraging whenever we meet welcoming residents who invited us into their flats for a short chat.

(Conducting of door-to-door interviews)

Findings from the West region (Bukit Panjang)

Bukit Panjang was a relatively new area that we were interested to find out more about. Based on our observations, we noticed a couple of single mums living with their children there and also some families that were living there temporarily as they were waiting for their BTO flat to be ready. We were quite surprised that residents living in rental flats might not be in conditions that we had assumed them to be in, and some were merely living there as a temporary alternative.

(The Buangkok Estate)

Findings from the Northeast region (Buangkok, Hougang)

Majority of the residents are the elderly and there is little interaction between them and their neighbours. Interestingly, we noticed that there was a row of terrace houses opposite the rental flat in Hougang, reminding us of the huge income gap Singapore faces, as well as how poverty still exists in an economically-developed city like Singapore, although nobody really knows what problems another fellow Singaporean is facing. We also observed that rental flats are almost always situated near an organizations or religious site such as temples, mosques and elderly centres. In comparison, Buangkok is a much newer estate than Hougang.

(The Hougang Estate)

Learning from Uncle John* (P1)

Within the same week, we also conducted our first in-depth interview with Uncle John. Uncle John is a friendly man, who was open to talking to us and invited us into his house the first time we met him while going door to door trying to recruit participants for our interview. One of our most vivid memories of him was when he asked us to take a look at the braised pig trotters cooked by him, which he was proud of.

We had a fairly easy first interview since Uncle John was very willing to share about his life. However, during the in-depth interview, we felt that the greatest problem we faced was being a little too sensitive, where we were afraid to ask certain questions, which could have given us more depth to his story. Hopefully we would be able to iron out some of the details of his story the next time we visit him. Despite having conducted many interviews for previous modules as well as during internship, we realised that it is very much easier to ask someone about the problems that they have overcame, as compared to asking someone about the problems that they are currently facing.

(Uncle John shared about his story)

As a token of appreciation for taking up our interviewee’s time, we bought a box of grapes for him, but only to realise that he still has half a packet of grapes that is drying up. Instead, he told us that he appreciated our gesture and getting him wo curry puffs on our next visit would suffice. At the end of our interview, he gave us a book written and published by him, although he dejectedly shared that the publisher failed to bring enough sales. Wanting a quirky touch, he titled his book “Short Pants No Underwear”. It was, very unfortunately mis-categorized into the Gay section of Amazon and Kindle. He even wrote us a note, that every moment in life is a story.

(“Short Pants No Underwear” written by Uncle John)

*name has been changed to protect individual privacy.

#indepthinterviews #stories #takeaway