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Brayan Zavala
  • About
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Photography by Daybreaker

Photography by Daybreaker

CASE STUDY: Daybreaker Community Research

Cultivating community and mischief during a global pandemic

  • Team: Brayan Zavala, Molly Dalton & Lauren Ambielli

  • Conducted April–June 2020 for Qualitative Research Methods for the MS in HCDE program at UW Seattle.

Background and Motivation

This research centers on traditionally in-person, community-focused events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the Stay-at-Home order, organizers of such events have had to make difficult decisions: cancel their events, tentatively reschedule without a clear sense of when restrictions will be lifted, or transition to a virtual format. Many organizers have opted for this latter option, hosting their events using Zoom or other video-conferencing tools. Yet, the virtual format poses unique challenges for events traditionally defined by the in-person interaction and resulting sense of community. 

Our study originated from curiosity about attendee experience amid such drastic changes, and how event organizers ensure that a virtual event carries comparable value and meaning for attendees. More specifically, we questioned the degree to which intangibles such as “community,” “togetherness,” and “collective energy” -- major selling points for these types of events -- have translated when physical proximity is removed. To understand this phenomenon, our team selected Daybreaker and its transition to livestream as our frame of inquiry. 

What is Daybreaker and how do they experience community?

Video by Daybreaker

Daybreaker is a global community across 28 cities, whose mission is to inspire others and promote positivity and inclusivity through high-energy social events. They host recurring parties at the very start of the day (often beginning as early as 6 am) where attendees gather in themed costumes to practice yoga/meditation for an hour followed by two hours of dancing and community-building over healthy snacks and coffee.

The core values of Daybreaker are “self-expression, camaraderie, wellness, mindfulness, and mischief.” With that, many people attend regularly and rely on their events to gain a sense of community in an otherwise big city. The Daybreaker following is very strong, and the impact wide-reaching. Traditionally, their events are in-person and the physical venue plays a big part in the overall experience. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic has eliminated the ability to host events in-person, Daybreaker has since pivoted in its approach, and is hosting weekly livestream events under the name “Daybreaker LIVE”. While the structure of the event remains constant -- yoga, dancing, and performance are all still part of the program -- the context in which attendees experience it is no longer the same. 

With that, our research explores how Daybreaker LIVE attendees describe their experience, paying attention to how the sentiment of “community” manifests online. Furthermore, it examines what Daybreaker as an organization is doing to adapt to ensure its mission of positivity and inclusivity is received.

Final Research Questions

  • How do attendees experience Daybreaker’s values of community and togetherness in the virtual context?

  • In what ways have Daybreaker LIVE attendees adapted their expectations and behaviors to face the constraint of a global virtual party?  

Our study took place over the course of 10 weeks during the 2020 Spring academic quarter. During this period, we conducted two distinct phases of research. Doing so enabled us to generate a set of research questions, and then iterate on the questions to refine the scope of our work.

 

Marketing materials by Daybreaker

Takeaways from this Research

Our research sought to understand how members of the Daybreaker community experienced the transition from in-person to virtual events. We wanted to explore how the community translated in this virtual environment and how attendees adapted their expectations and behaviors around this transition. 

We learned from our research that all members who we interviewed were drawn to Daybreaker events by the community and particular aspects of that community. While some of these aspects translated strongly in the virtual context, others did not. We learned that for most participants, the change in experience would be temporarily sufficient because they felt that most aspects of the community they found previously, still resonated in the virtual context. However, it was clear from participants that this new experience is not a replacement for the in-person Daybreaker community.

The findings from this research can be applied and used to improve the Daybreaker events by considering what aspects of their community aren’t being translated as well as well as others. In particular, leaders could consider exploring other ways they can better translate sub-communities, such as the Seattle chapter, in the virtual context and find avenues for members to engage with each other.

 

Research Methods

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Since Daybreaker was able to quickly shift its in-person events to an online format, this gave us the unique opportunity to compare and contrast the two seemingly similar yet very different events. Our team conducted two phases of qualitative research that included a Daybreaker LIVE observation, pre and post event surveys, and 4 in-depth interviews. These methods enabled us to explore this virtual space from multiple angles. With these methods, we were able to quickly follow up with members of the community to hear their stories to find commonalities in both their motivations and reservations in attending a virtual global dance party.

Through this research, we were able to better understand how and why the Daybreaker community is motivated to move to a virtual context given the physical nature of the in-person events. Across both research phases, our sample population included male and female Daybreaker LIVE attendees from the Seattle area. 

 

Phase 1 Methods

For phase 1, we recruited a broad range of participants spanning from first-time attendees to those firmly embedded in the Daybreaker community, self-referred to as “mischief-makers.” During Phase 1, there were two segments of research that involved participants-- a pre-event and a post-event survey. We had a total of 9 participants for the pre-event survey, and of that group, 6 followed up for the post-event survey. 

