Hi all,
Its a tad disheartening to see that group formation has remained incomplete across sections despite its deadline slipping by.
1. The deadline stands extended till Tuesday midnight for group formation now. Consequently, phase I deadline (for websurvey submissions) is also pushed to Tuesday midnight next week. This extension comes at the expense of phase III time, I must add.
2. If for any reason you are disinclined to look for a group to join, kindly write 'randomly assign' next to your name in the Google spreadsheet. I'll assign you to a group randomly after that, period.
3. Pls sign up for a free account on www.esurveypro.com and use their question types and their skip logic in making your questionnaire. Phase I submissions will happen in a Google form that I shall create for this purpose.
4. I will add further updates here. Pls check the blog regularly henceforth. In the meantime, it is recommended to take last year's survey.
Sudhir
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Project group formation - What's in a name?
Well,
Can't help but notice that at the time of writing, Section C clearly scores in its ability to pick interesting, relevant, thought-provoking names that don't look like IPL spoofs.
'Immortals of Meluha'? Wow. I immensely enjoyed reading that one. (The author is ex-IIMC, from my alma mater, btw). But I'm not sure it would qualify as an 'epic' in the classic sense, would it?
Anyway, its your group folks. Am OK with whatever name you go with. 'The eggplant' however simply does not cut it. Or maybe I'm missing something here.
Chalo, see half of you in class tomorrow. Ciao.
Sudhir
Can't help but notice that at the time of writing, Section C clearly scores in its ability to pick interesting, relevant, thought-provoking names that don't look like IPL spoofs.
'Immortals of Meluha'? Wow. I immensely enjoyed reading that one. (The author is ex-IIMC, from my alma mater, btw). But I'm not sure it would qualify as an 'epic' in the classic sense, would it?
Anyway, its your group folks. Am OK with whatever name you go with. 'The eggplant' however simply does not cut it. Or maybe I'm missing something here.
Chalo, see half of you in class tomorrow. Ciao.
Sudhir
Project Scope feedback and Discussion
Hi all,
Received the following (excellent) feedback from a student on the project scope document. My response is included below. More queries or discussions welcome.
My response:
OK, here are the posts from last year's project questionnaire design issues:
The websurvey live link from last year is here. The survey is *still* open. I would strongly urge folk to take the survey and see for themselves the time it takes, the kind of questions we came up with last time, etc.
Thoughts on the project questionnaire. This was in response to Q&A and clarifications on what the criteria were. This one is a recommended read, janta.
Some issues relating to specific questions, wording etc. This one is more to give you a flavor of the kind of issues and details that crop up going forward. This is more in the same mold.
Hope that helped.
Sudhir
Received the following (excellent) feedback from a student on the project scope document. My response is included below. More queries or discussions welcome.
The project scope seems quite interesting although I feel that the scope might be just a little too wide. With a questionnaire as short as you require it to be, we might not be able to do justice to the analysis requirements. The scope document suggests that we analyze the current investments, the likely asset classes they are interested in, their perceptions about, the customers' media habits, perceptions about insurance and relevant banks, lifestyle and psychographic analysis, to name a few. I might be wrong but I feel that the analysis may lack depth if we try to cover everything mentioned here.For instance, assessment of media habits mostly calls for a whole different market research project itself.
Regards,
Romessa
My response:
Hi Romessa,
Thanks for the feedback. In fact, IMHO (in my honest/humble opinion) this comment and subsequent discussion merits a separate blogpost, perhaps.
I did consider making the survey more 'specific' - as in restricted to a handful of asset classes. Turns out that is what I expect will happen anyway, after you've deliberated upon the options available, listed them, shortlisted from among them and arrived at an actionable set based on questionnaire design constraints. This process of creating a wide list and narrowing it down to a handful of realistic options - based on secondary data perhaps, on exploratory conversations with experts in the area, on preliminary conversations with people who fit the target profile, etc - is something IMHO the class should go through in the process of questionnaire design.
15 minutes is usually good enough for upto 40 multiple choice questions of which about 10 are simple demographic information collection. Now, the other 30 questions on topic can reveal quite a bit provided the answer categories have been arrived at and fixed with care and thought.
The websurvey isn't quite administered to total strangers in this project, so typically slightly more leeway in response and completion rates can be expected, based on last year's experience.
Perhaps you could look up what folks did last year to a topic that was just as broad. I have putup links to last year's project scope document and some posts from Oct 2009 talk about questionnaire design travails. In fact, last year's survey should still be on, live. Try to take the survey and see how long it takes you!
As for media habits, yes, it can be made as intricate as necessary. IMHO, here, the point is to get some broad idea about media exposure of the most attractive segments of the target population which is better than nothing. Just a broad idea and not really very precise estimates or anything.
In any case, hang on for lecture 3 to commence and a clearer picture of survey design to emerge. I hope things will become clearer then.
Sudhir
OK, here are the posts from last year's project questionnaire design issues:
The websurvey live link from last year is here. The survey is *still* open. I would strongly urge folk to take the survey and see for themselves the time it takes, the kind of questions we came up with last time, etc.
