Blog#5

1. Does your work require IRB approvals…right now? At a later stage? If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy. If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval

As of right now, our team is in the process of building the air monitors. Once we successfully finish our first prototype we will need IRB approval on whether the monitor will exceed more harm than potential benefit. We will need approval on consent forms for high school participants that will be formulated once our team decides on how to approach our cognitive learning experiment. For our experimental study of examining the relationship between cognitive performance and air quality, we might need IRB approval. It depends on which approach we will choose to conduct the research. In order to determine the impact of air pollution on cognitive ability, we are planning to compare students’ performance in different times of the year with different levels of air pollution. We expect to see visible improvement in the performance as the air quality gets better. For our method, we have two options: repeated observation or single-entry observation. Doing repeated observation has many benefits, but we will need to collect identifiable information, which will require us to get IRB approval. On the other hand, in the single-entry approach, we do not need to identify the participants, but we will not be able to rule out extraneous variables. Therefore, first of all, we need to decide on the method of our experimental study.

1. Repeated observation

• Identifiable personal information
• IRB approval
• Getting consent /students are underage; we will need to get consent from the parents; we will need to translate the consent form/

1. Single-entry

• Randomization 

1. Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like? 

In high school I was part of a team project in Senegal, part of our design process that made the project go smoother is building prototypes. The purpose of this project is to build two classrooms for a village near Dakar to help create an academic setting for young children who do not have access to an education. Before traveling to Senegal my team and I built prototypes of the chair and desk that would be implemented in the classroom. Doing this made things a lot more efficient as we were able to eliminate future problems with constructing the furniture. Issues like if the furniture pieces would stay together with the given material, having the right measurements, and maintaining comfort when using the furniture. We also as a team mastered the tools needed to build the chairs and desk so when we got to Senegal we already knew how to use the tools. 

Coming to a similar approach with building the air monitors is creating a prototype of one at Lehigh. Test it here at Lehigh or if possible send one to Kazakhstan to make sure the product is doing what it was designed to do. Then develop the monitor based on critiques and observations that can make the product better. This will help eliminate or at least minimize any issues with implementing air monitors in Kazakhstan. While making a product that the public can depend on.

To further our design process we will choose whether we want to do repeated observation or single-entry for the cognitive performance experiment but also keep in mind the second option if the first one does not seem to work. Connect with the school principal on how to get as many students to participate to have more detailed analysis, ideally getting a variation of students’ different academic standing. 

1. Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them. 

1. High School Students in Kazakhstan

• Participating in our experimental study
• Working together with us to build affordable air monitors
• Experiencing the impact of air pollution (lives in Almaty)
• Eager to help (contacted us first)

1. Alma U

• Partnering with us on our project
• Cooperating with us to collect data
• Serving as a counselor for our project
• Providing us with necessary information (locals)

1. Lehigh University

• Providing us with opportunity to do work on our project
• Supporting us to do the fieldworks (to conduct the research, meet the partners, etc)
• Counseling us on the appropriateness of our experimental study
• Help us build connections for possible funding for the air monitors and air filters
• Allowing us to implement the project that we put our ideas, perspective, and innovation together to help others

1.  Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

1. Concept validation

• Air pollution definitely must be addressed as it impacts people’s lives on many different levels. We are conducting this experimental study to detect the impact of air pollution on cognitive performance, to alarm Almaty people, and to change their indifferent attitude towards the situation. Citizens of Almaty understand their situation (from what we found from our last year’s study), but we need to provide more alarming facts to let them start taking actions to change the situation or at least start preventing themselves from the exposures (air monitors and air filters). Once people see the benefits of this change from our study, they might change their attitude towards the issue. 

1. Technology validation

• We are aiming to build affordable air monitors and air filters to make equipment that will help Almaty people to prevent themselves from the exposure. We are experimenting on prototypes, and we are planning to collaborate with local high schools to build cheaper designs. As planned, we will test the prototypes during our fieldwork, and also we need to visit local markets to see if we can find materials locally. 
  • Finding materials from local markets

1. Usability 

• We are aiming to make our monitors and filters easy to use. Air monitors we are building displayed emoticons indicating the pollution level, so no one needs specific knowledge on PM 2.5 levels to read the result. We are planning to make air filters that can be inserted on the window, so it does not use any electricity. The user only has to wash it once in a while. 

1. Business model

• Our experimental study will help us to change Almaty people’s attitude.
  • We need to find a way to distribute the result of our study.
• Our air monitor and air filters help Almaty people to prevent themselves from indoor exposure to air pollution. 
  • We are planning to open assembly shop in the Almaty to make the monitor and filters more sustainable: employing locals (volunteers) and using locally available materials.