Action Research for Catalyst

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Felix Weber

[GENERAL] Email address of main applicant

felix4swarm@gmail.com

Additional applicants

Vanessa Cardui

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

4

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language.

No

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependencies.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] If NO, please describe which outputs are not going to be open source. If YES, please write “Project will be fully open source.”

Project will be fully open source.

[METADATA] Category of proposal

Education

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

This project aims to explore the usefulness of Action Research as a methodology to help Catalyst document and manage change, and to hear the views of the community about how well a change is working.

Why Action Research?

Action Research is a participatory research methodology that enables community-sourced insights into practical problems. It is iterative - in other words, a solution is identified, tested, refined, and then re-tested - and it gives a framework for collecting data on how a proposed solution is actually working. This is an element that is often missing when changes are implemented in Catalyst. While efforts are often made to get community input and opinion before a change is implemented, once the change has been made there is little structured gathering of information about how it's working.

The iterative nature of Action Research means that “gathering information on how it’s working” is what it does best. If we could implement an Action Research methodology to assess changes to Catalyst, we could collect this kind of data.

How we propose to test the Action Research method

We propose to start with a literature review of how Action Research has been used in decentralised communities, particularly to help manage change; and then, test the effectiveness of Action Research in practice, by designing and running a simple Action Research project.

For the purposes of our research, we will work with the topic of how proposers in F10 are managing the currency risk of proposing in ADA. We will document our process in designing the Action Research; run it with four F10 funded projects; and reflect on how well it worked as a process. From this, we will derive and share a scalable basic methodology for exactly how Action Research can best be implemented in an ecosystem like Catalyst, and how it might be embedded as part of the process of creating change to get evidence-based feedback on how well a change has worked and what the community's experience of it is.

When we write up our finished methodology, it will include practical details like:

• How can we best engage participants for Action Research in the context of Catalyst?
• What skills do Action Researchers need?
• How long does it take to conduct Action Research?
• What sort of budget does it need?
• How do we define “done”, and what degree of community input is sufficient to give meaningful insights?
• How do we make changes and iterate effectively in response to the discoveries from an Action Research project?
• How do we ensure that our Action Research is co-produced, so that the participants are properly credited, and their contributions recognised - including, potentially, the use of tokens to record and recognise contributions to research?
• How scalable is Action Research? What can it tell us, and what can it not tell us?

Basic outline of an Action Research project and how we will apply it

• Identify a problem: In our case, this will be the problem of how to manage currency risk when denominating project budgets in ADA.
• Research the problem and its probable causes: We will talk to projects to find out what they find most problematic about this, and what they think the causes of the problems are.
• Develop and implement a response to the problem: In traditional action research, it’s the researchers who define which responses they will test; and they usually test one solution/response at a time. In our approach, however, it will be the funded projects we work with who will determine their own responses to the problem; and we’ll be able to test their solutions concurrently. We’ll select 4 funded projects with different approaches to managing a budget in ADA (we are already aware of several planned approaches that are emerging), and ask those projects to meet with us to report how well their approach is working, and how they are adjusting for whatever emerges. By implementing their chosen approaches, the funded projects will be “testing by doing”, as Action Research requires. We will simply give them a framework to report to us what they discover. 
• Observe the implementation of the solution: The 4 projects do this; and we also do it, by examining what the projects report when they meet with us. We also have the opportunity to compare the solutions of the 4 different projects.
• Reflect on the results (and start over, if necessary): We undertake this reflection, and feed back our analysis to our 4 projects, covering not only what they are each doing, but also how it compares with what the other projects in the study are doing. In response, they may decide to rejig their approach in small or large ways. Thus we have a “Catalyst” version of action research, where participants take a bigger part in designing the study because their existing practice becomes framed as, and analysed as, research. In return for their participation, they get analytical and comparative information that might help them; and Catalyst as a whole gets research data on how well things are working. 
• Derive a methodology: This is the "extra" element that this proposal will do. By reflecting on our work and analysing our results, we will gain insights into how effective our process was as a piece of Action Research. From this, we will derive some ideas on best practice and potential pitfalls, and we will be able to write up a suggested process for conducting Action Research in Catalyst. This will be underpinned both by our background reading and research in our initial literature review, and by our practical testing of the process.

Overall, although we will undoubtedly generate and share some useful insights on managing currency fluctuations in Catalyst, that is not the deeper aim of the project. The deeper aim is to test the Action Research methodology in the context of Catalyst, and specifically, to test how we might use it to engage the community in monitoring the effects of big changes to Catalyst.

NOTE:

• In reflecting on our initial process with 4 projects, we will consider how scalable it would be, and how we might overcome any barriers there might be to scaling to more research participants.
• We will also be mindful of issues around privacy, and look at how we can anonymise any commercially-sensitive or personally sensitive data, while still crediting participants for their contributions to the research effort. We also aim to explore how people's contribution to research might be recorded using tools that are specific to this kind of community, such as tokens and on-chain recording of data.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

This is a textbook Catalyst Open proposal - a small research project that cannot find a home anywhere else in Fund 10 (there is no other challenge in this Fund where this work could fit), but which brings approaches that are new to Catalyst, and which could have far-reaching benefits for Catalyst and Cardano. The insights from this project could help Catalyst to make use of a well-attested, well-established, participatory research process, and adapt it to the needs of our ecosystem; it will also give some valuable insights into how participating in research can be recognised as a contribution to the ecosystem, and ideally, incentivised; and it will also give some useful insights into a specific research issue (that of how proposers are managing the shift to denominating the Fund entirely in ADA).

