Empowering Cardano Adoption through Misconception Research

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Alexander James

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

Individual

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

8

[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)

By systematically identifying dRep misconceptions, and developing methods to overcome them, we will equip the community with data-driven insights and solutions to build an effective adoption roadmap.

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

Our plan to share the outputs and results of our project involves a multi-pronged strategy to ensure the widest possible dissemination and application of our findings:

Open Access Publication: We intend to publish the results of our research in peer-reviewed open access journals. This will not only expose our work to peer review, ensuring its quality and rigor, but also make it freely available to anyone interested in understanding and addressing misconceptions around Cardano, dReps, and decentralized governance. We will also publish all educational content, pre/post assessments, and de-identified data. 

Educational Content: The educational content that we create based on our research findings will be made freely available across various platforms. This could include platforms like YouTube, Medium, Cardano community forums, and social media channels, to name a few.

Community Engagement: We will actively engage with the Cardano community, presenting our findings at virtual meetups, webinars, or even in-person events. This will allow us to directly interact with the community, clarify their doubts, and gather their insights to further refine our content and approach.

Partnerships with Other Catalyst Projects: We are open to collaborating with other Catalyst projects that are working towards the same end. By sharing our research findings and methodologies, we can enhance the overall effectiveness of educational efforts within the Cardano ecosystem.

As for the utilization of the results generated from the project in further research and development activities, they will form a solid foundation for future work. We can delve deeper into particular misconceptions that prove especially resistant to change or explore the effectiveness of different types of educational content. Furthermore, our results can also inform other projects working on similar issues in other blockchain ecosystems, thus contributing to the broader blockchain community.

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

TL;DR: Empowering the Cardano Community with Clear Insights

What We're Doing: We're conducting in-depth research to identify and rectify common misconceptions about Cardano and its delegate representatives (dReps). Our project involves creating educational materials and strategies based on our findings to enhance understanding and engagement within the Cardano ecosystem.

Why It's Special: We're not just compiling information; we're using a research-driven approach to understand the barriers and challenges within the Cardano community. Our work will be published in peer-reviewed journals, ensuring accuracy and providing valuable insights to the broader crypto community.

How We'll Do It:

1. Identify Misconceptions: Through surveys and interviews, we'll pinpoint the main misconceptions about Cardano.
2. Develop Educational Strategies: Based on our findings, we'll create materials and methods to address these misconceptions.
3. Validate Effectiveness: We'll test these strategies using research methodologies to ensure they effectively change perceptions and improve understanding.
4. Share Our Findings: Our results will be shared openly, with publications in academic journals and direct communication with the Cardano community.
5. Strengthen Cardano's Reach: By breaking down barriers to understanding, we'll aid in fostering a more informed and engaged community, supporting the growth and evolution of Cardano.

The Goal: Our mission is to deepen the community's understanding of Cardano, enhancing participation and decision-making. This, in turn, contributes to a more robust and dynamic Cardano ecosystem.

Plain language summary:

Cardano educational content is far from scarce. From IOG's official announcements to thousands of YouTubers exploring the protocol, the digital ether is thick with information. Many Catalyst projects earnestly aim to enlighten newcomers about the Cardano ecosystem, and the dRep role and voting system. Yet, despite these efforts, glaring and damaging misconceptions about Cardano continue to thrive, perplexing both newbies and crypto veterans alike.

You might be asking, why is that? Surely, if we keep flooding the space with accurate information, these misconceptions will eventually wash away, right? Well, the reality is quite contrary. The 'if we build it, they will come' approach doesn't always hit the mark when it comes to shifting paradigms.

The truth is, simply presenting more and more information doesn't necessarily change minds. Why? Because many communicators lack an understanding of how to truly facilitate conceptual change. The good news? That's where we come in.

As far as we know, no one has systematically tackled the terrain of Cardano misconceptions, nor have they used research-based methods to shape the best ways to eradicate misconceptions and instigate conceptual change. That's where our project takes root.

With over 20 years of combined expertise in Educational Psychology and Technical Project Management, our team is set to gather the data and conduct a necessary conceptual change study. Our aim is to gain a precise understanding of the barriers to entry into the Cardano ecosystem, and the specific conceptual challenges faced by dReps, leading to their subpar participation.

Once our study is complete, we're not going to squirrel it away in a drawer somewhere. We plan to publish our findings in a peer-reviewed open access journal. We believe in open information and making our insights available to everyone, to the benefit of the broader crypto community.

