I first had trouble coming up with a question for my assignment. I didn't know where to start, but I knew I wanted to concentrate on nutrition and wellness. I ultimately made the choice to research how dieting affects both physical and emotional health. Even with my theme in mind, I nevertheless encountered difficulty creating a coherent plan for my research. I knew I had to interview people, but I didn't know what to ask.
Despite these early difficulties, I made the decision to go right in and start interviewing senior citizens, chefs, and nutritionists in the hopes that their knowledge and experience would help me. However, I soon realized that I hadn't given them any specific questions to respond to. This meant that their responses were sometimes unfocused and not always relevant to my project. Nevertheless, I listened intently and took notes, hoping that I would eventually find a way to weave their insights into my work.
Finally, I decided to approach my project as a full story, rather than simply a series of disconnected interviews. I designed a website that would tell the story of how food impacts our health, and I used the interviews to help support that narrative. By framing the interviews in the context of a larger story, I was able to extract the most valuable insights from each interviewee and present them in a way that was both engaging and informative.
Overall, I learned the value of having a clear plan and guiding questions from this project, but I also learned that sometimes the most insightful ideas come from unexpected sources. I was able to produce a project that I'm pleased of and that accurately represents the variety of viewpoints and experiences that make up the field of food and health by keeping open to new ideas and being willing to change course when necessary.