7A - Testing the Hypothesis

Personal Safety Protection

·     Opportunity:

o  As the number of sexual assaults and kidnappings increase in the United States, women and children continue to be at risk and feel unsafe.

§ The who: Women and children in the United States

§ The what:  Women and children are left at risk and feeling unsafe with the growing concern of getting assaulted, kidnapped, or murdered.

§ The why: In the United States, there has been a rise in the crimes against women and children, such as sexual assault and kidnappings.

·     Testing the who: There are definitely others that have this need around the world. Sexual assaults, kidnappings, and murder are prevalent all over the world and do not discriminate between gender, race, ethnicity, or religion. While the opportunity can definitely be applied to men, I feel as if the target market would be more likely to be women and children as they are seen as more vulnerable to attackers and criminals.

·     Testing the what: The boundaries of the need are pretty large as there are many crimes that target women and children. Sexual assaults, kidnapping, murder, etc. are just the main ones that we see on a daily basis here in the US which is why I focused on those specifically. Finding a solution to this problem would be sure to address all of these issues though I am sure.

·     Testing the why: The why’s seemed to stem from feeling unsafe as a result of the current climate in the US surrounding sexual assault, kidnappings, and murder. Women and children tend to be targeted the most as they are seen as more vulnerable, and this creates an environment that makes them feel unsafe, especially when alone or at night. I am sure that this why could certainly apply as well to restraining order situations or domestic violence issues where someone feels unsafe.

·     Interview #1:

o  For this interview, I decided to interview a female junior business student here at UF. She goes out clubbing and to parties a lot so I wanted to capture her insight as to how prevalent this issue is, specifically at night. She says that she is aware of the issue and of the prevalence of crimes committed against women and children. To combat this feeling of being unsafe at night, she makes sure to always go out with friends and to never leave any of them by themselves. They all make sure to go/leave the bars and parties together so that no one in their group is put at risk.  She mentioned the two incidences of rape that recently occurred here on campus as proof of what could happen potentially if they were to be left by themselves at night.

·     Interview #2: 

o  For this interview, I decided to interview a female senior business student at FIU who also likes to go out to bars/parties at night. She mentioned that in Miami she tends to be even more cautious than when she visits Gainesville because of how many girls she has known that have been attacked. She also makes sure to always go/leave with friends and to never leave anyone unaccounted for. I also made sure to ask how she felt on a daily basis when she was by herself and she stated that she sometimes felt in a vulnerable position because if something were to happen, she would not know what to do.

·     Interview #3:

o  For this interview, I decided to interview my next-door neighbor who is a mother of 2 and whose children are currently in middle school. I asked her how she feels about the safety of her children on a daily basis and she mentioned that the world is just getting crazy. She is astonished when she watches the news and hears of all these crimes that are being committed every day. While she does not actively fear for her children’s safety because of the area she lives in, she does always pray that nothing happens to them as the world continues to get crazier every-day. I asked her how she would feel about giving her children jewelry or clothing that functioned similarly to a life alert, contacting law enforcement and providing a GPS location when the distress signal was functioned. She stated that it would be a great concept, but that she would be unsure how effective it would be if her children forgot how to use it or if her children were younger.

·     Interview #4:

o  For this interview, I interviewed a female freshman UF engineering student who is living by herself for the first time. I wanted to make sure to get a perspective from someone who does not go out a lot, but who is living by themselves for the first time. She told me that she is always careful when she goes out to run errands by herself and always is sure to lock up before/after she leaves her apartment.  She is aware of the heinous crimes against women and children and that is why she is always aware of her surroundings. When presented with my idea of personal safety clothing technology, she said that it would actually be a discrete way to let someone know if something is not right. I also had to think about how she stated that if the technology became very popular, how that would impact criminals and their behavior? Would they adjust their methods and destroy the technology or would this technology deter them from committing the crimes in the first place?

·     Interview #5:

o  For my final interview, I decided to interview a male sophomore UF business student about how this issue affects men. He states that he never really feels unsafe, but does feel vulnerable when he is walking by himself at night or when he is under the influence and is walking back home from the bars. He never really worries about getting sexually assaulted or kidnapped, however he does worry about getting robbed or ending up in a situation he should not be in. When presented with my idea of personal safety clothing technology, he stated that he could see it being effective for women, but not so much for men. Robberies are such high-pace crimes that by the time he would activate the distress signal, the crime would have already been committed and there would be nothing that could be done. He mentioned that it would be more effective for people who are afraid of getting kidnapped.

·     Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you did not know before?

o   I learned from my last interview that the pace of the crime would have an impact on how effective my product would be and who my target market would be. This leads me to believe that my product would be most effective against kidnappings or potential assaults on women where a distress signal could be instantly activated and law enforcement could be contacted right away. While men could sometimes be the victims of such crimes, the student I interviewed stated that he would not really feel inclined to purchase a product that solved this issue as he rarely feels unsafe.

o   I learned from interview #4 that the success of the product may not solve the issue, but just force criminals to adjust their methods when committing these crimes. While this is certainly plausible, I still think it would be possible in deterring these crimes from being committed and saving people from dangerous situations based upon the feedback I received. 

o  From interview #3, I learned that the product created to address this issue would have to be simple to use or activate. For children to have this product and understand how to use it, it would need to be very simple to explain and use. Advertising and promoting a solution would be the answer to addressing this concern and just keeping the prototypical user in mind as well when constructing a solution.

o  Overall, I learned that my belief that women and children are continuing to feel increasingly unsafe was valid. All of the girls I spoke to admitted feeling unsafe when alone or at night, and this provides some support for this opportunity. Even the women that did not go out to bars/parties often still admitted feeling unsafe and having to become increasingly aware of her surrounds, making me feel that this is an issue that needs to be solved.