Weekly Tutorial 1
This time it was a demonstration and feedback on Hotroom and Richard’s advice was in two main areas, evidence recording and the size of the interview sample.
Admittedly I have done a lot of primary research in this summer and my blog reflects this as well, however one of the mistakes was that I carried out a lot of paraphrasing rather than conscious voice/video recording of interviewees, this is evidence and a more objective way of presenting it. Therefore, I need to tighten up evidence recording in the future course of my research.
The second aspect is about my current questionnaire that I have collected a sample of around 300 by the end of summer presentation, however 1000 questionnaires is a later goal in order to draw more convincing conclusions.
This is the first tutorial of the semester, it is a summary of the feedback from the summer research as well as a look ahead to the rest of the study.
Weekly Tutorial 2
theoretical level about commercial and ethical significance bio-synthetic fur, those two are my my deepest insights into this tutorial. Essentially those two are also what I’m delving into later for primary and secondary research respectively.
In respect of primary research in Unit 4, besides the scale of investigation I done in summer. My future stakeholder investigation is supposed to target more on creative industries where people give more professional and targeted opinions about bio-synthetic fur.
According to tutor’s combing, I found that during my preliminary study, the positive proportional influence of animal/environmental protection on the decline in demand for fur products was rarely argued i.e. whether the current decline in demand for fur is largely due to the pressure of ethical public opinion or whether it is no longer favoured by consumers as a fabric in its own right, which is a major question about the significance of the development of bio-synthetic fur. Both in terms of theories and questionnaires, that this one logical hole needs to be perfected in rest of research period.
Weekly Tutorial 3
The second tutorial with George was very rewarding and he gave me three main pieces of advice based on the progress of my research over the last week.
Firstly, he said that in the process of collecting opinions from experts and intensive stakeholder, I could try to contact fur companies in Russia, Canada, China and Scandinavia because these northern hemisphere countries still have a large amount of fur production and consumption due to various reasons such as weather and traditions. This suggestion instantly enlarges the target group that I can interview for the research and the diversified geographic backgrounds of the potential respondents can provide better support and suggestions for bio-synthetic fur.
In terms of stakeholder interviews and questionnaire questions, George made the suggestion to add visualisation in process. In fact, before George’s suggestion, I had made a video explaining the principles of bio-synthetic fur, but I did not use or reflect this in either the stakeholder interview or the questionnaire. Therefore, I will need to utilise this video in the rest of the research process to help those who participated in the interviews and surveys to better understand bio-synthetic fur and provide more accurate and targeted feedback.
Finally George talked about my street interview, which I have to say was a difficult task as it required me to step completely out of my original comfort zone. George advised me to adjust both, timing and location, in light of last week’s failed experience. I went to Piccadilly Circus last week and on reflection, in such a busy area of central London and at the weekend, the sea of tourists and pedestrians really wasn’t a great choice for a pick up visit (Bringing in my ego, I definitely don’t want to be disturbed by a street visit when I’m in the middle of a busy rush to get to my destination). I’m sure casual people would be a better choice for interviews than hurried pedestrians. Therefore, this week I should try to go to Camden or nearby our school to find people who look like they have nothing better to do, in order to increase the success and efficiency of my interviews.
Weekly Tutorial 4
George’s advice this time is based on the three main sections of my assignment from last week: the new questionnaire, secondary research, and stakeholder interviews.
For the new questionnaire, George continued his view on my previous questionnaire, which was to focus on people within the industry and the quality of the sample was more important than the quantity. Therefore, this week I will be focusing on the school in order to get feedback from the creative industry when I release the new questionnaire.
In terms of my secondary research, George encouraged me not to get hung up on academic theoretical research as there are some areas where there are gaps or imperfections in academic research. He confirmed my theoretical knowledge of bio-synthetic and also suggested that if I want to expand my current secondary research I could communicate student from material future in our school, which is not only a communication path to increase my professional knowledge, but also may provide more possibilities or cooperation for bio-synthetic fur.
Regarding my expert interview last week, George expressed interest in Miss Zhang’s opinion that in order to better develop bio-synthetic fur, given the subtle relationship between bio-synthetic fur and genuine fur. It is indeed necessary to emphasise the advantages of the commonalities between the two in future research and marketing to differentiate synthetic fur ( improve the positioning and pricing of bio-synthetic fur), while at the same time highlighting the advantages of bio-synthetic fur’s characteristics (ridding it of ethical constraints) with strengthening endorsement and accreditation.
Coincidentally, the extended reflection suggested by Ms Zhang above is linked to some of the points made during the street interviews (advertising), which George adds is a good and important tool to differentiate between faux fur, bio-synthetic fur and genuine fur, to highlight the innovations and various advantages of bio-synthetic fur, which ultimately lead consumers to believe in the value of the synthetic fur and the concept of synthetic fur, and to pay for it. It has to be said that bio-synthetic fur’s growth path cannot be separated from faux fur and real fur, but it is necessary to jump out from both of them in the future development, and this balance seems to be the key to determine the future of bio-synthetic fur.