The proposal also fits the Open challenge’s budget limit of 75,000 ADA; and its requirement to be fully open source. All our project data will be open and available for re-use (after either anonymising, or accrediting by name, depending on the wishes of the contributors), and will be held on an open-source platform (a GitBook mirrored to a GitHub repository).

In terms of benefit to the Cardano ecosystem overall, this proposal will help Cardano to become more widely aware of Action Research as an approach, and to incorporate it into our thinking. As a minimum, this gives us another tool in our research toolkit, and some evidence-based infomation on its usefulness here; but more than that, we believe it could be transformative in helping the Cardano ecosystem to manage change, and ensure that community input on changes is heard.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

We will measure:

• The extent of previous research in this field (as evidenced by our initial literature review)
• The number of projects we engage in our research, plus qualitative assessment of how varied they are
• Qualitative assessment of how valuable the participating projects find the research process
• The number of attendees at our After TownHall sessions, plus qualitative assessment (via a monitoring form) of whether attendees find them useful and interesting
• The number of views, comments and engagements when we post information about the project on social media
• The number of pageviews of our project documentation and our final whitepaper on GitBook
• In the long term, whether other researchers take up elements of Action Research in their work, or use/adapt our proposed methodology.

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

• The main deliverables of this proposal, i.e. the main outcomes of the Action Research and our methodology, will be gathered in a dedicated, public GitBook, and shared via regular updates on Twitter, Telegram, Discord, and the Cardano Forum.

• Proposal progress will be reported through our milestone reports to the Challenge Team & the IOG Catalyst Team.

• A monthly After TownHall will provide an open space to discuss previous and next steps on the action research, and to look at the interesting questions it raises; and recordings from these Town Hall spaces will be timestamped and uploaded to the QADAO & Swarm youtube channels.

• We will produce a whitepaper at the end of the project, covering the insights we have gained about how people are managing currency risk, but also (and perhaps more importantly) how our Action Research methodology worked. The Whitepaper will be held on our dedicated GitBook.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

QA-DAO (represented in this project by Vanessa Cardui) & Swarm (represented in this project by Felix Weber) are highly engaged and committed participants in Project Catalyst since the earliest funding rounds, and have built a profound understanding of the Catalyst ecosystem. This gained experience and expertise ensures a high likelihood of a successful implementation of the proposal. QADAO also has a strong track record of completed research and analysis in the Catalyst and wider DLT space, and of transparent and accessible documentation, and Swarm has a very strong track record of community building and engagement, which further ensures all the necessary know-how to lead this initiative to its success.

All project outcomes will be delivered through a public GitBook, ensuring that outcomes are transparent and publicly accessible.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The main goal of this project is to explore and introduce first methods and frameworks for community-conducted research with a focus on Project Catalyst, and to facilitate the management of research learning within the Catalyst ecosystem.

People can validate whether this approach is feasible by 

1. viewing our GitBook documentation, which will include the results of our initial literature review; details of our working methods and process; and the insights gathered from our work with our 4 participant projects;
2. reading our final whitepaper, which will include our conclusions, and our suggested methodology for conducting this kind of research in Catalyst as a way to assess the effects of changes
3. attending our monthly After Town Hall discussions, to find out more about what we’re doing.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

This proposal will ideally start at the beginning of Fund 10, funded proposer onboarding. IOG has announced the date of the voting results as September 21, 2023; so we plan to start the proposal’s implementation in October 2023.

Milestone 1 - Month 1: Set-up. 15% of budget.

1.1) Initial literature review of any existing literature on the use of Action Research in decentralised communities

1.2) Scope and design a basic action research project

1.3) Select 4 funded projects to work with

1.4) Set up project management (GitBook, Github, Dework, Discord, Treasury System)

1.5) Project management (monthly reporting; milestone reporting; managing the relationship with our 4 test proposals; wallet management)

Milestone 2 - Month 2 - Action research. 30% of budget.

2.1) Run and document our basic action research project with four F10 funded projects on how they are managing the currency risk of proposing in ADA. 

2.2) Hold an After Town Hall space to share what we are discovering.

2.3) Project management (including monthly reporting, milestone reporting, publicising the insights of the project; managing the relationship with our 4 test proposals; wallet management.)

Milestone 3 - Month 3 - Reflection and analysis. 25% of budget.

3.1) Reflect on and analyse how the process went

3.2) Hold an After Town Hall space to share what we are discovering.

3.3) Project management (including monthly reporting; milestone reporting, publicising the insights of the project; managing the relationship with our 4 test proposals; wallet management.)

Milestone 4 - Month 4 - Whitepaper. 30% of budget.

