Further, students who responded to this survey ate out (at restaurants) an average of 1.59 times per week. Of the people who eat out, 58.3% choose to have dinner outside of the cafeteria, followed by lunch with 28.7%, and breakfast with 7.0%. Students chose to eat out at over 50 restaurants in Kalamazoo, Jimmy John's and Taco Bell receiving the highest amount of K students. In conclusion, these are some of the main results about the Kalamazoo College cafeteria and surrounding restaurants.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Kalamazoo College Cafeteria and Surrounding Restaurants
According to a recent random study of Kalamazoo College students, 98% of the students agree that they should be able to take their food out of the cafeteria. Some claim that their schedules are not accommodated by the cafeteria hours; others, that we pay for the food, so why can't we take it out; and still more, that we would like to have a late night snack. Of the small hand full of students who agreed with the cafeteria on not allowing students to take food with them out of the cafeteria, they were unanimous in that they feared that their cafeteria plans would cost more than the high prices that they pay now.
Students Are Less than Impressed With Weight Room
There is no denying the fact that students have been known to classify Anderson Athletic Center and its facilities as "outdated" and in need of renovation. To see how many students actually felt this way my partner and I decided to survey the users of the Kalamazoo College weight room to find out how satisfied/unsatisfied the students are. When the survey was all tallied up and finished, it was found that on average students were unsatisfied with Kalamazoo’s current situation. On a simple scale of 1-5 the average rating was a 2.2. The following question was also very important and related to the overall satisfaction. We asked if the student would be willing to slightly increase tuition in order to renovate and renew the current weight room. This question was also measured on a scale of 1-5 and had an average rating of 3.4. So according to the data, the average student is unsatisfied with the Kalamazoo College weight room and is pretty willing to slightly increase tuition in order to make renovations.
Of course we found more than just the satisfaction and willingness to increase tuition in our survey. Of those who participated, we found that more men use the weight room than women, but not by any extreme amount. 64% of the participants were men, compared to 36% for women. It was also found that sophomores use the weight room most, with 32% of those surveyed being in their second year here at Kalamazoo. Freshmen were a close second with 30%, followed by seniors at 22% and finally juniors at 15%. Out of all the available machines/weights in the weight room, a majority of 60% use free weights, as opposed to cardio or auxiliary machines. Perhaps the most interesting finding we found was that 95% of those surveyed were high school athletes.
I would hope that these findings are helpful to the athletic department in the case of making decisions regarding renovating the weight room or not.
Of course we found more than just the satisfaction and willingness to increase tuition in our survey. Of those who participated, we found that more men use the weight room than women, but not by any extreme amount. 64% of the participants were men, compared to 36% for women. It was also found that sophomores use the weight room most, with 32% of those surveyed being in their second year here at Kalamazoo. Freshmen were a close second with 30%, followed by seniors at 22% and finally juniors at 15%. Out of all the available machines/weights in the weight room, a majority of 60% use free weights, as opposed to cardio or auxiliary machines. Perhaps the most interesting finding we found was that 95% of those surveyed were high school athletes.
I would hope that these findings are helpful to the athletic department in the case of making decisions regarding renovating the weight room or not.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Beverage Consumption at Kalamazoo College
Kalamazoo- After nine weeks of researching, surveying, and analyzing data, the results concerning beverage consumption among college students are complete. The research was focused on the beverage consumption at Kalamazoo College. A finding likely to be interesting to the two beverage institutions on campus is the fact that among students and staff Biggby was frequented more often than Jazzman's was. It can not be said for certain that this was because Biggby's was rated higher than Jazzman's, but a few possible conclusions could be because of Biggby's location, or the name brand recognition. Among those students and staff that frequented Biggby, a larger percentage were female rather than male. This could be because males don't drink as much coffee as females or don't like Biggby's coffee as much as females do. Those that go to Biggby are most likely to be students or staff with high family incomes. This is possibly because of the high price of Biggby's drinks and there being a cheaper alternative (Jazzman's) not far from Biggby. One other finding that has relevance to the college, particularly to the company supplying the food in the cafeteria (Sodexo), is the fact that homemade coffee is preferred more than the coffee made in the cafeteria. Most likely it is because the coffee supplied in the cafeteria is thought to be lower in quality and taste than homemade coffee. Without getting too technical I thought I would give some numbers for the above conclusions in order to give the readers a more numerical context of the above claims. It was found that students and staff combined went to Biggby's one hundred twenty three times during the week and only 108 times to Jazzman's. Among those who frequented Biggby's 37 were female and 16 were male meaning that 70% were female and only 30% were male. On a scale of 1-5 the average rating for coffee made at home was 3.44 and the average rating for cafeteria coffee was 1.74. It is my hope that Sodexo will take into consideration these findings and consider improving the quality of their coffee.
