One word: EXHASUTED

Today we had a brief discussion of how the festival went and how well our data was from the survey we got. We spent the rest of the day learning how to use SPSS software to develop the data from the surveys conducted at the OC PI Festival. I thought the hard part was putting together the surveys and getting people to fill it out… I was wrong.. the data entry is 10x as much work..and so time consuming..Luckily there are TWO researchers working on this project..lol..

Recap of PIF OC

Saturday Septmeber 19, 2009 7am-530pm & Sunday September 20, 2009 9am-600pm

This weekend was an eye opening experience especially collaborating with different Pacific Islanders. Assisting with the Samoan booth was also rewarding with the ability to express the culture through demonstrations and artifacts. It was one of the best festivals I have ever been a part of. The whole atmosphere was positive and a new experience especially here in Orange County.
Saturday was very busy and there was never a dull moment. There was always something going on, if it wasn’t a performance on stage, there were demonstrations at one of the booths or music just playing with people relaxing and dancing. Many people left for a while and returned with more people.
Sunday was not as intense in the morning as Saturday because of the experience from the previous day of setting up. The 1st few hours of the day consisted of worship services, gospel teams and praise by the different cultures (Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesia). Things began to get busy around 12pm and the crowds began to come in the hundreds. The venue was filled with Pacific Islanders and other ethnicities. Luckily, I had the support of more people (interns, OCAPICA/WINCART employees, volunteers) to help conduct these surveys.
The weekend was busy yet rewarding because of the comments and praises the whole entire event received from attendees passing by. This event brought together the older and younger generations together of the many different ethnicities and cultures.

Did you encounter barriers to getting respondents?
Saturday.
Some barriers in getting respondents were the lack of man power on my behalf. Many people in attendance were more than willing to fill out the surveys, but I was not able to handle the amount of surveyed all at once. I had trouble maintaining a stable, organized table because of how many people was interested and surrounding the booth. It was difficult because I was also participating with the Samoan booth’s demonstrations, so manning the booth was a trouble that day.
There were not too many barriers for myself, but maintaining order was a difficult objective that could have caused many valid candidates/surveyors to go elsewhere.
Sunday.
The majority of the surveys were conducted on Sunday. We had over seven volunteers that were either interns located at GCN or family friends. This support was much needed and it was very important in order to get a better pool size of volunteers. I could have improved tremendously if I developed a set “script” for the volunteers to have or if a hand bag was available for them instead of coming back to the booth after 1 survey. Overall the event was a success in my eyes and there wasn’t too much negative reaction to the cause.
Did you have issues with people completing surveys?
Saturday & Sunday
Only a handful of people did not have the interest in filling out the survey, but the majority of people were willing and very supportive of the survey. Some of the people filling out the surveys did not look to see if there was a second page of the survey. Many people contradicted themselves in some of the questions. For example an age category of 20-24; on Medicaid for 22 years. This might be questionable if we want to use this survey or not.
Did people make comments on the survey questions?
The question with responses ranged from different occupations, reason for no health care, place born, health insurance, Who pays portion of cost of plan, not having health insurance in the last 12 months, ”ribitbit” native Marshallese healer, appealing to health insurance reasons dot have usual source of health care.
Many of these questions will be helpful in determining what other options we can put down for people to check off. A few people taking the survey wrote in their own answers and check marked their own box (i.e. question of: “Do you understand what’s in your plan? Answer: Sorta)
Here is a breakdown of this weekend’s surveys.
38 w/ additional info. ( These surveys consisted of info about additional info for better coverage, etc.)
32 no additional info. (These surveys simply answered the questions with check marks and no additional info)
18 Non-PI (These surveys were filled out by Asian, Pilipino, Caucasian, Mexican, Puerto Rican ethnicities.
88 Total surveys completed. (The total surveys conducted this weekend)
22 extra surveys.(These were surveys left over once the completion of the last performance on Sunday 19, 2009
110 total surveys (60 started with; 50 copies made)
Positive Things from the event:
- Ability to show the community that we are Pacific Islanders doing the work/research. Able to educate the Pacific community. (ability to show the community that there is work being done.
- Networked w/ other NPO/vendors (Developed connections with other NPO and vendors)
- Exposure to the community (Good networking w/ other cultures)
- Poster/name tags/ table was very decorative. (People were blown away at the table
Improvements for PIFA
- Being on time & working together. (Helping each other by being on time is crucial)
- Clear definition of what the Goal, mission and outcome of the survey (“Script”)
- Organization (needs to be a clear understanding of everyone’s responsibilities)
- More copies of surveys (ran out 2 hours into the 2nd day)
- Survey too length (maybe 1 page?)
- More specific questions, less “wordy”
- Volunteers (clarification of actual schedules, goals and timed deadlines.)
- Know the logistics of the event BEFORE

Getting ready for the Orange County Pacific Islander Festival in Huntington Beach!!

Today we were busy finalizing the survey & getting down the logistics of the event. We also spent the day making a banner.

Kushbinder went to Costco today to pick up our incentives and equipment that we need for the surveys. Here is a list of all our supplies:

1. 8 packs of 36 water,

2. 8 boxes of granola bars and candy,

3. 16 clipboards,

4. a box full of pens and pencils,

5. WINCART banner

6. HCAPI Banner

7. 60 surveys & consent forms

8. 100 information bags with CSUF SPICA info

9. Name tags for volunteers

My car was lowered 4 inches because of how much is in the car.. lol. Today went well..we got a lot done and Hopefully tomorrow goes smooth.

Putting in WORK!!

Today we are finalizing the survey that will be conducted at the PI festivals in Orange County & San Diego. The survey consists of 30 questions related to health care use, health insurance & demographics of the individual. This experience has been more than interesting and I am really taking this field into consideration for a career in the future. The research done on Pacific Islanders specifically is surprisingly limited especially related to health issues.

Today Lena finished working on getting the information of the IRB down and I spent the rest of the day finishing up the survey and the consent form.

We also went into detail of what incentives we could give to the volunteers doing the surveys. Some ideas that came up:

1. Bottle waters

2. Cheap Leis

3. Wheel of prizes

4. Candy

5. Granola Bars

6. Photo ID (need Camera though)

7. Drawing

8. Info bags

9. Raffle tickets (maybe give away 10 movie tickets throughout the day)

Logistics

1. Pens/ Pencils/markers

2. Banner

3. 4-5 clipboards

4. Table(s)

5. Additional Volunteers (maybe)

6. Copies of surveys

7. Tent

8. Table cover (WINCART banner)

9. Times/shifts

10. Buckets/cooler of water

11. Shirts for investigators

12. Radio

13. Ride situation

Today was a busy yet productive day. I was glad that we got the majority of things completed today so that we can focus on small things on Friday. I had contacted aunty ka’ala to confirm everything for the festival and things will be up and running by Friday night. Alright enough for today, I am exhausted.