Thesis Process Documentation
Fall 2018 — Spring 2019
Week 1 (8/28)
- Thesis meeting is scheduled Tue. 1630–1730. The google spreadsheet for update should be filled Monday night.
- The first draft of IRB should be finished this week.
- Plan the schedule of literature review. (Ideally, finish before November)
- For those literatures which are finished, start to jot down summary.
Week 2 (9/4)
Literature review
- Two paragraphs, one for salient points and the other for how could it be useful.
- Remember to mention it is useful because… It is important to talk about why it is useful.
- Put quote in separate sheets.
IRB
- Should be finished and hand out before end of September.
- See Stacie’s mail about previous example.
- Use template for consent form and recruitment letter.
Others
- The core phrase of how might we be design. ex. How might we design a playful experience to foster behavior change in social practice by using practice as the unit of design?
- Research process is the core. Artifact could come in later to serve the study.
Week 3 (9/11)
Stacie’s meeting
- If I want to put several related works of literature into one paragraph. Try to articulate their own attribute between each other.
- Accumulate artifact (until late October), write its important feature relates to the thesis.
- For planning the research, try to figure out “What question do you want to answer from the research?”
- Research question should be specific. Think about your audience, context, and content.
- Targetting 9/21 for IRB.
The goal for this week
- Lit review: Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design
- Research protocol -> finishing IRB.
- Keep reading x 2
- Start to find artifacts: Game about global warming or environment protection.
Week 4 (9/18)
We skip meeting this week due to the event conflict with the school of design.
What I’ve done
- This week I finish the lit review of “Implications of Social Practice Theory for Sustainable Design” -> very important thesis for my study.
- Finish IRB. -> Send to Stacie and got feedback. Need to submit soon.
Goals for this week
- Finish 2 lit review
- Re-write the lit review for the learning part.
- Find artifacts: Game about global warming or environment protection.
(A sustainable design approach)
Week 5 (9/25)
A brief meeting session this week. Have not yet submit the IRB…
What I’ve done
- Spending whole day only works on the IRB but after discussing with Stacie. There is major modification required.
Goals for this week
- Finish design for everyday life and write down lit review
- Finish lit review about future study.
- Start reading Super Better (about gamifying your life)
- Re-write the lit review for the learning part. (from last week)
- Find artifacts: Game about global warming or environment protection.
(A sustainable design approach) - Submit the IRB
Week 6 (10/2)
Skip one meeting.
Week 7 (10/9)
What I have done
- IRB is in the second stage review.
- I read through a lot about research through design, especially Gaver’s work about ludic HCI.
- Finish reading NUDGET (not very useful)
Goal for this week
- Start reading SuperBetter
- Artifact review for indoor weather station.
- Clearly articulate research question (which direction do I want to go, the design artifact for engaging or design process for engaging?)
- Prepare the survey / diary study.
- Talk to Bruce/Dan about research method
- Re-write the lit review for the learning part. (from last week)
Stacie’s
- Try to build bridge between theories or modify existing ones.
- The final session should have some tangiable prototype.
- Artifact review should find a spot for what I do.
- In the end of lit review, you should be well informed about the topic to find either new possibility or nuisance to refine.
Week 8 (10/16)
What I have done
- Super Better read+ Literature review — done
- Learning science rewrite x 2 — done
- Artifact review x 2
- Articulate research question — done
Goals for this week
- Launch survey (test + public)
- Talk to Bruce + Dan + Stuart
- More artifact reviews — Spent and what else
- Rules of play — magic circle
Stacie’s
- For Dan’s assignment, pick up a subquestion in your study.
- Diagram: Write down what question do you want to answer through official study, Dan’s assignment and literature/artifact review
- Existing theories that inform your study.
- Writing down your step: Where do you start, what steps you have taken, what do you discover.
Week 9 (10/23)
What I have done
- Survey launched
- Talked to Bruce, Stuart, and Dan. Dan’s research is the most helpful one.
- No Artifact review…
- Rules of play — Start
- Finish Midterm wrap up review post.
- Organizing exploratory research methods for the next step.
Goals for this week
- Send Stacie the research questions. (Lit review / Art review / Seminar HW / IRB research)
- Read 4 extra papers.
- Read Cultural Probe and Research through Design paper.
- Read Rules of play.
Stacie’s feedback about current progress
- I have an overview understanding of each area but need more focus.
I should be able to articulate the focus in order to anchor my study. - Literature review: Move toward a positive direction. Just need to point out how the information is beneficial to my study.
- Artifact review: Should start soon. (email Stacie the list)
- Articulate about what do I want to learn from IRB user research.
