List ten non-obvious assumptions about your target customers (or organizations) that you need to validate.

1. The first non-obvious assumption is that we can get our targets to actually talk to us and give us data.
2. The second non-obvious assumption is that our target will actually give us data that we can work with.
3. We also are assuming that this data is true and valuable. It is entirely possible that all the data we collect could be valueless.
4. We also are assuming that the target audience will be able to understand what we are talking about, and therefore will be able to answer the survey.
5. The next non-obvious assumption we are making is that expect to spend a lot more time collecting data, then we would have to if we’re in the USA or a more built up country.
6. We also are assuming that we will have access to people and resources that will make it possible to collect data and process it.
7. Another assumption we are making is that the statistics bureau in Sierra Leone will actually want to work with us.
8. If they do want to work with us, will they collect high enough quality data that we can work with?
9. The next assumption that we are making is that we can convince the ministry of health to sort of force the statistic bureau to continue to collect data for us when we leave.
10. The final assumption that we are making on who we think is most at risk for spreading Ebola from bats to humans.

List ten hypotheses about your project that you need to test during fieldwork.

1. The big first hypothesis we have to prove that we can connect bats to the spread of the Ebola. We know bats carry it, and we know humans can spread it, but we still haven’t been able to prove this is the cause of its spread between the two groups.
2. Another hypothesis we need to test is that hunter bats are the most vulnerable to being patient zero and carrying the disease onward.
3. We know from our research that people who eat bat are more likely to get Ebola. Therefore we need to confirm whether bats and high-risk animals are being eaten by not just hunters.
4. We also hypothesize that these meats not being cooked cause the spread from bats to humans, so we need to confirm whether they are cooked are not at the markets.
5. We hypothesize that people will be willing to give us honest and truthful answers when it comes to this survey. If they don’t do this our data won’t be accurate and basically useless in our context.
6. Another hypothesis we need to prove is that transportation, in the regions, can be difficult allowing is to hypothesize that the spread is easier to track.
7. We also have been hypothesizing that the spread might have something to do with the housing situations, so we need to see with our own eyes, what it is like.
8. Another hypothesis we have is about burials of dead bodies, we need to see how they are buried after the epidemic to sort of decide if the burial process is as big as a problem as it has been stated to be.
9. We also have hypothesized that knowledge of ebola is quite high and we need to confirm that the knowledge is there to prove the data has some value.
10. The final hypothesis we need to confirm in the field is whether everything will work. Sounds simple, but is a major hypothesis we need to sort out.

 

What do you think you bring to your team? How has your perception of your own strengths and weaknesses changed over the course of the class? Please be specific.

 

I think I bring three major qualities to the team. I think I bring a little organization to the team when it comes to sorting who is doing what, as well as what we need to do. The next thing I bring to the team is a sense of listening and understanding what is being said. I can process complex thoughts quickly which allows me to sort of help explain to those who are still having trouble. I think the final quality I bring to the team is having a keen sense of when to pick a battle. I think my team sort of shy away from battles, that we need to pick in order to advance the project forward. At the beginning of the class, I thought I naturally had the strength of being the face of something (a public speaking sense). Throughout the year I have learned that I have a lot of work to do with my public speaking. I also thought that I was really bad at organizing and understanding what to next. Turns out I was decent at it, or the competition of who I was being compared to was really low. I prefer to think it was the latter.

 

Identify 10 specific things you will do to strengthen your next presentation (and responses).

1. Speak louder
2. Have a better story to over compass our whole presentation to connect our story: create a better flow that makes more sense
3. Find a way to connect our vision into the project, as well as convey that
4. Prepare a little more; more rehearsal
5. Plan for contingencies, like where will stand, having a clicker etc.
6. Get a grilling from someone impartial, (someone other than mentors)
7. Find a way to connect the data collection and the modeling together so the audience doesn’t get confused.
8. Prepare to answer more questions, but also learn which ones to bring up in the presentation, and which we want to leave out, knowing that they will answer it.
9. Learn to dodge questions better, but also learn a little more so that we don’t have to dodge as many questions
10.  Fidget Less on stage.

Does your work require IRB approvals? If yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy.

Unfortunately, the work on the Ebola team requires IRB protocols. We are going to shoot for an expedited IRB. We don’t fit under the criteria for an exempt protocol because we are dealing with humans as well as interviewing them to collect data. We don’t plan on keeping their names or any specific information regarding their data, so we don’t fit under the full either. We are sort of in the sweet spot, and therefore we believe that we fall under the expedited category of the IRB.

From an actual strategy point of view, we are going to do a couple of things to make the IRB board happy/ like our project. The first strategy is to keep all data confidential and not correlated to anything other than then the interview number. We hope that none of us will be able to pair any of this data to names. I think this is one of the main things IRB will be looking for. The second strategy is to conduct our interviews with a wide variety of range of people but avoid a specific category of people (Pregnant woman, young children, etc.). This will allow us to gain data, without having to work with a group of people under stricter protocols. The third way in which hope to make the IRB board happy is by creating our questionnaire so that it guides the reader to the data we need without asking anything to compromise or that is considered too inappropriate. The final way in which we hope to satisfy the IRB board is by using the IRB protocol from when the project only involved bats as well as the proposal that was sent to the NIH for funding. We basically plan to name drop and use already approved protocols to sort of “WOW” the board with what the previous members of the team accomplished with their protocols. Through the use of these four concepts, we hope to get IRB approval as an expedited project.

Develop a Logic Model for your venture.