1. Researchers studied why kids were throwing away apples from school lunches and found that braces, difficulty holding apples, and preference for pre-sliced apples were barriers. 2. Applying the "5 whys" technique revealed that convenience diets lacking mechanical movement led to improper jaw development and need for braces. 3. Slicing apples increased consumption but with tradeoffs like more plastic waste, reduced nutrition from increased surface area exposure, and reinforcement of convenience eating habits.

1. Dig deeper for a different
perspective.
When a hunch turns into a crunch.

2. Have you ever given bad advice?

3. Setting the scene

4. A group of researchers had a hunch.
Many apples being served to kids as part of the
a lunch program were ending up in the bin,
virtually untouched.
Being good researchers, they wondered if the
reason was more complicated than simply that
the kids didn't want the fruit.

5. Low point
High point
Trouble spot
They mapped the journey

6. Kids with braces have issues eating
whole apples.
Apples are cumbersome to hold.
Kids are used to eating sliced apples
(“my mum cuts them.”)
Older girls find apples unattractive to
eat whole.

7. Framing the solution
Get kids to make healthy choices.
User need
As a kid, I want to eat as quickly
as possible so that I can go and
play.

8. Solutions?

9. Apple consumption jumped more
than 60% when apples were served
sliced.

10. Job done?

11. Less food waste, more plastic waste.
Reinforces ‘convenience’ eating.
Cost of processing and packaging.
The health benefit is reduced - When
fruit is cut in many smaller pieces
more total surface area of the fruit is
exposed and more vitamin C is lost.

12. Ask 5 why questions

13. 1. Why does the kid wear braces?
○ His teeth are wonky
2. Why are his teeth wonky?
○ His jaw has not formed correctly.
3. Why has his jaw not formed correctly?
○ It wasn’t given the opportunity to develop.
4. Why wasn’t it given the opportunity to
develop?
○ His diet was lacking in mechanical
movement.
5. Why was it lacking in mechanical
movement?
○ He has grown up with a convenience diet
where food is prepared for him - i.e
liquidised, pureed, mashed, skinned, juiced,
chopped, shredded and/or sliced.
Kids with braces have issues
eating whole apples.

14. What does your solution look like now?

15. In summary
1. Have you ever given bad advice?
2. The 5 whys technique is just one method that you can add to your due diligence
toolbox
a. Sakichi Toyoda, industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries developed the technique
in the 1930s.
3. Applying the 5 whys to the apple story may have resulted in a different solution.
a. Washington Post, ‘A clever tweak to how apples are sold is making everyone eat more of them.’
4. A brief digital example of introspection...

17. In summary
1. Have you ever given bad advice?
2. The 5 whys technique is just one method that you can add to your due diligence
toolbox
a. Sakichi Toyoda, industrialist, inventor, and founder of Toyota Industries developed the technique
in the 1930s.
3. Applying the 5 whys to the apple story may have resulted in a different solution.
a. Washington Post, ‘A clever tweak to how apples are sold is making everyone eat more of them.’
4. A brief digital example of introspection:
a. https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/mobile-app-development-create-useful-app.html
5. As researchers, where does our responsibility start and end?
6. Do we have a responsibility to look at the bigger picture - the peripheral side
effects and ramifications of the recommendations that we are making?

18. Thank you
kathyneuss@gmail.com