Thursday, February 8, 2018

9A- Testing the Hypothesis

9A- Testing the Hypothesis

Interview Description- Since I do not personally know anyone in a developing country, it was hard for me to find five people to interview about my opportunity: finding a way to enable the youth in developing countries to have online education access without the high costs of technology. To make up for this, I found five people from either poverished backgrounds, or foreign knowledge that could help answer some of my questions regarding my opportunity. In asking about the ‘who’, I found that there are some developing countries that actually do have online education resources, and that I need to narrow down my opportunity. I also found that the youth in these countries may not be the only ones in need, which actually expands my opportunity. In delving into the ‘what’, I found that my idea is a bit blurry to some of my interviewers. They kept asking what exactly I was going for, was I trying to give computers to these countries? This had never actually come to my mind as a problem, I guess my opportunity isn’t really to give them computers but create an app or service that provides the youth of developing countries access to an online education where they can learn fundamental math, writing, reading, etc. Giving them computers/ tablets could be helpful, and would be quite necessary, but it wasn’t my original idea. At this point, I was re-evaluating my opportunity. The last part of the interview I asked about was the ‘why’. I realized that the underlying cause of the outsider’s need is different than those that are inside, because the outsiders have enough educational resources, and while they could benefit from online education, there are plenty of companies that do that in the United States, I want my opportunity to go beyond the U.S, and reach countries with lacking education.


Who is in- Youth (sometimes adults) in developing countries.. Need to narrow down country to one or few that actually have the need
Who is not- Youth and Adults in the U.S..
Need to narrow down country to one or few that actually have the need
What the need is- Access to online education without the high costs of technology
What the need is not- Giving out computers to developing countries
Why the need exists- Youth in developing countries are missing out on online education opportunities because they don’t have proper resources
Alternative Explanations- They may just be lacking computers in general



3 comments:

  1. Hi, Drew! I'm really glad you had the opportunity to talk with these people who were able to help you narrow down your goal. I think this is a worthy cause and I'm sure this would have a huge impact on the lives of many in third world countries. Education is the most important factor when it comes to foreign aid I think. If you look at the trends for any country, you will see drastic improvements as access to education is introduced. Again, great job and keep at it!

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  2. Hi Drew, great post! Your opportunity is inspiring and is a great idea that would help many people in need. When I first started reading your idea I did not even think about the lack of computers they have in order to get online and receive this education until you mentioned it. Your idea of an app or service to extend this online education to them is a great idea and would be very effective if we don't need to incorporate the high costs of technology. Great job!

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  3. Hey Drew, great post. Very good job creating your table, it makes your ideas very easy to comprehend. People who come from poverty have a good perception of the way the world works. People do typically have access to online resources to some extent, no matter where they are from. I think that your idea to ensure that people do have access to the internet, for education purposes is great.

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