Cardano Pulse - Researching sentiment and behaviour in the Cardano ecosystem

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Matea Sedlaček

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Requested funds in ada

123025

[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] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will survey the Cardano ecosystem about people's sentiment & behaviour regarding DeFi, NFT, IOG, CF, influencers, etc. Data will be shared in an attractive, interactive manner on our web platform.

[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?

No

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

The final presentation of the data will be open to the public, free to all. Visitors to the “Cardano Pulse” portion of our Fork It web platform may configure the data’s display as desired, using interactive charts and tables.

[METADATA] SDG rating

4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

Problem

The ability to make informed decisions about investment choices or project design is a key to success. “Do your own research” is common advice, but often in the Cardano ecosystem there is little demographic or market sentiment data to be found. While there is an array of on-chain market analysers which can show us a part of the picture, what is missing is a source which will augment on-chain data with sentiment information. Hearing what people think about certain topics and the reasons for their behaviour would bring more of the picture into focus. 

Solution

We aim to bridge the gap in Cardano's market analysis by integrating social sentiment and fostering informed decision-making. We will publicly offer a platform to share innovative data visualisations, option filters for data comparisons, and ways to interact easily with sentiment data in the Cardano Pulse section of Fork It - our research and knowledge platform for Cardano space https://forkit.thesisdysmorphia.com/.

We will conduct a research study which will tell us more about:

• the demographic structure of the participants in Cardano space
• their sentiments about the present and future of the market
• their behaviours, reasoning and investment practices regarding DeFi and NFTs
• their opinions about major Cardano personalities and entities

We will publish this Cardano Pulse research results on our updated Fork It platform where all the data will be visually presented in charts and tables, as well as in the form of a PDF report. 

Methodology and survey design

Our methodology will follow the principles of survey research. This process can be divided into 3 major parts:

• Creation of survey: 
• create up to 100 questions covering a wide range of topics about NFT, DeFi and different Cardano core entities
• mostly quantitative questions with multiple choice answers
• several open-ended qualitative questions 
• consult with communities/other projects for ways to improve the set of questions
• ask for public suggestions to cover topics of interest

• Conducting the research:
• distribute the survey throughout communities
• follow the response rates
• adjust the distribution methods as needed to reach more people
• aim for 1000 respondents with +/_30% for measurement of success

• Results analysis
• data checks and preparation
• conduct basic and deeper statistical analyses to find major important differences
• create the results report
• enhance our web platform with new web pages presenting the data in graphical and tabular formats

Cardano Community participation

In order to build a comprehensive picture of the current Cardano landscape, we will leverage our past experience and contacts within the Cardano Community and execute our marketing plan to maximise the survey’s exposure and participation rate. 

Means to get to participants

We will follow a marketing strategy to spread awareness of the survey and to encourage participation in it. Steps include:

• create a recognisable survey name
• frequently highlight the importance of filling out the survey, as it benefits the whole Cardano ecosystem
• promote the survey as the go-to digital event, being as important as "voting"
• host or be a guest on multiple X spaces explaining the rationale behind the whole process
• include multiple raffle prizes for the participants
• enlist the support of Cardano ecosystem projects to educate and encourage their communities’ participation in the survey

Publishing the results - Cardano Pulse on Fork It

The Cardano Pulse results will be publicly available on our Fork It web platform and in the form of a PDF report. Fork It is intended to become the go-to place for finding such data. It may be viewed here: https://forkit.thesisdysmorphia.com/ (but please note that currently the platform is in its Beta phase, with full access available only to holders of Thesis NFT).

Visual example of data presentation on Fork It

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

Value

The utility of this project extends beyond individual preferences, catering to the diverse needs of investors, developers, Cardano core companies, community members, researchers, analysts, media and new entrants. It fosters transparency, facilitates informed decision-making, and contributes to the overall growth and sustainability of the Cardano blockchain. Read more in the “Value for money” section.

Following the impact

When we published the results of similar surveys that focused on NFT projects, the impact was widely felt. Along with the appreciation voiced by many community members, we received numerous invitations to join X spaces to present and discuss the data. Furthermore, the importance of this sort of research was recognised by Charles Hoskinson, who pointed out the possibilities which may stem from a better-informed Cardano community. See the full interview we had on his YT channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4qWq5vGbRE&t=65s

With this new Cardano Pulse research, we expect to create an even higher level of impact, as our survey will cover the whole ecosystem. We will follow the impact with the additional steps of:

• tracking the number of participants
• tracking the percentage of participants who completed the entire survey (analyse drop-off points to improve future survey engagement)
• collecting feedback from participants on how they learned about the survey
• hosting or appearing on X spaces to share the results of the study and to gather feedback
• creating a "share results" option, using social media to highlight various results from the Fork It platform, widening the reach of the survey within the community (see example below)
• creating an "impact and feedback" form for people to fill out and share their thoughts about the results and how they found those useful

Example of "share results" integration

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Proof of concept

The team has already demonstrated a successful approach for conducting such research, as seen by the results of our recent work. The results were presented both as a research paper in PDF form and on the Fork It platform.

