Designing Solutions Through the Stanford Framework
Student researcher Kate Baccash applies the Stanford Research and Design Process to design and execute a project around environmental sustainability within the clothing industry.
Researcher BIO
About Kate Baccash
Kate is a dedicated student researcher at Monta Vista High School working on an original research project around environmental sustainability in the clothing industry. She landed on this project topic after reading about the overwhelming environmental impact of fast fashion, and realizing that many of her peers buy clothes often and discard old clothes rather than donating, re-using, or selling them. Using the Stanford Research and Design Process, she formulated a project to combat these issues by educating and encouraging clothing donation for environmental sustainability through a community clothing swap event.
Project Overview
What
A community clothing swap event for attendees to bring their old clothes and exchange them rather than wasting them. Including informational handouts and a presentation on environmental impacts of clothing and what can be done to combat them.
Why
92 million tons of clothing waste are produced annually in the US alone. That's 92 million tons of clothing waste per year filling up space in landfills, releasing methane gas, and leaching toxic dyes and chemicals into soil and groundwater. The goal of my project is to encourage clothing donation as opposed to discarding to reduce clothing waste.
Methodology
Stanford Research & Design Framework
01
Empathize
Deep archival research and stakeholder interviews to uncover the core human needs and scholarly gaps.
02
Define
Synthesizing findings into a focused research question or problem statement with defined parameters.
03
Ideate
Exploring a wide range of analytical methodologies and theoretical perspectives to approach the hypothesis.
04
Prototype
Building and iterating tangible models to quickly learn from user feedback before final implementation.
05
Test
Rigorous validation of findings through peer review, data modeling, and iterative refinement of the project.
1: Empathize
The empathize phase of the Stanford Research and Design process involves conducting user-interviews and a literature review around a topic of interest.
In this stage, my topic of interest was environmental sustainability in clothing. I interviewed people of various age groups regarding their awareness of environmental issues, and their habits of buying/disposing of clothes. I also conducted an online literature review where I researched environmental concerns around clothing waste and manufacturing.
2: Define
The Define stage is where research findings are synthesized into an actionable problem statement and a specific target group.
Through the my user interviews and research, I concluded that the primary contributors to clothing waste are teenagers and young adults, who tend to buy clothes often and fail to donate or reuse clothes, due to lack of awareness or concern about environmental impacts.
3. Ideate
The Ideate phase focuses on expansive thinking and the generation of a specific and focused research question, and an actionable project plan.
I came to the research question: "How can clothing's environmental impact among teens be minimized through education and influencing habits around clothing consumption and disposal?" My project plan was to host an educational community clothing swap event in which attendees would bring their old clothes and exchange them for other people's clothes, including a presentation on environmental impacts of clothing and how it can be minimized through practical habits.
4. Prototype
The Prototype stage is where first iterations and smaller-scale models are deployed and tested.
In this phase, I held a small prototype clothing swap event and gave a presentation on environmental impacts of clothing and ways to combat them. I then received feedback from attendees which I could apply to my future clothing swap event.
5. Test
The Test phase is where hypotheses meet reality, and the proposed project is executed.
After adjusting my idea based on user feedback from my prototype, I held my final clothing swap.
Milestones
National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Presented research and project idea at national conference to science teachers
World Series of Innovation - NFTE
Entered project in national youth entrepreneurship competition
IRPD Showcase Presentation
Presented research and project outcomes at Monta Vista IRPD showcase
katherine.baccash@gmail.com
Get in Touch
Affiliation
STANFORD RESEARCH FRAMEWORK • DESIGN INNOVATION • SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGY • QUALITATIVE INSIGHTS • EMPATHY MAPPING • PROTOTYPE ITERATION • ACADEMIC PRECISION •