Pre-Event Survey 

We began with a brief pre-event survey for individuals planning to attend Daybreaker LIVE on May 2. The purpose was to gather some insight into attendee demographics, gauge general interest in the event, and identify attendee expectations around how Daybreaker would translate online. 

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Virtual Event Observation & Participation

The second part of our research involved attending Daybreaker LIVE on May 2, and recording our observations.  Our initial plan was for each member of our team to observe 3 of the 9 participants. Our goal was to observe participant behaviors during the activities and to take note of their engagement with the different hosts, performers, and the changes in music.

Post-Event Survey

After the event, we followed up with our 9 participants and sent them a post-event survey. The structure was similar to the prior survey and focused on similar topics. We received 6 responses this time, as one participant was unable to make it to the event, and 2 declined to participate in this second survey. This survey’s questions were centered on attendee experience and the way the event compared to the participant’s expectations. In addition, we asked about things that stood out to our participants during the event and areas where the event fell short. We closed with the same question about community as found in the previous survey.

 

Phase 2 Method

For phase 2, we reached out to the 6 individuals who participated in both of the prior surveys, so as to follow-up with them and expand on their responses. From our recruitment pool, we scheduled 4 participants for in-depth interviews that lasted about 45 minutes each. Importantly, all four had been members of the Daybreaker community for, some of whom were involved as hosts of in-person events or volunteers from the Seattle Daybreaker chapter.

Four In-Depth Interviews 

To conduct the interviews, our team generated a script to follow for each participant. The script contained questions that centered on the participant’s background and experience, exposure to Daybreaker and involvement in the community, favorite aspects about the in-person events, and their experience at Daybreaker LIVE. Some questions included:

  • How did you get into Daybreaker?

  • What are the top three reasons you go to Daybreaker events

  • What motivates you to come to Daybreaker?

  • How did you first hear about Daybreaker LIVE?

  • What were your motivations to attend?

  • What emotions or feelings did you experience during the party?

  • From your perspective, what does Daybreaker stand for?

  • How has this come across for you?

 

Qualitative Data Analysis

After each interview was completed, we uploaded our Quicktime recordings into Otter.ai, an online service for transcription. Because the service was not always accurate, it was necessary to review each transcript thoroughly to ensure that the participants' words were not obscured or mistranslated. 

Adding Codes & Memos

We then took the interview transcripts and transferred them each into individual word documents. From there, we split up the transcripts amongst the team. Each team member reviewed one transcript and added codes and associated memos to tag quotes and passages for relevant data. The codes themselves were unique to each team member at first, but upon reviewing them together as a group, it was revealed that we had many similar themes. 

Affinity diagram with notes and observations from the May 2nd Daybreaker LIVE event.

Affinity diagram with notes and observations from the May 2nd Daybreaker LIVE event.

Affinity Diagramming

Our team used affinity diagramming during both of our research phases. This allowed us to find patterns across all of our notes, survey responses, observations, and transcripts. During our second phase of research, our team used this method to group the codes together.  To do this, we assigned a specific color to represent each participant. The codes for that participant were then documented on virtual sticky notes in that assigned color. By assigning color, we could easily visualize which themes contained codes from each participant, denoting a strong theme. After completing the affinity diagram, we moved onward to populate our code book and return back to our transcripts for a second pass at reviewing and updating codes to reflect the consolidated naming conventions. 

Assembling the Code Book

Our code book is a representation of relevant codes situated within larger themes. Because some codes could be interpreted in different ways, we also included descriptive memos that shared the thought process behind each of the codes. In addition, we referenced the codes to return back to the transcripts and pull out relevant quotes and passages. These quotes were then added into the code book for easy identification. After we had our themes and quotes, it was time to extract and report our findings.

 

Research Findings

Theme 1 - Community members identify with certain aspects of the Daybreaker community in both the in-person and virtual events.

Members of the Daybreaker community use common identifiers when discussing community in both the in-person and virtual context. During both our survey and our in-person interviews, we observed that members of the Daybreaker community would circle around common concepts and language when describing their connection to the community. We looked at this language and abstracted out four shared benefits of community: acknowledgement, responsibility, identity, and emotional support. These themes were absent in participants that were new to Daybreaker events.

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement is a common and highly valued theme mentioned by participants when discussing their experience within the Daybreaker community. One important facet of the acknowledgement theme is the concept of being seen, wherein one feels validated by the community.

"And I remember like, the reason [name omitted] sticks out so much is because I remember one time I hugged him and he came in and I'm like, ‘T, it's so good to see you. I love that you're here.’ And he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me dead in the eyes and he said, ‘you have no idea how good it feels just to be seen.’ And I just like, lost it."

