I had a really useful meeting with Sarah to discuss how I could make the next stage of my project more focused. A key piece of advice was to take my wider research question and divide it into three clear research threads, rather than continuing to explore autism and travel as one broad subject.
This gives me a much stronger structure for the next stage of research.
Ben mentioned in his lecture that we need to stick with three research threads and i was struggling with my research recently, so Sarah and I decided its time to set in stone three research threds that we can use to keep things clear
The first area will investigate what is already being designed to support autistic adults travelling independently by air.
This could include:
I also want to revisit my earlier idea around an AI-generated or virtual airport experience, where someone could practise parts of the journey before travelling, such as navigating security, unpacking a bag or understanding an unfamiliar airport environment. I like the idea of using VR to experience a country without really going there. I'm sure I found something on this earlier, but thought the idea was too unsafe and risky. But after my talk with Sarah today, I think the scary ideas are the ones I should be jumping into.
However, Sarah stressed that I should not begin the research with a product already in mind. Instead, I need to understand what currently exists, whether it is sufficient and where the gaps are.
The second thread will focus directly on autistic adults and their experiences of international air travel.
This will combine my secondary research with primary research to understand: