Group project - Discovery Phase

My group member：

• Olivia Hennessey

• Raewyn Zhao

• Tadhana Lagrimas

Before I reflect on assignment 3, I would like to say it was enjoyable teamwork for me, and I am very grateful to be a team member with them. Everyone contributed to the group. We work together and help each other.

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Stage one - Initial problem finding：

First of all, we wrote about the problems you face as UOA students in class. We wrote down some common issues, such as time management, lack of storage cabinets, etc. At the same time, there are some different problems, such as the difficulty of finding a parking space, communication barriers caused by culture and so on. I thought it was a helpful session and gave me a lot of extra ideas. I came up with some new ideas by looking at my team members' questions.

Under the collision of inspiration, we found the problem that the whole group wanted to solve together:

Lack of nourishing & healthy food. (Hall food is majority fatty carbs etc. Need more options)

Personally, my family and I live about half an hour's drive from school. So a normal phenomenon is that I have to eat lunch at school. But food choices around the school are scarce, especially the lack of healthier options. It is reasonable to eat fast food occasionally, but eating fast food in the long term can have many adverse health effects, such as a higher risk of obesity, depression, or digestive issues, etc. Frequency matters when it comes to its impact on your health (Brissette, 2018).

Stage two - Observation/ Photojournal:

To better confirm whether other UOA students face the same problems as us, our group decided to conduct Secondary research and Survey to investigate.

Photojournal:

- Food served at halls:

We interviewed some UOA students, and their common attitude toward food choices at UOA was "little choice and little variation," so they sometimes had to buy food from a vending machine.

One student said; "The food options here are poor with not much to choose from. Most of the meals involve straight carbs and not many vegetarian options, making a choice more difficult. I spend more of my money eating out than I do on other necessities." - Student One, UniHall, 2021.

Another student stated; "Flame Tree caters for prisons, makes sense." - Student Two, UniHall, 2021.

And another; "Flame Tree repeat their meals too much, there is not enough variety to support our diets." - Student Three, UniHall, 2021.

Another stated; "The food is either way too dry or way too soggy. I usually end up having to get a snack from the vending machine for dinner instead." - Student Four, UniHall, 2021.

And lastly; "There is not enough variation with the meats we are given. It is typically chicken. We need more red meats for our protein. It's just not enough." - Student Five, UniHall, 2021.

Undeniably, since our interview is only for students in Unihall, the interview answers are limited to some extent. Therefore, we did a broader survey, which will be for all UOA students.

Also, we did some secondary research in Munchy Mart, Starbucks and Subway. (St Pierres not allowed to take photos). The following photos are the food shores around UOA:

- Munchy Mart:

Most of the foods in Munchy Mart are fast foods and snacks. The price of fruits is higher than in supermarkets.

- Starbucks:

Starbucks has very few food choices. By lunchtime, most of the bread was sold out, leaving only a few desserts.

- Subway:

Subway has a wide menu, and consumers can choose their own ingredients to eat healthily. But Subway has to wait for a long time by lunchtime. Many people leave because they don't want to wait.

There are our survey and responses：

Observation：

We found that 19 of the 24 students in our population don’t live in University accommodation, and 5 do.

The majority of students spend $10-$30 on food per day.

Most students (14) tend to eat two meals per day, whereas a minority of students (4) tend to eat one full meal a day.

The majority of students buy take-away food a few times a week, and another large group of students buy takeaway once a day.

The majority of students (17) purchase food from takeaway stores due to convenience.

45.8% of students get food from the supermarket or takeaway stores a few times a week, 41.7% of students did it once a day, and the rest of them did it twice a day.

66.7% of students believe that healthier food is more expensive than unhealthy food.

The majority of students (25%) believe these foods are at 5 on a healthiness scale of 1 to 10.

Over 80% of students want to have healthier food in uni if there was an option.

59% of students would be interested in trying a new food option if they were provided with it or had the option to purchase it.

Stage three - Initial problem analysis：

Why do we want to change/fix this problem?

• To provide an alternative to a student's diet.

• To promote healthiness (both for food options + how much students eat bc our diets can be really bad)

Why does this problem exist?

• Unhealthy foods are often cheaper and more accessible, so people are more likely to buy them (for students on a budget)

Insight：

• Students want to be eating healthier food options but lack the motivation or financial ability to afford these options.

• Students heavily rely on these takeaway shops because of the convenience in location, pricing and options.

• Students don’t have enough time to eat healthily and rely on quicker, less healthy options.

• Students tend to spend the majority of their income on food daily. Leaving them with a lesser financial ability to purchase other goods.

• Students living in university accommodation tend to have more time exploring healthier options because of easier accessibility.

Stage four - Discovery phase summary：

As a collective, we determined that we wanted to stop this issue from occurring as much, potentially providing an alternative to students' diets. We want to promote healthiness, as it is important when students are nourished and receive the right proteins to keep their health at a maximum. We also determined that this problem exists because unhealthy foods are often cheaper and more accessible. Therefore students on a tight budget are more likely to purchase these goods.

References:

Brissette, C., 2018. Available at: <https://www.theoaklandpress.com/lifestyles/health/this-is-your-body-on-fast-food/article_32ef33ce-f609-5768-aad6-2176c069fb61.html#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20effects%20of%20eating,%2C%20cancer%2C%20and%20early%20death.