Survey Leaves a Majority of Students Asking, “What is the K Plan?”
Kalamazoo College’s K Plan, known primarily as four essential aspects that embody the “K Experience” (the liberal arts curriculum, internships/externships, study abroad, and the Senior Individualized Project), seemingly have much more emphasis placed upon it during recruiting efforts than once students are actually paying money for it.
Our findings demonstrated that over half of K students cannot name two out of four parts of the plan, and 33% of students didn’t know what the K Plan was at all. This may be due to the fact that 71% of students surveyed had not discussed the K Plan with their adviser this year, which could explain the lack of awareness students have regarding it. Even if prospective students are constantly told about the K Plan they will soon forget it if it is never mentioned again.
However, when we examined the four parts of the K Plan individually, satisfaction seemed to be par for the course, as seen in the graph below, and the overall satisfaction with Kalamazoo College received an average score of 7.38 on a ranking scale of 1-10 - showing that while the college is not in trouble when it comes to student satisfaction, it definitely has room for improvement.
Delving further into the concept of the K Plan, we discovered that only between 31% and 54% of all sophomores, juniors, and seniors have participated in an internship or externship. While this statistic may seem impressive upon first inspection, we would like to remind readers that internships/externships are one of the major components of the K Plan and that it is interesting that maybe less than half of all students ever engage in one of the “corner stone” achievements Kalamazoo College is supposed to provide.
The K Plan does provide a comprehensive educational experience that surely benefits the students that comes to Kalamazoo College. However, if the college wishes to use this as a marketing tool, it would be in their interest to carry the image of the K Plan throughout the college experience in order for students to identify with the program that is, in one way or another, shaping their lives. The K Plan is as unique as the students it is guiding through college – it is up to the college to make sure it isn’t kicked to the wayside once that first check comes in.
Our findings demonstrated that over half of K students cannot name two out of four parts of the plan, and 33% of students didn’t know what the K Plan was at all. This may be due to the fact that 71% of students surveyed had not discussed the K Plan with their adviser this year, which could explain the lack of awareness students have regarding it. Even if prospective students are constantly told about the K Plan they will soon forget it if it is never mentioned again.
However, when we examined the four parts of the K Plan individually, satisfaction seemed to be par for the course, as seen in the graph below, and the overall satisfaction with Kalamazoo College received an average score of 7.38 on a ranking scale of 1-10 - showing that while the college is not in trouble when it comes to student satisfaction, it definitely has room for improvement.
Delving further into the concept of the K Plan, we discovered that only between 31% and 54% of all sophomores, juniors, and seniors have participated in an internship or externship. While this statistic may seem impressive upon first inspection, we would like to remind readers that internships/externships are one of the major components of the K Plan and that it is interesting that maybe less than half of all students ever engage in one of the “corner stone” achievements Kalamazoo College is supposed to provide.
The K Plan does provide a comprehensive educational experience that surely benefits the students that comes to Kalamazoo College. However, if the college wishes to use this as a marketing tool, it would be in their interest to carry the image of the K Plan throughout the college experience in order for students to identify with the program that is, in one way or another, shaping their lives. The K Plan is as unique as the students it is guiding through college – it is up to the college to make sure it isn’t kicked to the wayside once that first check comes in.
Beverage Consumption Summary for the General Audience
Biggby’s v. Jazzman’s: Which one do you like more?
Our recent findings on beverage consumption from Biggby’s and Jazzman’s from Kalamazoo College included that more people go to Biggby’s opposed to Jazzman’s, and also people rated the quality of Biggby’s coffee higher than Jazzman’s. These conclusions were not very surprising due to the fact that Biggby’s is a franchise business that attracts more people opposed to Jazzman’s. Approximately 123 people went to Biggby’s compared to Jazzman’s where only approximately 108 people went to Jazzman’s. These numbers are out of our total sample of participants which is 133. The more people that went to Biggby’s displayed that Biggby’s ratings were higher than Jazzman’s when looking at all our data.