— P3 discussing one of their favorite experiences greeting a Daybreaker member

This same desire of being acknowledged also exists in the virtual context, where participants can choose to be part of a broadcast of people dancing during the online event. Beyond enabling technology to showcase individuals, the hosts verbally references participants to highlight them to the community. 

Identity

During our research, we found that all the participants discussed a few common elements when referring to the Daybreaker community. One of those elements is costumes, which acts as a way to be acknowledged individually, but is also a signifier of membership to the community. Although costumes aren’t mandatory, they are encouraged and are very common throughout the events.

"Because often when you're wearing something like a costume or a mask, like you can kind of let loose a little bit. So if we're both dressed up, now we have a commonality and something to talk about, even if we don't know each other. So it kind of just helps break down barriers and then as an adult, it kind of brings back their childish mischief of dressing up in costumes and pretending to be someone else. So it  just helps to bring out that playful side, which I think is hard as an adult at times." 

—P3 describing how dressing up in costumes helps members connect

Responsibility

Another prevalent sub-theme is responsibility both within and to the community. We found that the participants felt fulfillment when they engaged in their assigned role in the community. 

“You’re there trying to provide that opportunity for other people. And so there’s a bit of Responsibility…..enjoyable…..feel good” 

–P4 describing the social responsibility they feel to share their camera 

Emotional Support

Many of the participants discussed the Daybreaker community as welcoming them during a time of transition in their life and acting as a form of emotional support. 

"I will say that is primarily because of Daybreaker because of the caliber of people that come because of the intention and the connection and the fact that that our team, there is like a small family, it felt very easy to make good friends in a short period of time." 

–P1 describing the support they feel from their Daybreaker Family

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Theme 2 - Virtual congregations will have aspects that are reminiscent of in-person gatherings, but also differ in unique ways. 

During the research, participants covered a range of experiences that were both familiar and different during their virtual events. Overall, we learned that these experiences had both positive and negative aspects. 

Familiar from In-Person Events

There were a few aspects that were shared across the two contexts that stood out for participants. First, the participants across the survey and interview results referred to costumes as aspects of their online experience.

“It’s really exciting to see not only like people that I know and friends pop up on the screen on the Daybreaker live, but also just like, seeing all the cute people in their living rooms like having fun dressed up in costumes” 

–P1 describing the joy they feel in seeing other members in costumes

Different from In-Person Events

Overall, participants focused on one particular element when discussing the differences that exist between the two contexts. Participants highlighted the “energy” they received from others at physical events. Another aspect that was important to participants that wasn’t represented during the events was the concept of local vs. global communities. Although some of the participants enjoyed seeing the larger community, they were looking for an opportunity to connect to their smaller community.

“Just to tap into the communities that were already built. The people that you're familiar with, like I've been to smaller game parties that my friends have hosted or that the city hosted there, but they might not be as big but that’s okay with me. I would tap into the people that I already know.” 

–P4 describing the how they’d be okay with a smaller yet more familiar community event


 

Theme 3 - Daybreaker communities will congregate online, but it is seen as a interim solution rather than a replacement 

Across all engaged members of the Daybreak community, there was a desire to connect with their community members. This desire is only exacerbated by the shelter in place orders that significantly limit all physical interactions between people who are not sharing a household.

“I think definitely longing and nostalgia are part of it. Like longing for in-person contact with people in general but specifically for my community here in Seattle

–P1 describes how the virtual context is an opportunity to connect with the broader community, while also feeling nostalgic for the local community.

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Future Research around this Topic

While our team was excited and pleased with the data and findings we collected in 10 weeks, there is more to uncover around this topic. If we were to continue to do more research our team would focus on the following three areas:

First-Time Attendee Experience

We found that the Daybreaker community tends to offer emotional support to their members in a number of ways. One of those ways is by creating a more involved welcoming process. We’d like to recruit and interview newcomers that are pretty new to Daybreaker and gauge their expectations as they experience more of this community.

The Host & Producer Team Experience

The Daybreaker LIVE hosts, teachers, and performers had the enormous responsibility of guiding their event attendees through the show. To better understand how they worked together and how they adapted their format week by week, our team would like to interview them to understand what things they learned and what they thought translated well in this new format. 

Other Daybreaker Communities.

In our research, we only focused on recruiting and interviewing long-time members of the Seattle Daybreaker chapter. All members spoke highly of the Seattle crew and oftentimes referred to them as their family. This camaraderie was a primary motivation for returning to the community. Because of this, we’re curious about how Daybreaker members in other cities feel about their local chapters, how they relate to the global community, and how these sentiments compare and contrast city to city and why that may be.