4.1) Plan and write a whitepaper, covering a schema for how action research can be used in Catalyst most effectively, both to engage the community and to use some kind of participation or contribution credit. The whitepaper will include a methodology that anyone can adopt and/or adapt; guidance notes on pitfalls to beware of; guidance on how to manage data and manage privacy.

4.2) Edit and proofread whitepaper

4.3) Publish and share whitepaper, including an After Town Hall space to share our outcomes.

4.4) Project management (including monthly reporting; milestone reporting; final close-out report, publicising the insights of the project; managing the relationship with our 4 test proposals; wallet management.)

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1: Set-up

Intended Outcome: Establish a solid foundation for the project, ensuring that all necessary tools and methodologies are in place for the smooth execution of the subsequent stages.

• Deliverable 1.1: Comprehensive literature review report on the use of Action Research in decentralised communities.
• Deliverable 1.2: Detailed project plan and design for the basic action research project.
• Deliverable 1.3: List of selected 4 funded projects for the research, with rationale for selection.
• Deliverable 1.4: Set-up of project management tools and systems (GitBook, Github, Dework, Discord, Treasury System) with a brief report on how to use them for this project.

Milestone 2: Action Research

Intended Outcome: Successful execution and documentation of the action research project.

• Deliverable 2.1: Carrying out a simple Action Research project with 4 Fund 10 projects, to examine their different approaches to managing the currency risk of managing their funds in ADA.
• Deliverable 2.2: Documentation of the action research project execution, including data collection and analysis from the 4 selected funded projects.
• Deliverable 2.3: an After Town Hall to share and discuss our initial insights.
• Deliverable 2.4: Monthly project management reports, including milestone reports, a promotion strategy for the project insights, management plans for the relationship with the test proposals, and a plan for wallet management.

Milestone 3: Reflection and analysis

Intended Outcome: An insightful analysis of the process and outcomes, providing valuable knowledge on participant crediting and research strategies.

• Deliverable 3.1: Reflection and analysis on how the action research process unfolded, including ideation on how to use this methodology and how to credit participants.
• Deliverable 3.2: An After TownHall to share and discuss our discoveries.
• Deliverable 3.3: Monthly project management reports, including milestone reports, a promotion strategy for the project insights, management plans for the relationship with the test proposals, and a plan for wallet management.

Milestone 4: Whitepaper

Intended Outcome: The production of a comprehensive, high-quality whitepaper that encapsulates the learnings and methodology of the project, providing valuable knowledge to the wider community. Continuing project management and reporting activities.

• Deliverable 4.1: A first draft of a comprehensive whitepaper presenting the use of action research in Catalyst. To include a methodology that can be adopted or adapted by anyone; guidance notes on potential issues; and information on how to manage data and privacy.
• Deliverable 4.2: A final draft of the whitepaper, professionally edited and proofread.
• Deliverable 4.3: an After Town Hall to share and discuss the whitepaper.
• Deliverable 4.4: Monthly project management reports, including a milestone report, a close-out report, a promotion strategy for the project insights,, and a plan for wallet management.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

1) Initial literature review of any existing literature on the use of Action Research in decentralised communities: 3,000 ADA

2) Scope and design a basic action research project: 2 days at 1,800 ADA/ day x 2 people = 7,200 ADA

3) Run, and document, our basic action research project with four F10 funded projects on how they are managing the currency risk of proposing in ADA. 4 days at 1800 ADA/ day x 2 people = 14,400 ADA

4) Incentives for 4 participating projects: 4 projects x 1,800 ADA each (two half-days of engagement with researchers): 7,200 ADA

5) Reflect on and analyse how the process went, including ideation on how to credit participants: 3 days x 1,800 ADA per day x 2 people = 10,800 ADA

6) Plan and write a whitepaper to collate our findings: 5 days at 1800 ADA a day x 2 people = 18,000 ADA

7) Edit and proofread whitepaper: 2,000 ADA

8) Project management (includes monthly reporting, milestone reporting, close-out report; publicity and sharing the insights of the project, including 3 After TownHalls; managing the relationship with our 4 test proposals; wallet management): 8,000 ADA

total 70,600 ADA

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

Academic-based research on Catalyst Operations provides high value for the Catalyst & Cardano Community. This research will offer insights into how a whole methodology that is new to Catalyst (Action Research) can be used to address the recurring issue of how we can assess the effects on the community of changes to Catalyst, and how this monitoring can be participatory and co-produced. Further, because all our documentation will be open source, others can use it as a basis for further research and engagement.

The pay rates we have given are standard freelance rates in Europe in the relevant fields. (Note that freelance rates are higher then salary rates, since they take into account the employment overheads of the people contracted. For example, freelancers do not get sick pay, holiday pay, or national insurance contributions, and have to pay all the overheads for their own workspaces.)

Note that when converting our costs to ADA, we have anticipated continued market macro conditions that will suppress ₳ prices. As of mid-July, we are basing our conversion rate of $0.25 (V$/₳ = 0.25) on the lower bound of the support channel established around the 200dma ($0.24-$0.35).

Given these factors, we believe this proposal offers very high value for money in a volatile cryptocurrency environment.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agreed to Fund10 rules and also that data in the Submission Form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept