These past weeks, I've dedicated my capstone time to gathering interviews and survey results to fully form the research around my capstone topic. So far, I've interviewed 2 stakeholders, 1 expert, and 2 potential users and am on the route to interview 1 more expert and 1 more user. There is always the potential for more interviews and discussions, but I feel this amount would give me a good foundation to start ideating solutions from.

Along with interviewing, I created a quick 5-minute survey regarding childhood memory retention, asking respondents about if they have childhood memories and whether they felt emotionally safe with either their caregivers or other adults around them. My goal for this survey was to identify whether the emotional environment appeared to have an affect on childhood memory retention. I also wanted to see the general prevalence of childhood memory loss and whether dissociation continued to be a problem from childhood to adulthood.

So far I have gotten 50 responses – which is awesome! This will allow me to create flushed out data visualizations, provide further insights for infographics / diagrams, and help discover more potential user interviews.

Link to research survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMzswrz7VAE6dwZTSHQLw_ccFezZLrKKX6sIzr0Pc_fh8TQQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&usp=mail_form_link

Lastly, I began The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. As this book talks about the complex effects of trauma and how it can live with you and in you, I am utilizing this as a literary resource in conjunction with my primary research.

My goals for the next month include continuing to schedule + complete the last set of interviews along with writing transcripts of each. Once finished, I can start gathering insights and creating graphics to visualize my research.