Last but not least, George left me to my own thoughts on the conflicting issues of sustainability and industrial care raised by a street passerby. It was a good point of debate. Therefore, I decided to do a comparative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of two in further study.
Weekly Tutorial 5
It is time to gather all resources together! That’s the topic of this tutorial. It’s true that as George said I’ve done a lot of research and got a lot of feedback, but how to translate that into outputs for my own projects is the focus of my next work.
My marketing strategy development as one of the two main focuses of my work needs to be clear in two aspects, the first aspect is the purpose of the marketing strategy, by this year as the deadline, whether my marketing strategy is to better increase the public awareness or to help get the investment, I need to make a judgement on the basis of the next two weeks of investor meetings. The second aspect is the details of marketing strategy, specialisation and presentation, whether this may need to be in line with the financing strategy in the next two weeks. Whether it’s an investment plan or a PowerPoint presentation, this may need to be integrated to some extent with the finance strategy, the size of the investment, the prospect of a return on investment, and the content up to this point needs to be translated from academic to a more commercial and investment-attractive conveyance.
Clarifying the audience of the project output is another focus of the work, consumers, investors, expert team, three of my largest audience for my project’s output is not the same requirements, consumers need to see is the marketing campaign and the product, the expert team needs to see is the methodology and funding. While investors can be subdivided into different categories such as brand-base or finance-base. Brand investors may need some sales data as consumers do, financial investors may need the expected return on investment. Overall, some outputs may apply to all targets, some do not, therefore, my final outputs need to be categorised, according to the requirements of different targets to provide different outputs.
Weekly Tutorial 6
This week’s tutorial focused on revisions to the DRAFT EVALUATION REPORT.
The first issue is the naming of the report, Unit4+Evaluate Report+Name would be a standard format combination.
The second issue I had was that my research question needed some grammatical structuring and the tutorial suggestion was, How can we reduce the impact of future fur products on animals and environment?
The third point was to adjust the formatting to make the whole report look clearer, using empty paragraphs and highlighting each section to make it clear to the reader.
Finally on content, George suggested that I should add more foresight on future plans based on the original personal reflection.
Overall, George approved my report, but the grammar and the results of the following weeks still need to be updated continuously.
Weekly Tutorial 7
In this week, George gave some advice based on my debriefing on a brand new technical direction for immortalised cell lines.
Firstly, for the investor group, whether this new technology of realising bio-synthetic fur needs to be specifically reflected in the investment plan or just mentioned, and also the specific meaning of distinguishing between immortal cell line and stem cell transplantation technology are what I need to think about next. My personal opinion is to describe the technology in a simplified way, because not all investors know the technology or are interested in the technical details, but it is still necessary to emphasise that this technology is a strong addition to the realisation of bio-synthetic fur. Moreover the two technological routes can enrich the technological colors of the bio-synthetic fur while improving the efficiency and success rate of the research and development.
Another point is for the exhibition at the festival, how to show the final form of bio-synthetic fur and the characteristics of the two technologies, George suggested me to use the existing fur samples for imitation since visual presentation is easier to get attention than text description. I very much agree with George’s suggestion, indeed, for a technology product that has not yet been realised, just using words to describe it will be very abstract. Therefore I am going to make a comparison booth with genuine fur sample, bio-synthetic fur(natural one to imitated) and faux fur, through this comparison and technical description, to help the audience to understand the product, and at a glance to explain the product’s selling points and advantages.
Weekly Tutorial 8
This is the last section of the tutorial,George based on my investor meeting last week, emphasised the systematic learning of business proposal, which can help me to better write bio-synthetic business models. In addition, he also emphasised the importance of patent application and some guidance on writing business proposals in the UK(agree with Will’s advice). Moreover, I could seek help from my school’s career development department. Thanks to George’s practical advice, I intend to read the relevant materials and communicate with the relevant department in our school in the following days. I summarise and write my business model and patent documents for subsequent use.
In addition, for my blog, George would like me to keep the content and adjust the structure, according to the structure of the journal in the email. I have to admit that my original weekly journal does not have a systematic structure, and using George’s structural proposal, I can better present my research journey.
Overall
The weekly tutorials chronicle the progression of a research project on bio-synthetic fur. Feedback includes enhancing evidence recording, expanding questionnaire samples, and refining stakeholder investigations. The significance of balancing marketing strategies for bio-synthetic fur against genuine fur is highlighted. The evolution involves theoretical exploration, global stakeholder outreach, and adjustments to interview strategies. Suggestions encompass adding visualisation, emphasising quality in questionnaires, and integrating marketing with financing strategies. Tutorials also address report revisions, foresight incorporation, and considerations for a new technical direction involving immortalised cell lines. The holistic approach encompasses refining project outputs, clarifying target audiences, and systematically learning business proposals for future endeavours.