In essence, we are not just building more content and hoping for the best. We are strategically targeting and breaking down the barriers that stand between potential dReps and their engagement with Cardano's transformative potential. In short, we're not just building it - we're paving the path to make sure they will come."

High-level Descriptions in Japanese, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese respectively:

日本語訳

普通话翻译

한국어 번역

Bản dịch tiếng Việt

Formal description:

Problem Perception and Approach Rationale:

Our understanding of the problem is that significant, glaring, and even damaging misconceptions about Cardano and dReps persist for both newcomers and seasoned participants in the crypto-space alike. Despite the abundance of content about Cardano created by IOG, Cardano Foundation, Catalyst Projects, and many enthusiasts, these misconceptions continue to be barriers to entry and active participation.

As a team consisting of an educational psychologist and a technical program manager, we firmly believe in the power of research and strategic education in combating this misinformation. We are presenting a research proposal to clarify the major barriers to becoming dReps, misconceptions around dReps, the Cardano ecosystem, and even the concept of decentralization and decentralized governance on Cardano.

The urgent need for our project becomes evident when one considers it as a foundation upon which other dRep-related efforts should be built. The current participation rate in Catalyst voting is less than 20%, and a startling 30% of these voters apparently cast their votes randomly, without even reading the proposals. How can we justify investing in the creation of more tools to foster dRep usage if we haven’t first addressed the root cause behind the lackluster participation rates?

Our project aims to systematically investigate and identify these obstacles and misconceptions. This research will provide the foundational, empirical data necessary to inform and shape an effective, targeted roadmap for enhancing dRep adoption. Without this foundational understanding, any further work or investment in the dRep space might be misdirected, leading to wasted resources and diminished potential impact.

Our approach is based on the understanding that prior knowledge greatly impacts the learning process. Most of the time, prior knowledge is a great advantage. For example, coming into an advanced mathematics course after having mastered a number of foundational mathematics courses will, all things considered, grant you an advantage over your peers. However, if prior knowledge conflicts with new information, it creates a challenge. For example, trying to learn how to navigate the Linux operating system, after spending years utilizing Windows or macOS might be more painful and problematic than if you started with Linux and then tried to learn Windows. This difficult process of re-classifying knowledge is referred to as conceptual change, and it can be notoriously difficult to overcome through either dialog or educational contexts. This phenomenon is seen in various areas, such as climate change and human evolution, and we suspect that it applies to the Cardano ecosystem as well. Therefore, our approach involves creating and empirically testing multiple conceptual change interventions to dispel these misconceptions.

Engagement:

Our project will engage a wide range of Cardano community members, newcomers, existing participants, and potential dReps. By exposing and addressing misconceptions, we aim to make the Cardano ecosystem more accessible and engaging.

Summary:

Our project targets persistent misconceptions about Cardano and dReps, obstacles that curb community participation despite an array of available resources. Guided by a team of experts in educational psychology and technical program management, we propose in-depth research to elucidate these misconceptions, thereby establishing the much-needed empirical basis for enhancing dRep adoption. Our strategy involves recognizing the role of prior knowledge and embarking on a conceptual change study. Our ultimate objective is not just to boost dRep participation and improve the caliber of discussions and decisions, but also to offer open-source findings for future researchers. This will empower the community to create a more effective adoption roadmap for dReps, Catalyst, and the Cardano ecosystem at large.

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

Impact Demonstration:

We'll demonstrate the impact of our project by systematically documenting the landscape of Cardano-related misconceptions and applying research-based methods to counteract them. This process will involve publishing our findings in a peer-reviewed, open access journal, providing transparency and accessibility of our work. We'll also measure engagement metrics with our educational content to evaluate reach and uptake. Ultimately, not only will an increase in dRep participation and improved quality of discussions and decisions indicate our project's success, but the transparency and open source data and findings will ensure future researchers can replicate and extend our findings.

[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?

Our team is uniquely positioned to deliver on this project with high levels of trust and accountability, based on our combined expertise in educational psychology, technology program management, and content development.

Robert Danielson, an educational psychologist, brings over a decade of experience in using quantitative and qualitative research methods to address learning barriers. His work, backed by over 25 peer-reviewed publications and nearly $2m in funded projects, attests to his ability to handle complex research projects with professionalism and integrity. Furthermore, his recent work on conceptual change, which is central to our project, bolsters our capacity to tackle the specific challenges of this project. His most recent work includes a meta-analysis of studies leveraging refutational approaches to overcoming misconceptions (funded by the National Science Foundation) and a textbook chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Educational Psychology on teaching for conceptual change. 