Week 10 (10/30)
What I have done
- Survey finished (33 responses)
- No Artifact review…
- Finish all the papers
Goals for this week
- Synthesis survey result
- Plan for the next steps
- Literature review writing
- Artifact review writing
Stacie’s feedback about current progress
- After identifying what I want to learn through 4 ways of research (literature review, artifact review, user research, seminar project), I have discussed with Stacie to narrow down as well as articulate my thoughts more clearly. I want to design something that empowers people being more critical and self-reflective about their behavior and the possibility to be more sustainable.
- Stacie mentions that I should check something about mind-mapping, visualizing mental model to foster mindset(?). She also suggests me to look for system thinking related studies. Furthermore, the learning book she suggested has part of about self-awareness I could check.
- I also need to plan out the next step for my interview or diary study. Otherwise, it might take me to nowhere. (I should synthesize the survey result as soon as possible).
- Prioritize your thoughts. What is important and what is less important?
Week 11 (11/6)

This semester is almost over and we talked about the schedule and what we should do in the remaining semester.
11/12 (Next week) Diagram of Literature review / Artifact review / Research
11/22 Brainstorm design ideas for inquiry (Thanksgiving)
11/26 Presentation and poster outline (Create a doc to dump ideas / Scope / Research / Argument / Narrative/ Next step)
11/27 Seminar Project Due
11/30 Student Led Review
12/03 Rough Draft
12/10 Final Draft (By noon)
12/12 Print out poster
12/14 Poster and Presentation SessionGoal for presentation
1. Questions addressed
2. Validate approach
3. Scope your work but still get new perspecitve
4. Get things together
Week 12 (11/13)
What I did
- Literature has certain narrative but it seems what I read is too broad.
- The diagram of user survey not really works out. (Need to redo)
- Too few artifact review to map out.
Talk to Stacie
- I didn’t get much from Stacie due to my limited progress.
- Stacie do mentioned about learning challenge. Thinking about what is the fact and what people think they know. If it is misaligned, it is a design opportunity. If it is aligned but people still not doing it, then asking why and what are the barriers?
Week 13 (11/20)
What I did
- Due to Issac’s 1st year birthday. Not really do much.
- Redo do diagram for literature review and user survey.
Goal for this week
- Finish Dan’s assignment for seminar 3
- Think about the outline for presentation
- Literature review about food and social practice
- Do at least 6 artifact review
Talk to Stacie
- The study is reframed into a learning challenge.
How might we …
- To be more specific, in unconscious incompetence stage, knowledge building is the main concern.
- In conscious incompetence stage, skill learning and practicing is the main concern.
- How could I relink learning framework to social practice theory? (meaning + artifact + skill vs. Knowledge + Skill + Doing)
Week 14 (11/27)
Last weekend is Thanksgiving
What I did
- I have finish 7 artifact review including Eat Low Carbon, Farmstand, Oroeco, Wefood, Biovessel, Vegetabo Crayon, UX in Jungle.
- I have finished assignment for Dan’s class including the slide and card games. Two slides really work ( SPT and Develop Mastery) and I need to combine into my study. The game is not working well but it seems to have some promising direction (Need to figure out next iteration)
Goal for this week
- Four artifact review (app, Japan CoolBiz, Korea, Cape Town Water)
- Lit review about food and social practice.
- Design for how people learn chap 8.
- Send outline to Stacie between Thursday.
- Sketch out ideas / poster design before next Monday.
- I might need to rework the artifact review.
Talk to Stacie
- I should skip Design for Behavior Change (DfBC)but reframe into awareness (knowledge) and empowerment (skill). It is about fostering curiosity and make people want to learn more.
- Creating motivation is tricky. Remember to start with extrinsic and transform toward intrinsic.
- For the card game, Dan talks about articulate the tension of making decision. Stacie talks about easy swap for element in breakfast.
- I should think about what feedback do I want for the session? You might ask about the effectiveness of the approach you take, more component to be included, the appropriateness of artifact, the blind spot…
- The poster should have what do you have done -> what do you learn (the value of material) -> what do you plan next?
- Stacie like to reconfiguration diagram but want to make it into motion ones.
- The visual system of literature review does not make sense.
Week 15 (12/4)
What I did
- Many artifact reviews.
- Finish the poster draft, literature review diagram, artifact review diagram.
- Talk to Fransis, have a lot of information about food literacy in the scope of community design. (Should I change the direction?)
- X Design for how people learn chap 8.
- X Food and social practice.
Goal for this week
There will be three major parts for this week.
- Poster design (visual hierarchy + abstract text)
- Fix the artifact diagram
- Next step (Breakfast game, ideation for next step x 3 direction, diary probe)
- Think about what feedback do I want?
- I might need slides as supplement, think about it…
Talk to Stacie
- The text readings of post will be mainly in afternoon, so use title and diagram to support your narrative.
