In Quest of Clarity : The Methodical Madness Behind Research

I as a CS student and startup enthusiast, often find myself researching on startup ideas, Hackathon problem statements quite often. Sometimes great ideas click sometimes they don't. In this mist we often find ourselves researching on PS we like, or genuinely wish to do something about but the solutions isn't necessarily always straight forward hence, we need a concrete framework, not for JS but rather for researching on Ideas and filtering out bad one's. So here we go, a robust sequence of methods to cover most of the aspects of a problem, hence reducing the chances of overlooking basic things in your next Big Startup Idea..

Additionally, in the many articles I read, they projected that the each member of the team should carry out the research up to the half way mark at least to cover the thinking of all minds. Once you reach the halfway mark, the research work can be carried out further by one or two members.

Divide your research into 3 key phases.

Phase: 1

In beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.
For first phase always keep in mind: Quantity >>> Quality

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Demarcate the Problem Space

~Define the Problem Statement Clearly.

1. State the PS in a 60 word paragraph.
For last several years, Delhi faces severe traffic congestion, resulting in increased pollution, lost productivity, and reduced quality of life for its residents. Daily commute is a nightmare.

*2. Break-down the PS into sub-problems *

1. Lack of public transport infrastructure.
2. Over-dependence on private vehicles.
3. Inefficient traffic management.
4. Urban planning challenges (narrow roads, high population density).
5. Behavioral factors (preference for private vehicles, lack of carpooling culture).

3. Use 5 Whys Method
Start with your main problem and ask why is that, found the new problem in the answer, now ask again why is the new problem. Go on with this recursion for 5 iterations to identify the key issues.

Why is there congestion? → Over-reliance on private vehicles.
Why do people use private vehicles? → Public transport is overcrowded or unreliable.
Why is public transport unreliable? → Lack of investment and infrastructure / Behavioral Choices

Prioritize Sub-Problems:
Now that you have multiple sub problems, find the ones that are solvable at individual level. Focus your rest of the research around these. However keep one ear open if incase you missed a problem or to, look for these missed points up till the research is halfway mark.

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Explore Multi Disciplinary Approach

consider how the following things might be playing a non active but pivotal role in the creation of the problem.

• Behavioral Sciences (see what behaviors are being depicted and find why)
• How new gen Technologies like Blockchain, Web3 and AI can help.
• How the Economics plays along, how it effects people here
• Geographics (sometimes)
• Governance and implementation of current rules.

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Phase - II

Find what other countries are doing in the regards
Search for the countries facing the same issue try to find what other developed nations or nations that are successful at tackling the problem have done. Also consider if some country has solve the same issue in the past.

Find what other companies or competitors are doing
Find for relevant competitions or pre programmed launches by giant ventures. See what other business in the same domain are doing right, see the pain points of the customers and capitalize.

Use Advanced Search Queries for reliable websites (search google)

MID- POINT

Narrow your research, further on only few people carry out the rest.

StakeHolder Analysis:

1. Primary Affected People
2. Secondary affected people
3. Affect on private sector and Govt Agencies

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Phase - III

Build your own Framework

1. Understand brief History for the root cause
2. Analyze the scale of the problem
3. Seek for Global Benchmarks
4. Identify current Inefficiencies
5. Ask the GPT to make sense out of the documented research so far

Seek For the Legal Aspect

1. Involve law students
2. Search for relevant laws which can be disrupting in future

Engage in Market

1. Gather Relevant group that is affected by the problem
2. Analyze Competitors
3. What the group wants
4. Define your target audience
5. Avoid judgement and Ideate the platforms and technologies

Keep Working, document it all, Devise your own methodologies further, gather some examples of companies that disrupted their market spaces.