Alexander James, with his extensive experience in technology program management and content development, strengthens our project's implementation side. His track record of driving successful technology adoption and value-realization projects, in various contexts from startups to government agencies, lends credibility to our capability to deliver. His graduate-level training in qualitative research methodologies further enhances our research capacity.

We both have a clear understanding of the importance of trust and accountability in projects, particularly in the crypto space where transparency is paramount. We are committed to maintaining open communication with the Cardano community, regularly updating them on our progress, challenges, and learnings. We are also open to undergoing any necessary reviews or audits to ensure the utmost accountability.

Finally, our shared passion for the Cardano ecosystem and belief in its potential to revolutionize the way we transact and interact assures our dedication to delivering a project that truly benefits the community.

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

Initial Discovery Completion - This includes identification of misconceptions, defining the assessment metric, potential impacts, and defining high-level categories of misconceptions.

Outputs:

• A comprehensive list of identified misconceptions about Cardano and dReps.
• A set of assessment metrics and criteria for evaluating these misconceptions.
• A report detailing the potential impacts of these misconceptions on the Cardano ecosystem.
• A categorization framework that groups misconceptions into high-level categories.

Acceptance Criteria:

• A documented list of misconceptions that has been validated through preliminary research.
• A clearly defined set of metrics and criteria, developed and reviewed by the project team.
• A report on potential impacts, supported by data from initial research and analysis.
• A categorization framework that logically groups misconceptions, which can be utilized in future research phases.

Quantitative Data Discovery Completion - This milestone includes building and launching the survey, and analyzing its outputs to define the most prevalent and impactful misconceptions.

Outputs:

• A well-structured and deployed survey focusing on Cardano misconceptions.
• A comprehensive dataset of responses from the Cardano community.
• An analytical report detailing the prevalence and impact of various misconceptions, backed by statistical evidence.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Completion and deployment of a survey that accurately captures information about misconceptions.
• Successful collection of a statistically significant number of responses that represent the Cardano community's diverse demographics.
• A detailed analytical report that clearly presents the findings from the survey data, highlighting the most prevalent and impactful misconceptions.

Completion of Second Round of Qualitative Data Discovery - This includes conducting a second round of informed observational data gathering, interviewing more nominated informants, and conducting secondary coding of the data gathered.

Outputs:

• A comprehensive collection of observational data from various Cardano community platforms.
• Detailed interview transcripts with insights into the misconceptions about Cardano and dReps.
• A coded dataset with identified themes and patterns, providing a qualitative perspective on the misconceptions.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Successful completion of observational data collection that captures a broad and authentic range of community interactions.
• Conducting and documenting a set number of in-depth interviews with nominated informants, ensuring quality and relevance.
• A thoroughly coded dataset with clear identification of emerging themes and patterns, validated through a reliable qualitative analysis method.

Completion of Data Analysis - Conducting thematic and/or discourse analysis on the data collected to identify core misconceptions around Cardano.

Outputs:

• A detailed report outlining the themes identified through thematic analysis, with examples and interpretations.
• A discourse analysis report highlighting how communication styles and contexts contribute to misconceptions.
• An integrated analysis report that combines insights from both thematic and discourse analysis, offering a holistic view of the core misconceptions about Cardano.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Completion of a thorough thematic analysis that accurately identifies and interprets key themes related to Cardano misconceptions.
• A comprehensive discourse analysis report that effectively illustrates the role of communication in shaping misconceptions.
• An integrated analysis report that cohesively combines findings from both analyses and aligns with the research objectives.

Completion of Conceptual Change Study - A literature review, generation of misconception and refutational materials, recruiting study participants, presenting the study materials to participants, gathering data, analyzing results, writing up results, and preparing them for publication.

Outputs:

• A literature review document that informs the study design.
• Developed misconception and refutational materials.
• A database of study participants and their responses.
• A data analysis report detailing the effectiveness of the materials.
• A final study report ready for publication.

Acceptance Criteria:

• A literature review that adequately informs the study's approach and material development.
• Quality and relevance of the misconception and refutational materials, as evaluated by experts in the field.
• Successful recruitment of a diverse and representative sample of participants.
• Effective presentation and distribution of study materials to participants.
• Comprehensive data analysis that clearly demonstrates whether the materials were effective in changing misconceptions.
• A well-written and coherent final report that is ready for peer review and publication.

