Example Of Report On Methodology

Report

Executive Summary
The research is dedicated to development and design of an iphone application devoted to tracking nutrition intake. The experimental part of this research was devoted to asking people specific questions related to their diets and nutrition. They were also asked about their interest in using the app on nutrition intake and specific features that it can have. The results have shown that people are interested in the app and want to make their diet healthier, which means that there is already high demand for such an application and it is a good idea to develop it.

Who we tested
Within the framework of the research, there were 6 people surveyed and 1 person interviewed. All of them were in the age category of 18-30, 5 of them were female, and 2 male. In the survey there was a distinction made for the people who considered their diets to be healthy and for those who thought that their diet was not healthy. Four respondents have chosen the first questionnaire, meant for the people who value the healthy diet, while 2 have chosen the second variant for those who do not value it.

What participants did

Six of the participants answered to the questions of the survey, and 1 respondent answered to the question in the interview. They had to choose questionnaire based on their like or dislike of healthy food and the way they valued it. The examples of questionnaires are provided in the Appendix. Upon completion of the survey, respondents received a healthy snack as a reward.

What data we collected

We collected general demographic information of respondents, such as age and gender, as well as data on their diets and the ways they would like to change them. In addition, they were asked whether they would like to use new application on nutrient intake and specific features it can possess.

Major Findings

The results have shown that all the respondents, no matter whether they value healthy diet or not, wanted to improve their nutritional intake. All of the survey participants also ate home-made food often, but at the same time the majority of them ate commercially prepared foods as well. The main reasons for eating fast food were its convenience, cheap price. The number of respondents who liked its taste was 4, the others chose the convenience variant to be dominant in their choice. All of the respondents have chosen high marks for the importance of proper nutrition (only 1 person has chosen 7 out of 10, the others chose 8, 9 and 10). It is also interesting that no matter whether they valued healthy food or not, they considered their own diets to be rather healthy, choosing marks of 6 and higher. Still, everyone thought that they could improve the diet and expressed their interest in using the app tracking nutrient intake with all the features offered.

User needs list:

Users need understanding of their nutritious intake that would be easy to understand and check. In particular, they want automated tracking of nutrients in the food that they consume. They are also interested in planned diets for their dietary needs and suggested foods alternative to the ones they are eating on a daily basis. Advice of certified nutritionists is also interesting for the people, as well as feedback on their dietary intake. The main need uniting everyone is eating healthier, tastier food, and all of the points provided above contribute to satisfying this need.

Stakeholder description:

As mentioned previously, the users of our product will be individuals who don’t consume healthy diets due to various reasons, such as not consuming nutritious diets because they lack knowledge in the sphere of nutrition, have limited certain budget for purchasing food, have insufficient amount of time to prepare nutritious food. They are the crowd that will be affected directly and impacted the most. It is because they are the ones that will gain first hand experience of our designed interface. The success of our designed interface will be built upon users’ comments after using it. If our interface is not able to cause changes in individual’s behavior and does not assist them to a better lifestyle, it can directly affect the number of users that use our interface and it creates a bad reputation for our design team.
However, apart from users, there are many other stakeholders that will be affected, such as the dietarian, because they can use our project as an assistance tool, which will allow them to access nutritional information in a faster and more convenient manner. It will shift from the traditional approach to a technological approach. Also, users’ family or friends can be the stakeholders because if the users changed their eating habit, it can affect their family and friends as well. For example, if a user consumes less fast food after using our product, then the user’s mother might have to prepare homemade food for him. A close friend of a user can also be influenced by the user’s eating pattern. Various snacks and food suppliers can be the stakeholders, because if a user abandons his habit of consuming junk food, it will affect the sales of junk food and increase the sales of healthy nutritious food. The supply and demand will be affected.

Detailed persona:

Lazy Loretta is a housewife, who is in her early 30s. Other than taking care of her 2 years old daughter, all she does in her spare time is watching TV shows. Loretta knows the importance of healthy diet and wants to eat nutritious food. However, she is unmotivated to read through the nutrition table and check the nutritional value of her food every time. Therefore, she just consumes and cooks whatever food she “believes” is healthy. It is all based on guess.