First page (of 81) from our study paper

Fork It - Research and knowledge platform for Cardano space forkit.thesisdysmorphia.com

This past October we published the results of a year-long study of the Cardano NFT space, addressing multiple questions of interest and collaborating with 46 projects while gathering a total of over 3500 answers to various surveys. We minted a special NFT collection containing a link to the paper in the form of a PDF file. Many people use this Thesis NFT to gain full access to this study data, displayed in charts and graphs on our Fork It web platform. (While currently the platform is in its Beta phase with limited free access, further functionality and access is planned as part of this proposal).

During our year-long study, we proved that we have a feasible approach, we gathered many connections and community trust along the way, and we delivered everything we promised to deliver.

Capabilities

With such experience and expertise, we believe we are well-suited to continue gathering and delivering such research data to the public. In addition, please see our team members’ descriptions in the “Team Members” section below.

Accountability

The progress of the project will be shared publicly on our website, showing the passing of each Milestone.

Possible risks

We acknowledge possible risks in successfully delivering this project. Those are (with our cautionary steps explained):

• Not getting enough people to answer the survey [risk impact: low to medium]
• Robust marketing plan, spreading the opportunity to participate in the survey across Cardano space 
• Pivoting our marketing approach as necessary
• Prolonging the survey distribution period if needed
• With our target of 1000 respondents, a response rate of 70% or more will still be enough to make the results representative of community sentiment

• Botting of surveys [risk impact: low]
• The survey platform we are using offers IP protection, so the same IP cannot be used to fill out the survey twice (IPs are not collected from our side)
• The survey will be divided in sections, with completion of one required before the next is accessible, increasing the difficulty for bots
• Finally, when all results are in, we can manually look through the data and find any suspicious activity (timing of entries, entries without careful thought)

• ADA value going down - [risk impact: just for bears]
• Converting our grant payments into fiat as we get them to protect against potential price drops
• Find cost savings in our budget
• In the event of a large drop in price, we will deliver as much as this unavoidable budget restriction allows

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Steps in the first phase (4-6 weeks)

Creation of the survey:

• create questions to cover all the major topics about Cardano space
• gather "community feedback" where people will be able to add questions of interest or give valuable insights
• confer with various projects to hear about the topics that are important to them
• create the means to track who filled out the survey while keeping their answers anonymous

Establish/renew contacts with projects in the Cardano scene and their communities to:

• increase awareness of the survey 
• encourage as many people as possible to participate in it
• actively involve projects in further marketing steps

Marketing:

• establish X presence highlighting importance of the survey
• create flyers, graphics, articles
• host X spaces covering the survey topic
• organise activities to bring more awareness of the survey (games, quizzes in discord and on X)
• Thesis & Dysmorphia website revision and update

Acceptance criteria

• deliver final survey form
• deliver information of projects involved in raising awareness of the study

Steps in the second phase (4-6 weeks)

Conducting the survey:

• distribute the survey throughout communities
• follow survey response rates
• gather feedback to learn the way that reached the survey participants most effectively
• if needed, adjust the survey distribution accordingly to reach even more people

Marketing:

• continue with steps from the first phase
• introduce incentives for survey participants (for example, prize raffles for survey participants)

Acceptance criteria

• deliver raw data about the number of survey participants
• deliver information about the effectiveness of various survey distribution methods
• deliver preliminary results (demographics and several questions from different categories)

Steps in the final phase (4-6 weeks)

Data analysis and presentation:

• statistical analysis of the results
• create interactive charts, tables, visuals
• create and design PDF report
• import survey response data to the Fork It platform
• create a filtering comparison tool for the Fork It platform

Marketing:

• continue with steps from first 2 phases
• deliver prizes to raffle winners
• introduce a “share results” option on the Fork It platform and use it to share the results with a wide audience

Acceptance criteria

• deliver final product (PDF report and Fork It platform with results)
• deliver final report of the survey success (goals achieved, explain pivot points if any were made, explain limitations noticed)

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

The team is comprised of:

• Matea Sedlaček, PhD, Thesis & Dysmorphia co-founder, the scientific lead for the project
• X, Linkedin
• Entrepreneur, successful business owner, researcher, PhD in the field of physiology, with great interest in blockchain and NFT space, community and quickly changing sentiments and behaviours in crypto.
• Marina Minko, Thesis & Dysmorphia co-founder, project manager & PR manager
• X
• Diverse background in philosophy, with a strong interest in human psychology and behaviour. Her extensive professional journey includes positions in general management, financial management, strategic development and foreign agency contracting.
• Mad Orkestra, developer and designer
• X
• Fullstack freelance Webdev and designer.
• Westmarch, copy-editor and proof-reader 
• Survey design consultant and discord moderator for the Thesis & Dysmorphia project. Copy-editor of "First Thesis: On Cardano NFT Space".
• S20, partnership manager, X spaces host
• X
• Hosting Cardano-centric X (Twitter) Spaces for almost 2 years. He founded the CALMDANO Space in April of 2022, and has been hosting three 4 hour Spaces per week for most of that time. His curated approach to hosting Spaces has made CALMDANO the 'go-to' Spaces for news on development and reasoned debate about Cardano.
• Disastrid, community manager
• X
• Almost 2 years of experience in community management, passionate about the space and all things Web3.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

