Observations to Opportunities: Mapping our Research Path
Check out our previous post: Empathy in Action.
In Sprint 2, we focused on synthesizing what we had learned from the National Conference and the Client Kickoff meeting. We outlined research objectives, data, methods, and desired outcomes to be intentional with our exploration in the next stage of research. We plan to prioritize and identify high impact research activities to unearth powerful insights for design opportunities for future sprints.
Research Activities
Walking the Wall
Our first research activity in this sprint was to analyze and synthesize our findings, insights, and takeaways from the MENTOR National Summit Conference and our Client Kickoff meeting. We did this by “walking the wall”, a thematic mapping method from Karen Holtzbatt to spend time viewing everyone’s notes, making observations, asking questions, and general reflection on everyone’s individual experiences with these two events.
Our team uncovered several themes and compiled a list of questions of unknowns, which will be the basis of our research objectives and activities for the next few weeks. Summarizing insights and themes through wall-walking has helped us identify what data we need, which methods could help us get this data, and what outcomes we seek to accomplish in the next few weeks.
Method Map
Using Francine Gemperle’s framework of Method Map building, our team brainstormed with our faculty advisors to outline research methods that could help us answer our most pressing questions and objectives.
This was a useful activity not only to receive assistance from our advisors who are veteran researchers and HCI practitioners, but it was also an exercise in exploring methods that engage various stakeholders for our project. Following this collaborative brainstorm, we defined outcomes that we seek to accomplish in the following four areas:
*Note: Some topics overlap as they contribute to more than one outcome*
Attending Training
For our third research activity this week, our team attended TMP’s “Mentoring 101: What Every Mentor Should Know.”
Our goal in attending this was to immerse ourselves in the operational practices of TMP and to also learn the type of training content that TMP provides. As a form of contextual inquiry, we were able to observe not only the training content but TMP’s Training and Engagement Manager, Sophia Duck’s, training delivery methods. Through this 2 hour session, we were able to gain a deeper understanding of what mentoring looks like in the real world through the different topics covered in the session as well as the interactions with other mentor participants.
Client Collaboration
We had our first client meeting on Wednesday and spent most of the one hour together applying the Jobs-to-be-done framework across our various stakeholders. We encouraged our clients to step into the shoes of TMP staff members, mentoring program staff, mentors, and mentees, gaining valuable insights into different stakeholder perspectives and their goals and motivations. From TMP staff members seeking to equip programs with resources to mentoring program staff striving to implement evidence-based practices, our team was able to learn the different drivers of each stakeholder group.
Presenting our progress
Ending our Sprint 2, we presented our research findings at the Pecha Kucha in the MHCI Project classroom to “executives” of TMP. This presentation method required us to condense our learnings and activities within 5 slides and 10 minutes of presenting. Since it was a short amount of time, we condensed our presentations into 5 main facets:
- Introducing mentoring and TMP: We introduced the value of mentoring, tying it back to TMP’s core values and mission statement.
- Original project goals and reframed goals: We outlined our initial project objectives and reframed them as they evolved through the research activities we conducted and insights we derived.
- The value we aim to bring: We highlighted the unique values of our project and design thinking and its potential impact on TMP
- Insights derived so far: We broke down key insights gathered in our research activities in order to provide reasonings for how we will continue to guide our presentation.
- Next steps: We outlined our project plan, next steps moving forward and demonstrated future thinking of our project.
Next Steps
Since there are a lot of topics we seek to dive into and research we want to conduct, we will focus on prioritizing what methods we will move forward with by using an Impact x Effort matrix. From then, we will craft a research plan involving recruitment, protocol development, and research logistics. We also will be seeking clients’ feedback on our progress thus far by using the PechaKucha presentation to structure the conversation.
Note: This project is not intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge and is not human subjects research.
