UB Library Resources to Support Your Venture Development: FinTech Switch
FinTech Switch with UB Career Services
This tab is dedicated to library resources that could be helpful in association with the FinTech Switch design competition from UB Career Services. Click here for more information on this competition.
Please note, these are resources intended to get you started with this design competition. Remember to do additional research as needed! Please contact the Librarians if you need additional assistance with research.
On this page
Design Thinking | Empathic and Ethnographic research | Moving to a New Place | Cost of College | Finances & Relationships | Being My Own Boss
Design Thinking
What is design thinking?
"Design thinking has a human-centered core. It encourages organizations to focus on the people they're creating for, which leads to better products, services, and internal processes. When you sit down to create a solution for a business need, the first question should always be what's the human need behind it?"
Source: IDEO U
"Design Thinking is a design methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by understanding the human needs involved, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, by creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing."
Source: Interactive Design Foundation
Additional Resources
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The Design Thinking Toolbox by ISBN: 9781119629191Publication Date: 2020-04-14The Design Thinking Toolbox explains the most important tools and methods to put Design Thinking into action.
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Design Thinking Resources from IDEO UArticles, how-to videos and case studies.
Empathic and Ethnographic Research
What is empathic research and how does it relate to design thinking?
- "Empathic research and design is not concerned with facts about the user, such as their age or location. Rather, it focuses on their feelings towards a product and their motivations in certain situations. Why do they behave in a certain way? Why do they prefer to do this instead of that? Why do they click here rather than there when presented with a particular screen or page? These are the kinds of insights you’ll uncover during the empathize phase, and they’ll help you to create user experiences that cater to your audience."
- Source: Stevens, E. (2018, November 22). What Is Empathy In Design Thinking? A Comprehensive Guide To Building Empathy For Your Users. CareerFoundry.
- Click here to access.
Some articles (scholarly and non-scholarly) on empathic research related to design thinking:
- From Medium.com: "9 Best Empathic Research Methods To Help You Dig Deeper & Truly Understand Your Customer"
- Gasparini, A. (2015, February). Perspective and use of empathy in design thinking. In ACHI, the eighth international conference on advances in computer-human interactions (pp. 49-54).
- Thomas, J., & McDonagh, D. (2013). Empathic design: Research strategies. The Australasian medical journal, 6(1), 1.
- Click here to run a search in the UB Libraries Everything Search on "empathic research and design thinking" to find more articles and books related to this topic.
What is ethnography?
- "Ethnography is a research method central to knowing the world from the standpoint of its social relations. It is a qualitative research method predicated on the diversity of culture at home (wherever that may be) and abroad. Ethnography involves hands-on, on-the-scene learning — and it is relevant wherever people are relevant."
- Source: Anthropology @ Princeton
How does ethnographic research relate to design thinking?
- "Ethnography encompasses a variety of qualitative research methods that focus on developing a deep understanding of users by observing and interacting with them in their native habitat. Techniques here would include participant observation, interviewing, journey mapping, and job‐to‐be‐done analysis."
- Source: Liedtka, J. (2015). Perspective: Linking design thinking with innovation outcomes through cognitive bias reduction. Journal of product innovation management, 32(6), 925-938.
- Click here to access.
Some additional resources on ethnographic research related to design thinking:
- From Medium.com: "Ethnography: The First Step in Design Thinking"
- From Think.Design, a user design company: "User & Design Research: Ethnography"
- Click here to run a search in the UB Libraries Everything Search on "ethnographic research and design thinking" for
The Moving to a New Place Challenge
Articles on Evaluating a Job Offer
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How to evaluate a job offer"It's more than just salary: Think about how a new job could impact your entire life including taxes, your commute, and your retirement."
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How To Choose Between Multiple Job Offers"Having multiple job offers is exhilarating. While this is an amazing feeling, it can also be incredibly stressful. You want to make sure that your next job is the best fit for you, and it can be hard to think clearly when you’re facing a decision of such magnitude. Your brain goes into overload, overthinking every decision. It’s easy to get into the trap of analysis paralysis."
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8 Criteria for Evaluating a Job Offer"According to recent data compiled by the U.S. government, the average baby boomer changes jobs 11.7 times during his or her career – that's a lot of job offers. Despite this, author John Lees found that many people spend longer researching their vacations than they do evaluating their job offers."
Data Resources
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Consumer Price IndexFrom the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas.
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Data.census.govThe Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy
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Bureau of Labor Statistics Wage DataBLS wage data are available by occupation for the nation, regions, states, and many metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.
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ProQuest Statistical InsightIndexes government publications of the US federal & state governments as well other intergovernmental, trade & professionals organizations. More InfoDataUB ONLY
Cost of Living Calculators & Data
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Bankrate's Cost Of Living CalculatorUse the cost of living comparison calculator below to compare the cost of living in two cities. Simply enter your current income, select your current city, as well as the city you are relocating to and click calculate. The cost of living calculator will provide you with the equivalent income needed to maintain your current standard of living.
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FRED Economic Research's Cost of Living DataThe Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) computes an regional price parities (RPPs) for each state and Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) that depicts the state's or MSA's cost of living compared with a national average of all areas, which is 100. Values above 100 reflect higher-than-average costs and values below 100 reflect lower-than-average costs.
Use these interactive maps, graphs, and tools to see how far your paycheck goes. -
Salary.com's Cost of Living CalculatorUse the Cost of Living Calculator to easily compare the cost of living in your current location to the cost of living in a new location. Salary.com uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and salary differentials of over 300+ US cities to give you a comparison of costs and salary.
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Living Wage CalculatorDeveloped by MIT. Their aim was to create a living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region based on typical expenses. The tool helps individuals, communities, and employers determine a local wage rate that allows residents to meet minimum standards of living.
The Cost of College Challenge
Sallie Mae® and Ipsos provide annual data, reports, and infographics on how America pays for college. These reports are linked directly below. Additional videos are included for more information related to the cost of college in the US.
- How America Pays for College 2020
- How America Pays for College 2019
- How America Pays for College 2018
- How America Pays for College 2017
The Relationship Challenge
Below are just a select handful of resources related to financial management for couples. There are MANY resources out there, so always be sure to check the credentials of the people giving advice. It's also important to know that there is no one "right" answer as there are many factors involved.
There are also MANY videos on YouTube about money management for couples (whether married or not). A few select videos are included here for reference. Find more finds by clicking here.
The Being My Own Boss Challenge
Articles
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Article: Here's Why It's So Hard to Start a Business in the U.S."A new report from the World Bank ranks the United States 51st in the world when it comes to the ease of launching a new company. So what's making life so difficult for the nation's entrepreneurs?"
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Article: 10 Challenges Entrepreneurs Never Expect When Starting A BusinessBy: Expert Panel, Young Entrepreneur Council
Resources & Guides
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U.S. Small Business Association (SBA)The SBA is the only cabinet-level federal agency fully dedicated to small business and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise as the nation’s only go-to resource and voice for small businesses.
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SBIR-STTR Doing Business in USAResources from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
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State-by-state Government ResourcesSelect a state or territory to find information about regulations, resources, and financing opportunities near you.
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Small Businesses at USA.govSearch for Information Helpful to Small Business Owners
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Buffalo Business First Small Business COVID-19 Resource GuideA list of federal, state and local resources to assist businesses dealing with the impact of COVID-19.
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Doing Business in the United StatesWorldBank publication in the "Doing Business In" series.
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Biz JournalsLocal Business Journals for major U.S. cities. NOTE: See the Factiva database for full journal access.