Thoughts on the project questionnaire. This was in response to Q&A and clarifications on what the criteria were. This one is a recommended read, janta.
Some issues relating to specific questions, wording etc. This one is more to give you a flavor of the kind of issues and details that crop up going forward. This is more in the same mold.
Hope that helped.
Sudhir
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Some miscell topics
Hi all,
A few quick discussions.
1. Have had conversations with folk who insist on the need to have class slides available before the lecture. I hesitate for a variety of reasons, including the experience last year. However, as a compromise, this I can assure you - the slides for about 5 lectures on the quantitative side, sanitized for the quickfires, will be made available on blackboard before the start of the respective lectures.
2. Pls bring all handouts and slides, including from previous lectures, to class every time. Consider it a part of the course pack for all practical purposes. There may be occasions when caselets, slides etc covered in previous sessions will be seamlessly referred back to. Also, since almost all pop-quizzes are likely to be open-book, open-notes, it makes sense anyway to get these things to class.
3. Have put up the project scope document. See blog post preceding this one. Would like relevant and constructive feedback and comments. This is your chance to influence the project, I say. Once this thing is finalized and frozen, that is it.
4. I would encourage groups to meet more often and discuss MKTR topics whether or not project related, on an ongoing basis. Make the project group a kind of study circle. if you will.
5. The lec 2 beer dataset based HW is out. It involves essentially basic analysis - summarizing data, aggregating and sorting etc. Very basic stuff that everyone at this level should know without having to think. It involves lookup functions and pivot tables - which are again, essential tools in the workplace which every MBA should know like the back of their hand.
Sudhir
A few quick discussions.
1. Have had conversations with folk who insist on the need to have class slides available before the lecture. I hesitate for a variety of reasons, including the experience last year. However, as a compromise, this I can assure you - the slides for about 5 lectures on the quantitative side, sanitized for the quickfires, will be made available on blackboard before the start of the respective lectures.
2. Pls bring all handouts and slides, including from previous lectures, to class every time. Consider it a part of the course pack for all practical purposes. There may be occasions when caselets, slides etc covered in previous sessions will be seamlessly referred back to. Also, since almost all pop-quizzes are likely to be open-book, open-notes, it makes sense anyway to get these things to class.
3. Have put up the project scope document. See blog post preceding this one. Would like relevant and constructive feedback and comments. This is your chance to influence the project, I say. Once this thing is finalized and frozen, that is it.
4. I would encourage groups to meet more often and discuss MKTR topics whether or not project related, on an ongoing basis. Make the project group a kind of study circle. if you will.
5. The lec 2 beer dataset based HW is out. It involves essentially basic analysis - summarizing data, aggregating and sorting etc. Very basic stuff that everyone at this level should know without having to think. It involves lookup functions and pivot tables - which are again, essential tools in the workplace which every MBA should know like the back of their hand.
Sudhir
Project Scope Document putup on Google Docs
Hi all,
Pls find the Project scope document putup on a Google read-only word-doc here:
Google doc link
Kindly read through the entire tentative scope document carefully. Comments and feedback are welcome.
If there's something obvious that has been missed, pls let me know. If something asked for is totally unrealistic, again, let me know.
I will freeze and release the final scope document sometime on Monday after collecting feedback.
Broadly, there are 3 phases to the project, all of which are graded. Recall that the project has 40% of total course grade. This is further split thus:
Phase I: e-Questionnaire design. Worth 10% of course grade. Expected to be completed and submitted by the start of lecture 5.
Phase II: Data collection by websurvey. Worth 10% of course grade. Expected to be completed by the start of lecture 8.
Phase III: Data analysis, inferences, recommendations and report (PPT deliverable). Worth 20% of course grade. Expected to be completed and submitted by the start of lecture 10.
Lecture 3 is about survey design. Reading the relevant bits of the relevant textbook chapter would help get a headstart for Phase I, IMHO.
Some of you may have prior familiarity with the subject and could come up with questionnaire inputs directly. Others may try to do a small pilot exploratory study to get to the inputs to a questionnaire and seek help from fellow ISB students majoring in finance, friends, alums and colleagues in the field working on this subject, the management of our own local ICICI branch and their portfolio of products etc.
End of the day, your questionnaire and websurvey design will be evaluated for quality, consistency, and completeness among others.
Pls keep the websurvey to reasonable length! No more than 15 minutes at most should be taken up for a reasonable person with a reasonable net connection to take the survey.
OK, shall stop here now. Will add more updates as and when they occur.
Sudhir
Pls find the Project scope document putup on a Google read-only word-doc here:
Google doc link
Kindly read through the entire tentative scope document carefully. Comments and feedback are welcome.
If there's something obvious that has been missed, pls let me know. If something asked for is totally unrealistic, again, let me know.
I will freeze and release the final scope document sometime on Monday after collecting feedback.
Broadly, there are 3 phases to the project, all of which are graded. Recall that the project has 40% of total course grade. This is further split thus:
Phase I: e-Questionnaire design. Worth 10% of course grade. Expected to be completed and submitted by the start of lecture 5.
