IMT 570 Module 1

1.1 What Do We Mean by Research and Analysis?  Scientific Method: o Identifying the questions o Planning research o Gathering data o Analyzing data o Present findings:  Others can build off of this data  Stakeholders can make informed decisions 1.2 The Design Thinking Method  The scientific method is a standard process, and other models build off of these systematic processes o i.e. Design Thinking builds off of this for research on people (i.e. product users), starting with a problem then performing research on the assumptions for solutions  Empathize with the user  Define the problem  Ideate potential solutions by gathering user data or seeing past studies  Prototype some possible solutions to test  Test  Present  Design thinking is iterative not sequential, so you can jump around once different ideas are sparked  Managers like smaller chunks of information to quickly make decisions and adjustments 1.3 Defining the Problem  " Double Diamond in 3 Minutes" YouTube o A method of four phases:  Research: discover, develop  Design: define, deliver o Thinking wide to thinking narrow, in a pattern:  Insight into the Problem  Scope down the Focus  Potential Solutions  Solutions that Work & Receive Feedback o Continue to monitor everything in the live product to move back to discover again

 Divergent Thinking: thinking broadly with an open mind  Convergent Thinking: adding focus, identifying 1-2 key problems or solutions 1.4 Identifying the Needs of the Organization  Not only can you problem solve, but you can also capitalize on opportunities in a competitive market  Methods in Discovering Issues/Opportunities: Approach Definition Using Stakeholder Analysis Using stakeholder analysis to identify the people and organizations impacted by an issue, how it impacts them, and how they view the issue. Resource: Stakeholder Analysis  Collection of methods to analyze stakeholder priorities  Helps to identify: o Beneficiaries o Disadvantaged parties o W ho has the power to fund/push impact/block work for the research  If few stakeholders are found, there can be a lack of ownership  If stakeholders are omitted from the process, they can undermine the credibility Conducting a SWOT Analysis Conducting a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by the organization, people, and product.

knowledge. It shows concepts and ideas and the relationships among them. You create a concept map by writing keywords and then drawing arrows between the ideas that are related. Resource: Concept Map  Examples include Venn diagrams, flowcharts, brainstorming, outlining  To help understand a bigger picture more easily  Steps: o Identifying a concept o Create a graphic organizer o Fill in gaps with notes o Focus on how the concepts connect 1.5 Gaining Insight into Your Topic  We are in the discovery phase - explore the needs of an organization as well as the topics yet to be uncovered o Problem of Practice: an observed area of opportunity o Independent: input, dependent: output both influenced by other things called mediating variables o At each step you should be observing if your data is aligning with your hypothesis 1.6 Narrowing the Focus and Generating a Question  Leverage the organization's needs to find out the true focus, to make it as relevant as possible Category General Question Sample Management Questions Choice of Purpose or Choice of Objectives What do we want to achieve? Should we reposition brand X as a therapeutic product from its current cosmetic positioning? What goals should XYZ try to achieve in its next round of distributor negotiations? Generalization and Evaluation of Solutions (choices between concrete actions to solve problems or take advantage of opportunities) How can we achieve the ends that we seek? How can we achieve our five-year goal of doubling sales and profits? What should be done to improve the complete care program for product repairs and servicing? Troubleshooting or Control (monitoring or diagnosing ways How well is our What is our product line's sales-to-

an organization is failing to meet its goals) marketing program meeting its goals? Why is our marketing program not meeting its goals? promotion cost ratio? Why does our department have the lowest sales-to-web page visit ratio? Why does our product line have the lowest off-shelf display occasions in the industry? 1.7 Individual Reflection Exercise How could you adapt these approaches to your own research project for IMT 570? O’Leary’s outlined approach help to create an accessible step-by-step guide on fully parsing each part of a potential analysis. By adapting this, researchers can view issues from a wider lens, and understand how practical it is to resolve that problem, how relevant the problem is to the goals of a company, as well as outside factors. We can use O’Leary’s methods in this class by inserting our potential ideas through the outlined steps, and continuing to reformat the potential research question until a solid idea is formed. Brainstorm potential project ideas: Identify organizations, products, or issues that you would be interested in providing data-driven problem solving for in your IMT 570 project. Brainstorm and list them. Some areas of interest that could be researched include: o Organizations:  Amazon (my organization of work)  The University of Washington (our shared educational organization)  TikTok (a trending organization of interest) o Products:  ChatGPT (a trending product of interest)  Current gaming systems (i.e. the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PC, etc.)  OuraRing (an intersection between privacy, health, and technology) o Issues:  Discrimination of race, gender, religion or sexuality  AI overtaking jobs  Cost of education For one or two of the ideas you identified: describe a) the potential issue or opportunity and b) the context. o AI overtaking jobs: discovering potential opportunities that prepare people for success in a future of AI, especially in terms of financial stability and job security, with the context of a general trend of layoffs in the tech industry. o OuraRing: studying the ways in which OuraRing may damage or benefit the overall community in terms of health, privacy, etc. – qualitative by a scale in terms of its pros and cons per observed factor For the one or two ideas that you described answer the question: What do you want to achieve in your research project? o AI overtaking jobs: provide the affected population with resolutions to the stressor of job insecurity with well-researched resolutions