One scenario:

If we take an average student who falls in the category of 18-30 years of age, we can see that on the part of his/her diet, there is often met scenario. The person understands the benefits of eating healthy food and receiving a proper amount of nutrients. Still, he/she has a lot of chores that require attention, such as a lot of homework, work around the house, and other responsibilities. Often there is a limited amount of money that can be spent on food. And thus when the person feels hunger, there is often some kind of vending machine or just a fast food spot, where the person chooses to eat, as it is convenient, inexpensive and usually tasty. When there is time for cooking at home, the person is likely to do it, but still there is often not enough time for tracking nutrients in the food.

One task:

Today when a user decides that he/she wants to eat healthier food, there are several options available for them. First, they can find some articles on the web and get acquainted with the kinds of food that can provide them with enough nutrition. They can memorize these kinds of food, maybe print them and carry the piece of paper along with them, consulting it when it is necessary. They can also print out the nutrition facts table with them and consult it when they buy some food. Still, there is a considerable amount of work on counting the nutrients and defining the kind of diet relevant to the person’s goals in nutrition.

Appendix

Research protocol:
1. Project Title: “Interviews and Questionnaires of users that value healthy diet and individuals who don’t value healthy diet”.
2. Investigators:
3. Purpose: The purpose of our research is to understand the causes that block our users from maintaining a healthy deal to help us derive requirements for the design of novel interactive computational media that are intended to be useful to people who advocates a healthy lifestyle and to those who are looking to improve their nutrition intake. A brief description of our design concept is a convenient yet simple tool that can help on tracking user’s daily nutrition intake.
4. Process to be followed: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, explain the consent form to them, and ensure that they sign the consent form. We will then engage participants in one interview and two questionnaires. We are going to do a 15 to 30 minutes individual interview with a few selected participants that we want to know more about and also distribute 2 different versions of questionnaire to two groups of participant: the participants who desire healthy diet and participants who are not aware or do not value healthy diet.
5. Participant selection: Participants will be chosen from individuals with minimal nutrition awareness and knowledge, and individuals who are actively seeking for nutritious diet. They will be identified via by two major groups, that is the group who cares about nutritious diet, and the group who don’t care about nutritious diet” and selected according to our preset question “Do you see yourself as an individual who consume healthy meal?”. In general, they will be characterized by characteristics such as age, gender, preference and income, etc.
6. Relationships: Our relationship to the participants may be described as follows: acquaintance, strangers, friends or family.
7. Risk and benefit: There will be minimal risk to the participants, for example that they feel that they have wasted their time. The only benefit will be to contribute to the education of the investigators. Participants are free to withdraw before or at any time during the study without the need to give any explanation
8. Consent details: We will brief the participants about the purpose of the study, and explain the attached consent form to them, make sure they understand the entire procedure of interview and questionnaires, and ensure that they consent to participate and sign the consent form.
9. Compensation: Participants will receive compensation in form of nutritious snack such as energy bar or low-fat cookie.
10. Information sought: The information to be sought is described in the attached interview questions and two different questionnaires.
11. Confidentiality: Information will be kept confidential by the investigators. Names or other identifying or identified information will not be kept with the data. The only other use will be to include excerpts or copies in the assignment submitted, but names and other identifying or identified information will not be submitted.
Consent form: Study of personal nutrition intake
I understand that
The procedures to be used are in form in an interview with duration of 15-30 minutes and two sets of questionnaires.
I will receive nutritious snack as an incentive for my participation.
I am free to withdraw before or any time during the study without the need to give any explanation.
All materials and results will be kept confidential, and, in particular, that my name and any identifying or identified information will not be associated with the data.
