Primary Research: Interview

Question

1. When was the last time you went camping?
2. What types of camping did you go?
3. How many people were there on your trip?
4. How did you travel to the campground?
5. What items did you bring with you?
6. Was the space enough for you to fit all the belongings?
7. Would you consider vehicles with additional storage, the frunk, if given chance?
8. How do you think the frunk will change how you pack for the trip?
9. What types of items would you store in a frunk if you had one?
10. How do you think your overall camping experience might change with the addition of this extra storage?

Analysis

For my primary research, I interviewed one of my survey participants, Angelina, a senior welding engineering student from Taiwan. Her last camping experience was at an RV camp two years ago back in Taiwan. There were eight total people in their group, and they separated into three groups; each group drove an SUV to the campground. They brought food, drinks, snacks, and personal belongings with them. She said that three SUVs could fit all their belongings. However, it’s very tight, and they barely made it. She answered yes when asked if she would consider EVs with additional storage area. She said that she would rearrange everything if she got the frunk space for storage. She would put foods and drinks in the frunk to ensure safety and prevent the smells from spreading in the car. She said that the frunk would help improve the overall camping experience. The more storage space means, the more stuff she could bring. She also mentioned that it was fortunate that they didn’t have to worry about tents and other camping gear because they would definitely run out of space and would have to figure out other transportation methods.

Some takeaways from this interview are:

1. Camping is an activity that requires a lot of storage space.
2. Group camping can take up more space; three SUVs can barely fit all their belongings.
3. Placing foods with smells in the frunk is an intelligent choice for people who don’t like smells in their cars.
4. Limited space affects what campers bring; they planned to bring more things but the space was limited.
5. The frunk area can release more space and enhance comfort.

Future Research Plan

I have talked to some of my friends, and we plan to go camping sometime in October. This will be very valuable for my research because I can gain personal experience as a camper to see how important the storage areas are. If things eventually don’t turn out well, I’ll conduct more surveys to see different people’s insights. I could also visit the campground without actually camping there to see how people interact and use their cargo storage area.