Development of life study method using touch

Abstract

Purpose : Most of life-style surveys rely heavily on visual perception. However, the balanced utilization of sense is essential in healthy human development. In this paper, the author focused on tactile sense, and developed a new procedure to study subject's life.
Methods : The following empirical rules were obtained through experiential education trials in Fukuoka University from 1997 ; (1) Think about life by tactile sense, (2) Use haptic glance, (3) Reflect life from objects, and (4) Let systemic arrangement of objects reveal characteristic of lifestyle. These rules were combined with Two-Dimensional Mapping (TDM) procedure, and Haptic TDM was developed.
Results : Three visually impaired subjects were asked about their life using Haptic TDM as cues to think and reflect. All subjects completed their Haptic TDM within 15 minutes, and started to talk and narrate about their lifestyle. To assess the meaning of tactile cue in comparison to verbal cue, seven students with normal vision reflected their daily life by hearing words (such as meal) and touching daily objects (such as spoon). Spoken words tend to trigger the general image of life style, and touched objects tend to trigger the relatively narrow and specific image of life style. Students admitted that their hidden dimension of lifestyle was revealed by Haptic TDM.
Conclusion : Haptic TDM is concluded as a narrative research method utilized both of sighted people and visually impaired people.