Phase II: Data collection by websurvey. Worth 10% of course grade. Expected to be completed by the start of lecture 8.
Phase III: Data analysis, inferences, recommendations and report (PPT deliverable). Worth 20% of course grade. Expected to be completed and submitted by the start of lecture 10.
Lecture 3 is about survey design. Reading the relevant bits of the relevant textbook chapter would help get a headstart for Phase I, IMHO.
Some of you may have prior familiarity with the subject and could come up with questionnaire inputs directly. Others may try to do a small pilot exploratory study to get to the inputs to a questionnaire and seek help from fellow ISB students majoring in finance, friends, alums and colleagues in the field working on this subject, the management of our own local ICICI branch and their portfolio of products etc.
End of the day, your questionnaire and websurvey design will be evaluated for quality, consistency, and completeness among others.
Pls keep the websurvey to reasonable length! No more than 15 minutes at most should be taken up for a reasonable person with a reasonable net connection to take the survey.
OK, shall stop here now. Will add more updates as and when they occur.
Sudhir
Friday, October 15, 2010
Lecture 2 pratice exercise & groups related info
Hi all,
Pls find below the link to a read-only google doc listing out a practice few questions from the ACN beer dataset we discussed in lecture 2. The terms used in the dataset are standard syndicated dataset terminology the world over. Lec 2 slides are uploaded and you can find some explanation there too.
Google doc link to lec 2 practice exercises
Re group formation:
Have permitted group sizes between 6-8 people to ease the group formation process given that already the within-section restriction has constrained choices.
However, different group sizes poses evaluation issues. Particularly in the data collection via websurvey phase of the project, group size will be taken into account.
Sudhir
Pls find below the link to a read-only google doc listing out a practice few questions from the ACN beer dataset we discussed in lecture 2. The terms used in the dataset are standard syndicated dataset terminology the world over. Lec 2 slides are uploaded and you can find some explanation there too.
Google doc link to lec 2 practice exercises
Re group formation:
Have permitted group sizes between 6-8 people to ease the group formation process given that already the within-section restriction has constrained choices.
However, different group sizes poses evaluation issues. Particularly in the data collection via websurvey phase of the project, group size will be taken into account.
Sudhir
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Google Doc for Group Formation
Hi Class,
As promised, here's the google doc to facilitate group formation. Pls click on the link below:
Google Doc link.
The final registrant lists are here. We have 56, 68 and 57 folk registered in sections A,B,C respectively, and 66 in Sec D. That means we will have 8 groups exactly in sec A, 9 in section B, 8 in sec C and 9 in Sec D - i.e., 34 groups in all considering on an average 7 people in a group.
Pls reach out to other folk within your sections and form groups. If you're unable to get a group by the start of lecture 3, I will randomly assign you to a group - end of discussion.
Added later:
Ideally each group should have 7 members only. However, 6-8 people in a group is fine as well. This is based on feedback I am getting from folk in the class.
Kindly choose names for your groups. Last year we had folks choose names from among India's numerous small towns and everything from Shahjehanpur to Shillong and Agartala to Ajmer got chosen. This year, I'm asking you to pick names of characters from the Epics - the native Indian classics such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Abhigyan Shakuntalam would be an awesome choice IMHO. Else the testaments, the Greek classics or the Bible could also be also possible sources, perhaps. Be creative and let's start off on a light footing.
Pls choose *unique* names for your groups. No 2 groups can share the same name. Also, first come, first serve - Groups that choose a name first, get to keep it.
P.S.
Shall upload a homework based on the AC Nielsen beer dataset that was putup on blackboard for lec 2.
More later.
As promised, here's the google doc to facilitate group formation. Pls click on the link below:
Google Doc link.
The final registrant lists are here. We have 56, 68 and 57 folk registered in sections A,B,C respectively, and 66 in Sec D. That means we will have 8 groups exactly in sec A, 9 in section B, 8 in sec C and 9 in Sec D - i.e., 34 groups in all considering on an average 7 people in a group.
Pls reach out to other folk within your sections and form groups. If you're unable to get a group by the start of lecture 3, I will randomly assign you to a group - end of discussion.
Added later:
Ideally each group should have 7 members only. However, 6-8 people in a group is fine as well. This is based on feedback I am getting from folk in the class.
Kindly choose names for your groups. Last year we had folks choose names from among India's numerous small towns and everything from Shahjehanpur to Shillong and Agartala to Ajmer got chosen. This year, I'm asking you to pick names of characters from the Epics - the native Indian classics such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Abhigyan Shakuntalam would be an awesome choice IMHO. Else the testaments, the Greek classics or the Bible could also be also possible sources, perhaps. Be creative and let's start off on a light footing.
Pls choose *unique* names for your groups. No 2 groups can share the same name. Also, first come, first serve - Groups that choose a name first, get to keep it.
P.S.
Shall upload a homework based on the AC Nielsen beer dataset that was putup on blackboard for lec 2.
More later.
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