{"id":37701,"date":"2020-09-22T16:29:45","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T10:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?p=37701"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T11:01:46","slug":"the-4-so-whats-of-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-4-so-whats-of-impact","title":{"rendered":"The 4 \u2018So Whats\u2019 of Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toyota \u20185 Whys\u2019 Technique<\/h4>\n

Sakichi Toyoda, the king of Japanese inventors, developed a simple yet powerful technique for finding the root cause of a problem. He called it the Five Whys, and it is still in use today in the Toyota Motor Corporation founded by his son.<\/p>\n

Toyoda said that to get to the root of a problem, you should ask \u201cWhy?\u201d five times until you get to the ultimate answer. For example:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cThe car will not start.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe battery is dead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe alternator is not working\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe alternator belt is broken.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe alternator belt was worn out\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe car was not serviced according to the recommended schedule.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s a remarkably useful discipline and widely used beyond the Toyota corporation. I only read about it recently \u2013 and when I did, I realised I\u2019d been doing something similar in impact for years.<\/p>\n

Experience of asking \u2018So What?\u2019 in Impact<\/h4>\n

When I read about the Five Whys technique, it resonated with my experience as an impact manager. When I was in that role, a large part of my work involved sitting down with academics and trying to extract from them some account of the impact their research had had \u2013 or discussing their research and trying to define the potential impact and plan accordingly. In these conversations, a technique I found useful was to ask \u201cSo What?\u201d, and keep asking it until we had drilled down to the real impact. Something like this:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI produced an important report on problems with language teaching in secondary schools\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI met with officials in the Department for Education who were very keen on my work\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the report, the minister instructed schools to use a more effective language learning system\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAll state secondary schools in England now use the new system\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLanguage attainment in Key Stage 4 has improved by 15% since the change\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now in this example, there is real impact after only the second So What \u2013 but persisting with the So Whats reveals a much more impressive story.<\/p>\n

As with the Five Whys, four is only a rule of thumb. Sometimes you might get there in three, sometimes it might take longer. The important thing is to keep drilling down until no further impact becomes apparent.<\/p>\n

Using the 4 \u2018So Whats\u2019<\/h4>\n

The most obvious use for the four So Whats is retrospectively. When drafting an impact case study, for example, the So Whats can readily provide the structure of an impact narrative. But it\u2019s then vital to look at the answers to each So What, and ask what is the evidence to corroborate that answer. In this way, the So Whats become a guide to the evidence-gathering activities that are crucial for any case study.<\/p>\n

The four So Whats can also be useful in impact planning. It\u2019s just a matter of starting from the proposed research and asking the So Whats, at every stage seeking answers that lead towards impact. Something like this:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to develop a new lightweight composite material\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will allow companies to make lighter wind turbine blades\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cElectricity generation from wind power will become more efficient\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So what?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCarbon emissions will be reduced\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now, this can often lead to branching outcomes. For example, at the third stage above, instead of more efficient electricity generation, we might have said \u201cTurbine manufacturers will be able to bring a new product to market\u201d, or at the fourth stage, instead of carbon emissions, we could have said \u201cPower companies will be able to increase their profitability\u201d. This is fine at this stage, you can keep asking So What and creating branching chains of impact to your heart\u2019s content. The next stage is to trim the branches. Look at the end of each chain, estimate the reach and significance of the potential impact and its feasibility, and on that basis either retain that branch or remove it. Having done this, visit each stage of the branch and consider what actions will be needed to move from one stage to the next. Estimate the resources needed, and consider any dependencies on other activities. You will then have the structure and essential content of an impact plan \u2013 all you need to do is incorporate the activities and costs into your research proposal.<\/p>\n

In the same way, when asking \u2018So What\u2019 retrospectively for an impact case study, you can end up with a set of narrative branches. In these cases, it\u2019s simply a matter of looking at the end of each branch and assessing the reach and significance of the resulting impact. Prune the weak, keep the strong.<\/p>\n

Advantages of the \u20184 So Whats\u2019 over more formal impact tools<\/h4>\n

There are, of course, more elaborate impact tools, containing much more sophisticated guidance about types of impact, different sorts of pathways, and so on. These can certainly be useful. They do, however, have their limitations. The first is that, however you try to taxonomise impact, it is so diverse that no category structure will be able to do justice to impact in all its forms. The second, more serious problem is that without individual guidance and support, many academics will just see yet another form to fill in \u2013 and God knows they have enough of them already.<\/p>\n

By contrast, asking \u201cSo What?\u201d in a structured and purposeful way is a simple, flexible practice that quickly gives actionable results. It can be done by an impact manager in consultation with an academic, or by the academic themselves whenever they can spend a few minutes\u2019 introspection. It will only ever be a starting point, but you have to start somewhere, and in my experience getting that initial structure sketched out makes everything that follows so much easier and more effective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toyota \u20185 Whys\u2019 Technique Sakichi Toyoda, the king of Japanese inventors, developed a simple yet powerful technique for finding the root cause of a problem. He called it the Five Whys, and it is still in use today in the Toyota Motor Corporation founded by his son. Toyoda said that to get to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73551,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5887],"tags":[],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-37701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-excellence-framework-ref-uk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe 4 \u2018So Whats\u2019 of Impact | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?p=37701\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 4 \u2018So Whats\u2019 of Impact | Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Toyota \u20185 Whys\u2019 Technique Sakichi Toyoda, the king of Japanese inventors, developed a simple yet powerful technique for finding the root cause of a problem. He called it the Five Whys, and it is still in use today in the Toyota Motor Corporation founded by his son. 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