Special Interest

Primary Research: Interviews

For my primary research, I conducted six-minute interviews with three parents to better understand how the surrounding environment outside the car can affect the family experience during a ride. I wanted to explore how things like scenery, cities, traffic, buildings, and unfamiliar places influence what children notice and how families experience their time together in the car. I asked parents similar questions about the environment and compared their responses to understand what environmental factors seemed to have the biggest influence.

What things outside the car catch your family's attention?

Parents described different things in the environment that catch their children's attention. Animals were mentioned by more than one participant, while others talked about buildings, colors, and unusual or funny things happening outside.

Participant 1: Some of the things that we see outside do make us question like the buildings or the area that we drive through.

Participant 2: When we see a cow or a horse, that's what catches their attention. Different colors, of course.

Participant 3: If we see something funny, like someone doing something funny or animals.

These responses showed me that visual changes and unexpected things in the environment can naturally capture children's attention during the ride.

Do different environments change the family experience?

I also asked parents whether environments such as cities, nature, traffic, or unfamiliar places change how their family interacts during a ride.

Participant 1: If we go in a long car ride the topics and discussion will vary from funny stories to educational sometimes, to games.

Participant 2: I've noticed that in traffic, we talk a lot because there's like less to do.

Participant 3: During traffic, we talk a lot more because we're sitting still. I think bigger cities also have like cooler things to look at.

This was interesting because the environment did not affect every family in exactly the same way, but parents repeatedly described traffic, cities, longer rides, and changing surroundings as factors that can influence what happens inside the car and how family members interact with each other.

How could the car use the environment around it?

Finally, I wanted to understand whether the surrounding environment could become more than something families simply look at. I asked how the car could use what is around it to create an experience that the family could participate in together.

Participant 1: If we can have a technology interact with the family and the car, that'll be great.

Participant 3: If I was driving through an area and the car gives us a drawing or an animation of it, it's almost like a conversation prompt.

Overall, the interviews helped me understand that the environment outside the car can influence the experience happening inside it. Animals, buildings, colors, traffic, cities, and changing scenery can capture children's attention and create opportunities for curiosity, conversation, and interaction. The interviews also made me interested in exploring how the vehicle could respond to its surroundings and make the outside environment a more active part of the family experience.