Dissemination of Study Results - This includes circulating reports or memos on the findings to relevant researchers, holding workshops, making presentations at research conferences, preparing articles for publication in appropriate scholarly journals, creating a public website to host reports, and organizing workshops at conferences.

Preparation and Submission of Summary Report for Catalyst Community - This includes defining what kind of content would achieve the desired conceptual change, content design, creation, and distribution.

Please see our detailed project plan here: https://bit.ly/catalyst-detailed-project-plan

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

Robert Danielson, PhD - Lead Researcher

Robert is an educational psychologist with over a decade of experience utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research methods to eliminate learning barriers for students ranging from 7 to 55+ years old. With a track record that includes more than 25 peer-reviewed publications and close to $2 million in funding secured through the National Science Foundation and National Institutes for Health, he is poised to bring his rigorous research methodology and passion for education to this project. His latest contribution, a book chapter on teaching for conceptual change, is set to appear in the forthcoming iteration of the handbook for conceptual change. His responsibilities in this project will involve leading the research, designing the study methodology, analyzing the data, and preparing the reports.

Alexander James, MA - Technical Program Manager and Content Developer

Alexander brings to the table over a decade of experience as a technical program manager and content developer, having worked with technology teams in various settings, from start-ups and government agencies to large tech enterprises. He also holds a Master's degree with a focus on ethnographic and phenomenological research methodologies. His academic background augments his professional acumen, positioning him uniquely in leading successful technology adoption and value-realization projects. In this project, Alexander will play a pivotal role in technical program management, including planning, execution, and overseeing the development of content related to our research findings, in addition to consulting on qualitative research methods.

Both team members are deeply committed to the project and have been actively engaging with the Cardano community via Discord, ensuring a robust communication line with the necessary resources. We understand the Catalyst funding procedures and are prepared to go through the 'proof of life' verifications and meet any other requirements.

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

Primary Researchers Compensation:

We anticipate two primary researchers (the joint applicants, Robert and Alexander, listed above) working on the project for a total of approximately 675 hours. This includes time spent on the research, development, data analysis, content creation, and distribution aspects of the project.

Breakdown:

Estimated time: 675 hours

Estimated cadence: 10 sprints, each consisting of between 10-and-12 days

Rate: $52/hour

Total: $34,975 per researcher

Overall: $34,975 * 2 = $70,000

Expenses & Participation Incentives:

There will be expenses related to subscriptions, fees associated with publication, and other incidental costs.

Additionally, given the importance of obtaining quality data from interview participants, some funds will be set aside to offer as participation incentives. This could help ensure high-quality responses and a broad pool of participants. We intend to pay the participants where possible in ADA, which will also serve as a validation step in some instances that they are active in the Caradno ecosystem, at least to some extent.

Breakdown:

Total: $1000

Thus we request 200,000 ADA or approximately $70,000 USD (if valued at .35 USD/ADA)

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

Our project costs primarily reflect the time and effort of two highly experienced professionals, Robert Danielson and Alexander James, who bring over 20 years of combined experience in education, research, and technical program management. We estimated our effort at $52/hour, which is quite reasonable considering the average rates for professionals with similar qualifications and experiences in our respective fields.

The value for the Cardano ecosystem is multi-faceted.

Addressing Community Misconceptions: First, our project directly addresses an identified problem within the community: misconceptions about the Cardano ecosystem and the role of Delegate Representatives (dReps). By clarifying these misconceptions, we aim to facilitate more participation and more effective decision-making within the Catalyst voting system.

Research-based Approach and Dissemination: Second, our approach is methodical and research-based, incorporating the principles of educational psychology to understand and rectify common misconceptions. Our plan to publish the results in an open access, peer-reviewed journal also ensures that the findings will be verified and widely accessible to the Cardano community and beyond.

Long-term Ecosystem Growth: Third, the potential long-term benefits of our work are substantial. By improving understanding and engagement in the Cardano ecosystem, we contribute to a healthier, more informed, and more democratic blockchain community. Over time, these benefits could lead to more effective proposals, higher-quality discussions, and better decisions, resulting in overall growth and progress for Cardano.

Community Engagement: By regularly updating the community through blog posts, we are also fostering an ongoing conversation about Cardano, keeping the community engaged and invested in the project.

In summary, while the cost may appear high at a first glance, the value it brings to the Cardano ecosystem through improved community engagement, informed decision-making, and future growth potential makes it a worthy investment.

[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