- For title, imaging you could see from distance.
- Think about the channels of your communication (visual, text, voice). Each should support other rather than repeating the message.
- Think about the poster and what do you want to talk about it.
- Think about how viewer can easily follow through. A framework could help.
- Use consist time, verb and phrase for text.
- Abstract should have what current exist -> What problem reveal -> How study investigate to address.
Week 1 (1/17)
What I did
- Think about an overview schedule for this semester
- Finish literature and artifact review.
Talk to Stacie
- To further organize the literature and artifact review, I could use a spreadsheet to list out the point.
- I could try to compare theories, even find out the cornerstone one.
- During the writing don’t repeat the point. Think about writing style.
- Make detail weekly schedule.
- Awareness is hard to evaluate. Qualitative data might be the way.
- Maybe this could be something about design aid awareness for environmental impact.
Goals for next week
- Talk to Domain Expert (What questions do I have)
- Work on literature and artifact review (Polished stuff)
- GCC Appointment
- Think about diary study (Question -> Design -> Stacie -> Polished)
- Recruit participants.
- GuSH fund.
Week 2 (1/24)
Whiteboard session with Stacie to figure the future direction.
Week 3 (1/31)
During to polar vortex, there is no meeting for this week.
What I have done
- Plan out the schedule for the rest of the semester.
- Look comments on artifact and literature review.
Goal for next week
- Interview at least 3 vegetarians to understand their eating and grocery shopping practice.
- Shadow at least 1 vegetarians during grocery shopping.
- Talk to the grocery store at Hazelwood? Why? What do I want to learn?
- Plan the thesis structure
Week 4 (2/7) — Get $1000 Grant!
Talk to Stacie
- I should have some ideas next week (mid-Feb). Ideally, I should make something to test in February.
- Think about slow learning in Dirksen 3.
- Talk about 4MAT in artifact review, I will need to address that.
Goal for next week
- Synthesize the research findings and brainstorm ideas.
- Thesis outline (Overview, Lit+Art review (Check proposal), What I do and why, what I learn (how is that useful), Current artifact (Where is the hole)
- Working on literature and artifact review
- Come out with Journey Map toolkit for the interview.
- Draw a quick thesis outline for Stacie.
What I have done
- Check Laura’s project (Sustainable conversation with cooking recipe)
Week 5 (2/14)
What I have done
- Talking to Khushi, Emma, Michelle.
- Shadow Ulu @ WholeFood, Kystral @ GE
- Synthesis result
- Ideas for design
Week 6 (2/21)
- Prototype and test X
- Complete 2nd Version Literature & Artifact Review X
- Confluence, no progress this week.
Week 7 (2/28)
What I have done

- Brainstorm some ideas based on what I have learned from the literature review. Especially by practice-oriented design framework and other learning frameworks.
- Difficulties to tackle one idea while taking multiple frameworks into consideration.
- The target group is also different. It varies from the novice cook to expert chef. It does not necessarily mean the expert chef cook more but the knowledge and skill required to be more sustainable are very different.
Talk to Stacie
- In general, Stacie likes all my ideas (since they all have some solid background to support). She suggests me to use a structure to mapping out the solutions.

Goal for next week
- Generating Ideas
- Mapping out ideas
- Finish the health concept (research + synthesis)
- Writing literature reviews.
Week 8 (3/7)
Talk to Stacie
- Talk about trying to align two goals together (health & Sustainable)
- I relook the proposal, what is the personal agency part to discover opportunities by themselves.
- For the self-reflective part, Stacie asked me to look 6-facet of understanding.
- While I am talking about the idea, they all somehow lead to sustainability. I should make it less explicit.
Goal for the next two weeks
- Refine the ideas, pick some base on the journey, storyboard and send to Stacie for feedback.
- Ask Stacie about how to conduct the test?
Week 9 (3/14)
(Spring break)
Week 10 (3/21)
Week 11 (3/28)
What I bring to Stacie
- An overview draft of the game journey
- A week plant-based diet recipe
- Ideas about how the recipe and ingredient card works
What is her comment
- Why do people need to sign up for the program? They could just download an app, finish the onboarding process and start.
- Why cards? Stacie thinks a digital app might be more flexible and have plenty of opportunities to develop.
- For the plant-based diet recipe, what if people don’t like any of them. Make a side-to-side comparison or even substitution suggestions. Plant-based diet vs. Popular/Mainstream food.
- For environmental information, trying not to make it as an add-on. Make it into a single screen. Food literacy means
Week 12 (4/4)
Week 13 (4/11)
(Thesis Project Presentation)
Week 14 (4/18)
(Thesis Complete)

