Participants    

Interview participants. We have made numerous attempts to reach out towards members of the communities such as community board members, city council representatives, tenants and organizations that assist the residents of harlem. When we reached out to interview participants none of them responded at the time of this study while others have offered to participate but have not responded back. The community boards that we reached out to were members of Community Boards 9-11 as well as city council members from district 7-9. Community board 10 member Mitchell who is in charge of the housing committee. Three other participants were city council members Ayala, Bill Perkins, and Mark Levine. They were considered to be interview participants since they are representatives of Harlem and of residents and housing in Harlem. Another participant that we have reached out to be the organization Palante because they focus on improving the lives of residents and making sure that everyone has an equal amount of service and that’s something that we found valuable. We wanted to get some insight on how it is to work with residents and get their perspective on gentrification. Furthermore, other participants included Momina Ahmed, Shah Alom, Shadman Choudhury they were part of the interview because they are tenants of Harlem that have lived in Harlem for 10+ years so they have seen gentrification firsthand in which adds a different and onsight perspective to our report. Others that we have interviewed were residents of Harlem that have lived there, their entire lifetime and have experienced and seen the ongoing gentrification. The lifetime residents are named Anjalee Rabani, Citclali Gonzales and Chantise Houge.  

Survey Participants. The Survey was conducted electronically via google forms and was shared among various known tenants in Harlem and the social media platform, snapchat. The survey was conducted with the purpose of evaluating how the tenants of Harlem are affected as a result of residential gentrification in the neighborhood. The sample size was chosen due to convenience but became a convenient sample and purposive sample as participants were chosen by who is available at the moment and targeting Harlem tenants only. The survey was participant self-administered, as responses were recorded by the participant. 30 people participated in the survey; the response rate was 100%. The surveys were conducted from November 29th, 2020 through December 3rd, 2020. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate how the tenants of Harlem are affected as a result of residential gentrification in the neighborhood. 

Materials  

The materials used for the field report included field notes, used to document our interviews. In addition, class notes were used to explore different potential interviewees we could’ve conducted. The internet was used as a means to search for information and demographics for the residential gentrification in Harlem. Lastly, online tools such as google documents were used to create surveys, along with email platforms being utilized for the sharing of the survey.  

Procedure 

Interview Procedure. The interview questions were formulated taking into consideration the knowledge that the interviewee may have been able to contribute based on their experiences with the residential gentrification in Harlem, ranging from firsthand experiences to having professional insight on this topic. No more than eight questions were asked to the interviewees. A total of three interviews were conducted. All three of the interviews were structured, and conducted through email, through the months of November and December. No face-to-face interviews were conducted due to Covid-19. 

Survey Procedure. The survey questions were created to be user-friendly for the tenants of Harlem. As such, the language was kept simple, clear, and specific. In order to minimize participants from refusing, there were only 9 questions; these questions were kept short. The survey questions were a combination of dichotomous, multiple-choice, demographic, and one rating scale questions. The questions were developed with the purpose of evaluating how the tenants of Harlem are affected as a result of residential gentrification in the neighborhood. The Survey was conducted electronically via google forms and was shared among various known tenants in Harlem and the social media platform, snapchat. The surveys were conducted from November 29th, 2020 through December 3rd, 2020. 

Interview Methods. In order to conduct interviews, we conducted google searches for potential interviewees such as members of Community Boards across Harlem, organizations that advocate for tenants that are affected by the gentrification of Harlem. After that, emails were sent out to the potential interviewees, there were no responses given within weeks of re-reaching out by telephone calls, emails and attending meetings that they would be in. 

Survey Methods. The survey questions were created to be user-friendly for the tenants of Harlem. As such, the language was kept simple, clear, and specific. In order to minimize participants from refusing, there were only 9 questions; these questions were kept short. The survey questions were a combination of dichotomous, multiple-choice, demographic, and one rating scale questions. The questions were developed with the purpose of evaluating how the tenants of Harlem are affected as a result of residential gentrification in the neighborhood. The Survey was conducted electronically via google forms and was shared among various known tenants in Harlem and the social media platform, snapchat. The surveys were conducted from November 29th, 2020 through December 3rd, 2020.  

Limitations. Due to these scary times with COVID-19, this has raised a lot of problems for our field report. We failed to properly interview any of the people we reached out to. Members that we tried to contact refused to reply to our emails and phone calls and have been too concerned about other things that have been going on in their life. Also interviewing them outside is more challenging since we have to social distance. Therefore, everything is two times harder than it would be without the pandemic. A further issue that has been encountered is not being able to get enough participants to complete the survey. This really connects to the problem we had at the beginning, people are not able to respond to us or join in a zoom meeting due to personal issues they might have. They can be too busy with work or even family. In addition, people are too worried about their wellbeing at risk and their families only to be interviewed.