Shadowing is a method of observing people in their natural setting. It involves following a person or group of people as they go about their daily activities, in order to gain insight into their behavior and experiences. Shadowing can be done in person, online or in the field.

Both interviewing and shadowing can provide rich and detailed data about people's experiences and perspectives. They can be used together or separately depending on the research question and the context of the study.

Singaporeans

We have chosen to do specifically a semi-structured interview as this would allow use some level of flexibility to ask questions according to the participant’s responses. Interviews would also allow us to obtain insights to find out what improvements we can make from there as well.

Survey:
We want to conduct surveys with visitors of supermarkets, to find out if they buy local produce. 

Since it is a quantitative research method, we want to obtain information describing of a large sample of different visitors who visits supermarket. It is more towards demographics and their feedback as a consumer.

-How are the foreign workers and Singaporeans interacting? 

-What are the common activities, events or items do they both interact on frequently

-Are the foreigners putting in efforts to interact with the locals?

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What is it about: Firstly, the NIC was set up in April 2009. The NIC's main aim was to bridge the gap between the foreigners and the Singaporeans. Some of their goals is to educate the newcomers (Immigrants) about the Singaporean cultures and social norm. To do this, they distributed handbooks at major touchpoints such as ICA to educate the foreigners. Furthermore, NIC also introduced the Singapore Citizen Journey in 2011 which aimed to deepen the foreigners coming into Singapore about the history and language. ​

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Is it effective: The above initiatives are effective to a certain extent. For instance, educating foreigners about Singapore before they fully integrate is a great way to start their journey in Singapore. Most foreigners come with minimal knowledge of Singapore's history and general culture. ​

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Thus, education is certainly effective. However, after learning about Singapore's social culture and passing the test given, there is no guarantee that foreigners may actually pay any attention to it after they have received their citizenship successfully. Thus, the method of education may only work so far. ​

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What is it about: Singapore has been practicing festive events of one another's culture together in common spaces. In fact,  in 2022, Chinese new year was celebrated with migrant workers located at Penjuru Recreation Centre. The migrant workers tried and ate CNY related traditional foods and as well as played games together with the Singaporeans. ​

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Is it effective: In my opinion, this is a very effective method. Introducing a foreigner to Singapore's culture through such festive events and foods can create a very positive impression on them. They will be more motivated and enthusiastic to try out the different games and foods. While having fun at the same time, they will also be able to gain so much more knowledge about the different cultures in Singapore and what they would do on their respective festive events. ​

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What is it about: Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center study. People can find different places of worship based on their religion. Such as temples, mosques, church, and synagogues​

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Is it effective: I would say that this method is quite effective. For people who are religious, one of the things they considered before coming to a foreign country would be the location to do their prayer. Having a specific religious temple would make them feel more inclusive.​

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What is it about: Singapore has a diversity of food, and people can find a variety of food in the shopping mall. For hawker centers, to ensure that everyone can have their food choice they sell at least 3/4 of different cuisines.​

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Is it effective: It is effective for foreigners that just arrived in Singapore. They haven't adapted to the local food culture and would like to have a taste of their hometown food. Allow them to feel included and doesn't feel left out.​

In a multi-disciplinary team,​

Caters to user-centred design ​

Have data and testing to guide​

Prioritizes on the end-to-end experience​

- Certification

- Singapore's Food Farms

- Urban Farming

- Certification

- Singapore's Food Farms

- Urban Farming

Education:
In Schools:

Provide hands on activities where students are taught to plant and grow, cook vegetables that they grow.

Local farm partner with school to provide food resources to the school

Lessons about gardening

There’s exhibition to raise the awareness of food insecurity, provide information about what can be done to stop food insecurity

Spread awareness using social media platform like TikTok, Instagram, etc to promote about local produce 

Partnerships between local farms and businesses : Local farms supply local produce to hospitals to cater to patients and staff.


Singapore:

Education

Paper craft activities to learn about the types of produce

Give plant starter kit for students to learn and experience the difficulties of growing plants, for them to learn how to appreciate food.

To raise awareness on initiatives, current issues faced and types of local produce. 

A set of display columns which provide information on food security and food safety issues, and learn how Singapore is making use of such issues to ensure safe and secure food for all. These columns  can be set up and displayed at any location without charge, assuming they are still available.

Research Method: Semi-Structured Interview​

Rationale: Conducting an interview will allow my team to gain qualitative insights which will help us to understand the possible challenges that foreigners face and what are their thoughts and opinions. Semi-structured allows us to have some level of flexibility in asking follow up questions to understand more about their response. ​

Target Participant(s): Foreigners who are working in Singapore​

Screener Question:​

Questions:
What is your overall experience in Singapore? ​

Do you think you are adapting well to Singapore's culture​​

Have you been to any local events/workshops organized specially to help you integrate into Singapore? ​​If yes, why? If no, why not?

Apart work, what made you come to Singapore?​

What do you generally do in your free time?​