Research
Dive deeper into why, how, what, when and where.
(images below are covers of the "First Thesis: On Cardano NFT space" from different artists)
Why research?
Being participants of Cardano NFT space for a year before we set out on this adventure, it always amazed us how things were moving quickly here. Seeing change of sentiment on daily basis, the impact of good news/bad news on projects and people and overall intense emotional rollercoasters everyone was a part of, sparkled interest in us to: know more about it all.
Below you can read all about our previously done research followed by our future plans.
The first research we have done.
Two studies in one, with distinctive methodologies:
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longitudinal (case-study) of our own project
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cross-sectional: study of other projects and
Cardano NFT space in general
How and when did we do it?
We created a project (Thesis & Dysmorphia), which served several roles to us: a case-study for the research itself, as a springboard to help us establish connections in space for further research and also as a financial help for one year long determination to do this research.
Phase 1
aug-DEC '22
Creation of an NFT project with the basic "NFT project set-up" satisfied:​
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Twitter profile created
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First followers swamped
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Website
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OG and WL groups formed
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Discord gradual opening
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NFT mints announced
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X spaces hosted
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Community activities
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Our first mint held on Dec 19th 2022 (Dysmorphia)
What was specific was:
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Members filled out surveys every 2-4 weeks!
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Surveys were themed with project related questions
We explicitly announced to all members that this is a research based project and that everything that is happening in one year period is going to be in the final research paper.​ OG and WL members were "required" to sign a Consent form - in which they accepted to fill out surveys for the research for a period of one year (they were experimental groups).
Phase 2
DEC '22-apr '23
Continuation of the project after first mint:
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After below-average success of our first mint, continuation of all the community activities and introducing of the new ones
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Surveys ongoing
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New merchandise benefits to holders announced
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Lowering of initial NFT supply and change of their appearance announced
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New phase of study announced - gathering data from Other projects + Founders + Moderators + General public
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Alongside survey data, what was followed for the whole time is also discord and twitter community engagement and numbers, as well as blockchain and market available data
Phase 3
apr-jul '23
Projects onboarding, new surveys, our second mint:
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2-3 months of continuous talks with other projects in space led us to final collaboration with 46 of them
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Each project had a Holders survey shared to their communities, each Founder had their survey, and we reached out to as many Moderators as we could to fill out their survey
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General public (all Cardano NFT population) was able to fill out the general public survey at end of July '23
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Our community surveys are ongoing
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Our second mint held on 30th July 2023 (rest of the Dysmorphia supply)
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Also during this phase: hosting of several Quizzes at collaborating projects, updating the looks of the whole Dysmorphia collection, and offering 55 Saved Dysmorphia NFTs to the interested community
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With first days of August, almost all data was compiled, and it was time to do the analysis and writing
Phase 4
aug-oct '23
Data processing, clean-up, analysis, writing, charting and all:
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With final numbers of more than 3.5k+ total answers to all of our 60+ surveys in span of one year, the analysis has began
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As the data was being processed, so was the Fork It platform in creation in the background - as an idea that emerged during the study, as a way to show the results in more interactive way. Initial plan was to only have a PDF of the research published, but Fork It showed to be an amazing addition to the PDF
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Secretly collaborated with 12 artists to create a cover for the Thesis study
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Secretly agreed with Cardano_whale to peer-review the study
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After 2 and half months of intense work, the study was written, peer-reviewed, proof-read, data was analysed, Fork It platform was established
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Mint for First Thesis: On Cardano NFT Space was held on 21st Oct 2023
There is additional timeline on our Fork It platform.
To check full methodology: the best to see the full research paper
The research paper is free to read as it is attached to the NFT itself. You can always find it by finding one of the NFTs (on any marketplace), clicking on it, and then choosing to see it on pool.pm. That way you are seeing the NFT in someone's wallet, where you are able to see the PDF too.
If you decide you want to OWN the NFT, you can always buy it from the marketplace.
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Examples from the research paper (PDF) →
The research paper contains several representative charts and tables. The whole T&D study (case study part) is of longitudinal character - showing change of sentiment and behaviour over time. On these two charts you can see our discord membership numbers as well as people's sentiment towards undoxxed founders change over time. More about the results is explained in the paper itself.
Examples from Fork It platform →
Alongside possibility of seeing each and every question that was asked to communities, on platform you can also do different comparisons. Different surveys between each other, different projects between each other, different categories, see all projects on a scale and also the whole T&D study on an interactive timeline.
Final numbers
47 projects
68 surveys
3756 answers
153 T&D announcements
178 games & quizzes hosted
46 X spaces
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All surveys combined
12 artists created cover arts for the Thesis study, enrichening it's value in most beautiful way
Cover arts
Each Thesis study NFT comes with one of the 15 different cover arts. 12 of them were created by one of the artist from Cardano space, 1 was created by Thesis, 1 by Dysmo and 1 by MadOrkestra, our official designer.
Summary
For full results and discussion, the best to see the full paper and Fork It platform.​
• Majority of those in the Cardano NFT space is here for money and considers themselves to be a holder
• Majority of people is married or in domestic partnership
• Founders are significantly more negative about current Cardano NFT space than the general public
• Founders think that doxxing is important for the success significantly less than the general public
• Majority of founders experiences stress while developing their project, while the public mostly undervalued the founders’ levels of stress
• Most people have personally experienced 2-5 rugs which financially affected them
• Majority of moderators has worked for free at least once
• In people’s opinion, community is the most important thing that makes a project successful
• The more time people spent in the Cardano NFT space per day, the more rug pulls they experienced
• Doxxing becomes less important as time goes on and a project delivers
• Advice to projects: do not give too many of your NFTs out for free and consider having only a public mint with no whitelisted discounts :)
Future
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Short term: depending on success of Catalyst Fund 11 and our proposal Cardano Pulse, continue with next research of Cardano ecosystem and deliver the results publicly
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Long term: explore the possibilities of creating a functioning system for Decentralised Science (publishing, distribution, crediting)
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What is Cardano Pulse?
Cardano Pulse would become a continuation and broadening of our research in Cardano Ecosystem.
In essence, Cardano Pulse means:
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creating a big survey (up to 100 questions)
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researching people's sentiments and behaviour regarding: DeFi, major Cardano topic & entities, wallets, platforms, marketplaces, memecoins and NFTs
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aim ~1000 answers
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the results will be OPENLY AVAILABLE on Fork It platform
Check full proposal here, read latest blog post and don't forget to VOTE for us.
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