PARTICIPANT
Toronto, Date ____________________________________________________________
INVESTIGATOR(s) Name_________________________Signature______________________
*****IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF AS SOMEONE WHO VALUE A HEALTHY DIET, PLEASE FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE 1, IF YOU DON’T CONSIDER YOURSELF AS SOMEONE WHO VALUE A HEALTHY DIET, PLEASE FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE 2*****
(Note: This survey is totally anonymous)
1.Please circle which age group do you fall under.
2. What is your gender?
[] Female [] Male [] Other
3. How often do you eat home-prepared meals?
5. Do you base your diet on taste?
[]Yes [] No
6. On a scale of 1-10, how important do you think the nutrition contents of your food are?
(1 being not important, 10 being very important)
7. How often do you eat commercially prepared meals (eg. frozen food, restaruant food)?
(If you answer never, skip question number 8)
8. Check off the statements that you agree with.
I eat out because it is cheap Yes [] No []
I eat out because it is convenient Yes [] No []
I eat out because I like the taste Yes [] No []
I try not to eat out very often Yes [] No []
9. In a scale of 1-10, how healthy do you consider your diet?
(1 being unhealthy, 10 being very healthy)
10. Do you think you would want to improve your diet if it was facilitated?
[] Yes [] No
11. Do you pay attention to the nutrition facts table before you consume your food?
Yes [] No []
12. Do you think you need to improve the nutritional intake from your diet?
Yes [] No []
13. Would you be interested in using an app that tracks your nutritional intake?
Yes [] No []
(If you answered no, skip the next question)
14. Which of these features would you find useful?
Automated tracking of nutrients from food intake []
Planned diets for different dietary goals []
Suggested foods according to usual foods eaten []
Access to tips provided by certified nutritionists []
Weekly feedback on dietary intake []
(Note: This survey is totally anonymous)
1.Please circle which age group do you fall under.
2. What is your gender?
[] Female [] Male [] Other
3. How often do you eat home-prepared meals?
5. Do pay attention to your mineral and vitamin intake?
[]Yes [] No
6. On a scale of 1-10, how important do you think the nutrition contents of your food are?
(1 being not important, 10 being very important)
7. How often do you eat commercially prepared meals (eg. frozen food, restaruant food)?
(If you answer never, skip question number 8)
8. Check off the statements that you agree with.
I eat out because it is cheap Yes [] No []
I eat out because it is convenient Yes [] No []
I eat out because I like the taste Yes [] No []
I try not to eat out very often Yes [] No []
9. Do you follow any diet routine?
[] Yes [] No
(If you answered no, skip question 10)
10. Which of these do you pay attention in your diet?
Macronutrients Yes [] No []
Vitamins Yes [] No []
Minerals Yes [] No []
Caloric Intake Yes [] No []
Other: ________________
11. In a scale of 1-10, how healthy do you consider your diet?
(1 being unhealthy, 10 being very healthy)
12. Do you pay attention to the nutrition facts table before you consume your food?
Yes [] No []
13. Do you think there are some areas of your diet you need to improve on?
Yes [] No []
14. Would you be interested in using an app that tracks your nutritional intake?
Yes [] No []
(If you answered no, skip the next question)
15. Which of these features would you find useful?
Automated tracking of nutrients from food intake []
Planned diets for different dietary goals []
Suggested foods according to usual foods eaten []
Access to tips provided by certified nutritionists []
Weekly feedback on dietary intake []
Questions for the interview:
Ask for some personal details. (eg. Working, Student etc.)
Do you have any hobbies or go to the gym or play any sports that require any physical activities?
(Yes) How many hours a week do you spend on it?
(No) Any particular reason why not? ( eg. busy schedule, doesn’t enjoy physical stuff, accessibility problem etc.)
3. Do you prepare your own meals? If not, why?
4. What are your current eating habits like?
5. What does your typical diet consist of? (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
6. What do you usually drink with your meals(water, pop, diet pop)?
7. When buying foods from the grocery store, for packaged foods, how do you usually buy them? (Eg. checking the nutrition content first before buying).
8. What are your opinions of your current day to day diet? (Healthy? Bad?)
(Bad) Any reason why you are not able to eat healthy as you would like to?
9. What are your general thoughts on eating healthy?
Healthy food makes our body become stronger.
10. A lot of people think that, eating healthy means spending more money, do you feel that is the case? Why?
11. In general, what do you think will be the most effective way to promote healthier eating habits?