PR, Marketing and Community (full proposal period) - 21,850 A

• communication strategy (20h, 75$/h) - 3750 A
• community management on X and discord (1,000$/month) - 10,000 A
• X spaces hosting (10 spaces, 250 A/space) - 2,500 A
• Thesis & Dysmorphia website revision (20h, 40$/h) - 2,000 A
• flyers, graphics, visuals (15-20 pieces, 50 A/piece) - 1,000 A
• articles (6 articles, 100 A/article) - 600 A
• incentives for survey participants (NFTs/tokens/merch) - 2,000 A

Survey creation (2-4 weeks) - 11,550 A

• questions creation and reviews (approx. 100 questions, 40h, 100$/h) - 10,000 A
• copy-editing, proof-reading (10h, 50$/h) - 1250 A
• incorporating mechanism to follow who participated anonymously (3h, 40$/h) - 300 A

Data analysis (2-4 weeks) - 21,250 A

• data preparation (40h, 100$/h) - 10,000 A
• statistical analysis (10h, 100$/h) - 2,500 A
• PDF report content creation (40h, 75$/h) - 7,500 A
• copy-editing, proof-reading (10h, 50$/h) - 1,250 A

Design and development of the platform (2-4 weeks) - 56,250 A

• importing of survey data to the platform (30h, 160$/h) - 12,000 A
• creating interactive charts/visuals/tables from the data (40h, 160$/h) - 16,000 A
• coding comparison filters based on several questions (30h, 160$/h) - 12,000 A
• incorporating "share results" to the platform (10h, 160$/h) - 4,000 A
• designing the PDF report (30h, 110$/h) - 8,250 A
• updating Fork It platform with new sections (10h, 160$/h) - 4,000 A

Project management (full proposal period) - 29,000 A

• identification of potential external partners in the ecosystem and ensuring their active participation (1,000 A/month) - 4,000 A
• facilitation of communication and collaboration amongst team members, monitoring project timelines, ensuring alignment with project objectives (100h, 80$/h) - 20,000 A
• analysing key performance indicators (KPIs) related to project visibility, community engagement, and survey participation (15h, 80$/h) - 3,000 A
• preparing regular reports for the project team, summarizing PR efforts, community sentiment, and the overall impact of promotional activities (10h, 80$/h) - 2,000 A

Software and other costs - 4,375 A

• Survey management software licence (1350$) - 3,375 A
• Statistical management software licence (200$) - 500 A
• Web servers (200$) - 500 A

TOTAL: 123,025 A

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

Our project offers exceptional value for money by providing comprehensive insights into the Cardano ecosystem through a well-structured survey and accessible presentation of results on the Fork It platform. 

Should Cardano Pulse be well received within the community we would like to make this polling a recurring annual event - recording Cardano sentiment well into the future.

The granted funds will be properly managed by our co-founders Matea Sedlaček and Marina Minko, as both are entrepreneurs and have the skills and experience to do so.

Read more about value for different groups of ecosystem participants below. 

Community Members:

• Contribute to the growth and development of the Cardano ecosystem by sharing opinions and insights.
• Access our data platform, Fork It, to explore survey results and stay informed about the community's collective perspectives.

Investors and Traders:

• Gain insights into market sentiments, enabling informed investment decisions.
• Understand the demographics and behaviours of participants for strategic positioning.

Developers and Projects:

• Identify trends and preferences in the community to guide development decisions.
• Tailor products and projects to better suit the preferences and needs of the Cardano community, enhancing adoption.

Cardano Core Entities:

• Understand community perceptions, refine strategies, and improve offerings based on real-time insights.

Researchers and Analysts:

• Utilise the survey data for in-depth analysis and research on Cardano market dynamics.
• Leverage the Fork It platform as a valuable resource for comprehensive and up-to-date information on the Cardano community
• The data collected can be used by educators to incorporate real-world, current information into blockchain-related courses, ensuring that educational content remains relevant and practical.

Media and Influencers:

• Access to survey results allows media outlets and influencers to create timely and relevant content, accurate and insightful coverage, contributing to a more informed and transparent Cardano ecosystem.

New Entrants:

• Access a consolidated overview of the Cardano community.
• Gain a quick understanding of the market dynamics, sentiments, and key players in the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund 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