 Reevaluate the pathway OR  See if you want to prioritize that new pathway where you should change your original priority  Overall, observe: o What are good research questions? o Are the questions researchable? o Are the questions valuable? o Can these research questions be completed in a reasonable timeframe? 1.9 Evaluating Your Research Question Creating a question: Is it a good fit?  Resources: budget, resources, timeframe, technology  Team fit: skills, abilities, availability  When working with a team, stay at the ideas level and don't make it personal-- affective conflict < cognitive conflict o Create useful questions only with ground rules o Feel free to reach out to the prof whenever there's an affective conflict Evaluating an Issue or Opportunity  Organizational Needs o Will the findings be useful? o Do the findings have the ability to make changes? o Do the findings have/need support?  Research Scope o Is it doable? o Is it well articulated? o Are there unchecked assumptions? o Can information be collected towards answering the research question? o Can it be done within the restraints?  Team Compatibility o Does your team have the skills/expertise to complete this task? o Can these skills be developed? o Are there any potential ethics problems? o Can you manage any potential biases/subjectivities you/the organization has?

1.10 Pitching Your Research Question 1/7 Self  You can use the STAR Method to present your question o Situation: the problem is facing o Task: what you've done to look into it so far o Action: the proposed research project to investigate fully o Result: the ways your research can add value to the company  Video : how to sell your idea to your boss o Generate the idea --> get the buy in  Often bosses have tasks that they are responsible for as priority o Ask:  How does my idea help with what keeps my boss up at night?  What might be the unintended consequences of my idea?  How many ideas have I pitched, and how does this affect my track record? o A mediocre idea that inspires > a great idea that inspires none 1.11 Module 1 Ungraded Quiz  In your problem statement, you should create an emotional connection with your audience (sympathize)  Your problem statement should: o present a statement of the focused research problem o provide a brief overview of the topic o Detail the expected benefits o Reference previous studies, reports, or related trends  A good research question/proposal should o Define the investigation o Set boundaries/direction o Be a frame of reference for success  Problems often present opportunities for change/improvement  A good scope should determine o Unchecked assumptions o If the information can be collected to answer the question o If it can be completed within time restraints 1.12 Module 1 Research & Analysis Challenge Step 1: Identify an IM problem or opportunity of interest to you (this can be anything you have read about, that interests you, or that has been covered in other MSIM classes).  I will be using one of my brainstorming topics from the 1.7 Individual Reflection Exercise: the Oura Ring. Step 2: Provide the following information: 1. A brief description of the issue or opportunity that could be researched.

Discuss why you believe this could be an important topic for your team to choose as your group project deliverable.  I believe that this is an important topic as it touches on three major topics: health, technology, and privacy. There are plenty of growth opportunities in this topic as it's more driven by consumerism than need, while remaining to be a health product. It also puts into question how much information a company should hold about its customers, when teetering the line between business and health industries. As wearable health technology as a consumer product is relatively new, this research would illuminate customer feedback in order to refresh privacy regulations. Discuss how feasible a research project on this topic could be Note. It is a good idea to look ahead at the final project deliverable assignments to better understand what you will be expected to do. A feasible project is one that you could reasonably complete in the 10 weeks of this course, and ideally is one that you have some form of access to an organization, data, or individuals from which you can gather the data needed to conduct a study.  Research for this project is feasible as long as we depend on the observation of previously collected data, as this topic may be too broad to create our own data. We would need to pick a subset of the population using this product if we chose to conduct our own research, but this may still prove as challenging. 1.14 Group Assignment Deliverables  40% of grade total  Small team helps to learn small-scale research towards a presentation  Project includes: planning, collecting data, analyzing, making recommendations, sharing findings  Can work with both quantitative or qualitative data Assignments:  Team Contract 1/7  Assignment 1: Problem Statement 1/14  Assignment 2: Research Proposal 2/7  Assignment 3: Final Research Report 3/10  Assignment 4: Final Research Presentation TBD 1.15 The Fifth Discipline  "The Fifth Discipline" is a management book by Peter Senge, outlining 5 disciplines of leaders in complex problem solving situations o System Thinking: see the potential of all various factors and possible causes, consequences, and interactions before jumping to any conclusions o Personal Mastery: ways we define what's important to us personally in the context of our identities, and how to achieve results to the things that are important to us o Mental Models: assumptions that we have that shape our understandings or actions o Shared Vision: all members of the org have the same authentic desire to reach a certain goal o Team Learning: understanding that certain results are not attainable without a team, and everyone must be receptive to learning from another  Consider how your team can develop strategies from:

o Preventing assumptions from team members o Regarding one another as colleagues o Developing facilitation of all team members 1.18 Review  Learned scientific method/design approaches  Identify and issue/opportunity for research  Articulate a good research question that answers the problem  Understand benefits of team learning