9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

1. The interviews: The first person I interviewed is a stay-at-home mom who told me that she wakes up around 7 every morning to walk the dog and start the day. I asked her if she uses an alarm to wake up and she says she does but doesn't always need to rely on it. She said she had slept through her alarm before, rarely albeit, but it had happened. She says that she has trained her internal clock to wake up at around this time just about every morning now because she has to, she didn't have a choice. She said that the product would probably be a good thing for her kids, but she herself would not need it because she wakes up fine already. I interviewed two coworkers who have to report to work every day by 7:30. They both said at first this was hard for them to adjust themselves to doing. One of them said he hadn't needed to be consistently up at that time since high school, and the other said he was just never a morning person. I asked them both how they adjusted to the early wake-up call that they have to deal with. One of them said that it took a lot of time to get used to the change, he said that he had to set multiple alarm clocks to wake himself up and it took him a couple of months to get adjusted and did sleep through alarms in the past. Both of them now say that they are comfortable with getting up at that time and struggle to sleep-in when they don't have to be up at 7:30. They said that the product is good and they may have been able to use it earlier in life but neither one of them would purchase it now. The last two people I interviewed was a retired couple. Obviously, these people were those who may not have this need and I wanted to talk to them and see what they thought about it. The wife told me that she said normally doesn't sleep very late, but that there are also times when she does need to wake up earlier than she normally does, she said the product wouldn't be something she would pursue because she feels that if she has to get up earlier, than the alarm clock is enough.  The husband, however, said that the product would indeed be useful to him. He said that sometimes he sets the alarm incorrectly and does still have to wake up early for miscellaneous things. This product is something that seems simple to him and he said he would always wake up with the motion. Now the question becomes, how would we be able to have it for one person and not the other if they are in the same bed. These were my findings with the people who may not have this unmet need and I wasn't all that surprised by the information. I thought it was interesting that one person wanted it and one didn't who sleep in the same bed. I also am aware that many people have built-in internal clocks to wake themselves up early and this product would not really be for them. This would reach the people who are probably younger or who are deep sleepers and have trouble waking up to just sound.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is In: People who have trouble with waking up early, people who don't have experience waking up early, people who are deep sleepers and sound alone is not enough to wake them up, people who want to be woken up more effectively	Who is Not: People with an internal clock, People who have experience with waking up early, People who use their alarm clocks just fine, people who don't have to wake up early.
What the Need Is: To be assisted in waking up, to be assisted in coming out of a deep sleep, to be assisted in having a reliable alarm clock.	What the Need Is Not: To be assisted to wake up, To use motion to be woken up, To need to wake up early at all.
Why the Need Exists: People sleep through their alarms, their alarms are not effective, their alarms are not strong enough, people have to make appointments on time and can't if they are sleeping.	Alternative Explanations: Experience of waking up early, More mature internal clocks, the need of waking up early isn't present.