Discovery Operations Guide

Desk Research

Knowing what others have already discovered means you can contribute new, original thought to a knowledge base.

Start With What’s There

Where to start has to be one of the hardest questions to ask yourself when interested in a problem. Depending on the type of project, you’ll need to look into all or some of the listed research types in order to know what’s been done before and to focus in on where you can do new research and how to frame that research. This process is often called the Literature Review or Benchmarking.

It essentially means doing traditional desk-based research to find out what others have discovered in the field you’re investigating. This desk research should also include finding research that supports or does not support items that you might already know or think you know about the subject.

This process both informs and gives direction to your work. If you know where others have been, you can build off of their work. In building off previous work, you contribute to the overall knowledge in this topic through your original research.

Academic Research

Find out what people have already done in your topic area: use search engines like Google Scholar or Academia.edu and publications like the Harvard Business Review, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and the MIT Technology Review to find projects related to your subject. Read the abstracts of articles that sound interesting, then check those papers’ bibliographies to find additional articles and works.

Statistical Research

Statistical research can help you properly frame your area of interest. Looking up historical statistics will allow you to understand if your problem frame should widen out or focus in. Remember to always evaluate the source of your data so as to maintain data hygiene and fidelity. Data hygiene refers to the quality of the data collection and interpretation. Data fidelity refers to the precision with with the data has been recorded. If you see data collection or interpretation you think is illogical or messy, move forward and find better data on which to base your work.

Internal-to-Organization Research

If your project addresses or extends a program or set of programs already underway in your organization, look them up to see what’s already being done. Ask the program leaders, review their documents, and, if possible, observe the working group and their activities in the field. This process will help you frame your approach appropriately so to avoid work duplication and increase to your contribution to work already in process.

External-to-Organization Research

External benchmarking means seeking out and studying existing programs outside of your organization. Look at all sectors to find them: private, non-profit, academic, or even other parts of the public sector. Through learning what others are developing, you will be able to frame your project in a way that builds on this work. Additionally, by notifying others of your work, you will contribute to the community of knowledge on your subject.

Framework for Citations

If you’re not sure how to properly cite desk research sources, use the entry in this section to start out. You can print it or screenshot it and mark it up digitally.

Keep all your citations organized and together. Keeping track of research sources means you can quickly and easily find content that you would like to reference or cite in a final report or communication to others.