In order to clarify my approach to my personal project, I am asked to prepare a plan of attack. After all, this gives direction to my entire research.
Plan of attack // a set of actions to bring about what one is trying to accomplish (Merriam-Webster, z.d.)
PLAN OF ATTACK
Research question
How can a tip in the hospitality industry be replaced by a digital alternative?
Target group
Students who go to bars but also employees who work in student bars.
How can you reach them? I know some people who work in student cafes. Since I'm part of my target group, I can also easily get in touch with fellow students who go to bars.
How can you map them out? By surveys that I will send out, I want to divide my target groups 'employees in the hospitality industry' and 'student' into different groups. Afterwards, I will make user personas of both my target groups.
Research method
Survey I want to conduct surveys among students and employees. With this survey I want to receive a lot of answers to more superficial questions. I want to find out what kinds of rewards they have all had to deal with and what they value most.
Interview
I also want to da several interviews with employees who word in student bars. I want to receive more in-depth answers.
Dairy studies
I want to conduct a dairy study. Each time the employees receive rewards, they need to write it down and describe/draw how they feel about it. And at the end of the day, rank the rewards. I hope to find out which types of rewards have more value than others. Unfortunately, we are currently in a second lockdown. All cafes, bars and pubs are closed. It is therefore no longer possible to conduct dairy studies Secondary research
With secondary research I want to look up previous research on this subject.
Some question:
What is equivalent to money?
Why do people tip?
What persuades consumers to give a tip/positive confirmation?
What reward mechanisms exist?
What does a reward do to a human being?
What does a positive confirmation do to someone?
Wich prototype I hope to be able to create a digital product. At the moment I see this as an interactive prototype. I'm thinking of a platform that can be found in the catering business itself or an app that customers can use.
I want to test the use of the prototype by usability testing with the students. If possible, I also want to do an A/B testing to test 2 different versions of my digital product. On the other hand, I want to test with the employees what receiving a certain reward does to them through this digital way.