Project Summary
This user research project sought to explore and understand the impacts of a pilot grant competition aimed to help entrepreneurs invest in and adopt time-saving technology, as part of an economic development program funded by the Government of Canada that supports the growth and development of the horticulture industry in Ukraine.
Timeline: July-August 2019 • eight weeks to plan, conduct and analyze user research.
Timeline: July-August 2019 • eight weeks to plan, conduct and analyze user research.
My responsibilities: Research plan design, user interviews, thematic analysis, research synthesis, presenting key findings.
Team: A lean team including myself as project and research lead and two gender subject matter specialists.
A family-owned fruit business uses the technology grant to increase productivity and working conditions for staff by reducing manual washing with this mechanized washing machine.
Challenge
The program offered grant funding to larger businesses for the acquisition of large-scale equipment to modernize and optimize business operations. However, smaller businesses did not meet the qualifications for these funding rounds.
Solution
The team explored piloting a smaller grant competition ($10k awards) through an accessible and inclusive application process along with video modules to stimulate technology adoption by women and men entrepreneurs.
Users & Audience
The target research participants were women and men entrepreneurs with horticulture businesses and were existing clients of the program. We researched the experiences of the eight businesses awarded grants in the first round of the competition.
We also targeted two main audiences to share the synthesized research findings with the client (external audience) and other project teams (internal audience).
Process
For this 8-week project, I led the research planning, conducting interviews and analysis of qualitative user research with the eight awarded businesses in the first round of funding.
Phase 1: Plan Research
Our primary research goal sought to explore whether this type of business grant competition is an effective way to encourage the adoption of time-saving technology to support business growth. I developed the research plan and interview tools for the field research to keep us on track with our learning goals.
Other areas of inquiry:
• How might the online grant application and business video modules affect the accessibility and inclusivity of the application experience?
• How might decisions about time-saving technology look different for women and men?
• How might the awarded businesses secure financing beyond this grant?
Phase 2: Conduct User Interviews
We had one week to interview the eight businesses that were awarded grants. The businesses were located across different regions in southern Ukraine. Our primary research methods included:
User Interviews: we gathered qualitative insights through 8 semi-structured interviews as we had existing quantitative data from the grant applications and progress reports.
Contextual Inquiry: if the entrepreneur acquired the technology/equipment, we observed and inquired about how it works or where it came into play during operations.
A garlic business owner explains and demonstrates to the research team how this machinery will reduce the manual labor required to plant and harvest garlic.
Phase 3: Analyze Research
After completing the field research, I facilitated a thematic analysis workshop to identify patterns and key themes across the interview dataset. With over 30 pages of interview data, a structured approach to analysis helped us digest and make sense of the data.
Codes & Themes
From initial codes such as time and labor saving, new products/markets and trust, we clustered the codes and generated the following themes:
• Key themes: (1) Business Impacts and (2) Social Norms
• Sub-themes: (1) Aggregation; (2) Mental Models; and (3) Unlocking Finance
Analyzing direct quotes from the interviews helped us uncover themes such as Business Impacts and Aggregation. For example, a respondent that acquired a mechanical washing machine for a family-run berry business shared:
“Without proper storage, we would just throw away the strawberries. Now that we have storage, a lot of other strawberry growers come here to store their goods.”
“Nobody wants to eat dirty strawberries… it’s absolutely different quality when you wash by hand compared to
washing mechanically.”
washing mechanically.”
Lean Personas
We also mapped the respondents along five spectrums (gender norms, technology adoption, innovation and testing, business results and the online grant application experience) and discovered 3 lean personas.
Synthesis & Presentation
After the analysis, the team synthesized and consolidated the research findings into a case study report to share with key stakeholders including the client during annual reporting in March 2020. I also co-presented on the research methodology and key findings internally to share the overall approach and benefits of a user-centered approach to conducting evaluative research on program activities.
Outcomes & Lessons Learned
The outcome of this user research project was validating the impact and benefits of a technology-enabled grant competition for horticulture entrepreneurs in Ukraine focused on technology adoption. Small grants can catalyze investment and business upgrades for entrepreneurs that face limited external financing options.
I also demonstrated the case for embedding a user experience lens to uncover valuable client insights and behaviors that quantitative methods alone cannot discover.
Key lessons learned:
1. Use technology for inclusive participation: Offering video modules alongside the online application form allowed women especially to go through the material on their own schedules without leaving their homes to attend an in-person training.
2. Budget enough time for complex interviews: All of the interviews required translation, which meant we needed to budget time for the interviews, translation and and social interactions. Don't rely on transcription software as multiple languages and interviewees complicates automated transcription. Always have a back up plan.
3. Strategically promote user-centered approaches: Involve internal stakeholders early and throughout the research project, bringing them along the journey to learn about user-centered research methods to evaluate and generate insights about clients.
4. Systemic changes in financing are required for scaling economic growth: While small grants can stimulate technology adoption, such grant competitions are insufficient for scaling sustainable financing for entrepreneurs. Tapping into government programs or local financial service providers takes time, increased planning and awareness, and a certain level of business maturity. The online application form encouraged applicants to use their digital skills to seek funding opportunities.