Also our findings included the fewer hours of sleep one gets the more cups of coffee one drinks. This is a reasonable finding due to the fact that coffee has caffeine in it and it helps people stay awake. It can be inferred the more cups of coffee one drinks the less amount of sleep one gets according to our data. This relates back to our earlier findings that people go to Biggby’s more for the better quality of coffee when they have less hours of sleep. In conclusion these are some of the findings from the survey amongst Kalamazoo College pertaining to beverage consumption from Biggby’s and Jazzman’s.
Our recent findings on beverage consumption from Biggby’s and Jazzman’s from Kalamazoo College included that more people go to Biggby’s opposed to Jazzman’s, and also people rated the quality of Biggby’s coffee higher than Jazzman’s. These conclusions were not very surprising due to the fact that Biggby’s is a franchise business that attracts more people opposed to Jazzman’s. Approximately 123 people went to Biggby’s compared to Jazzman’s where only approximately 108 people went to Jazzman’s. These numbers are out of our total sample of participants which is 133. The more people that went to Biggby’s displayed that Biggby’s ratings were higher than Jazzman’s when looking at all our data.
Also our findings included the fewer hours of sleep one gets the more cups of coffee one drinks. This is a reasonable finding due to the fact that coffee has caffeine in it and it helps people stay awake. It can be inferred the more cups of coffee one drinks the less amount of sleep one gets according to our data. This relates back to our earlier findings that people go to Biggby’s more for the better quality of coffee when they have less hours of sleep. In conclusion these are some of the findings from the survey amongst Kalamazoo College pertaining to beverage consumption from Biggby’s and Jazzman’s.
Friday, May 28, 2010
SIP Ideas
SIP #1
For a SIP using publicly available data, I would gather the statistics needed to enhance a restaurant including the theme, menu, and style of the establishment. I would collect statistics from other experimental methods studies about colors, fonts and themes that are most outstanding to the general eye, and types of foods that please the largest populations. I could test possible hypotheses such as which types of colors seem more attractive depending on gender, or whether or not people are more likely to enter a restaurant if it has a theme or not (i.e. a restaurant with strictly Italian food, Italian décor, menus with some words in Italian, etc. versus a restaurant without a specific categorization). Data would be available on the web at sites such as http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cep/46/3/461/ or from sections of this book available on the web called Educational Psychology by William R. Reynolds and Gloria E. Miller.
SIP #2For a SIP using original data, I would use the same idea except would collect the data myself via surveys and studies of the customers/possible customers for the restaurant. The surveys would ask questions about colors, fonts, types of food, flavor combinations, etc. One question could ask about key ingredients, for example: “Would you be more likely to try a dish if it highlighted the ingredient A) ginger, B) basil, C) red pepper, or D) cinnamon?.” The same hypothesis tests listed above could be conducted and the sample would be the population within a 5-mile radius of the restaurant.
For a SIP using publicly available data, I would gather the statistics needed to enhance a restaurant including the theme, menu, and style of the establishment. I would collect statistics from other experimental methods studies about colors, fonts and themes that are most outstanding to the general eye, and types of foods that please the largest populations. I could test possible hypotheses such as which types of colors seem more attractive depending on gender, or whether or not people are more likely to enter a restaurant if it has a theme or not (i.e. a restaurant with strictly Italian food, Italian décor, menus with some words in Italian, etc. versus a restaurant without a specific categorization). Data would be available on the web at sites such as http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/cep/46/3/461/ or from sections of this book available on the web called Educational Psychology by William R. Reynolds and Gloria E. Miller.
SIP #2For a SIP using original data, I would use the same idea except would collect the data myself via surveys and studies of the customers/possible customers for the restaurant. The surveys would ask questions about colors, fonts, types of food, flavor combinations, etc. One question could ask about key ingredients, for example: “Would you be more likely to try a dish if it highlighted the ingredient A) ginger, B) basil, C) red pepper, or D) cinnamon?.” The same hypothesis tests listed above could be conducted and the sample would be the population within a 5-mile radius of the restaurant.
SIP Proposals
My first SIP proposal would be to develop a trading system using computer algorithms which trades a security based on s selection of simple trading tools. This list might include: 50-day MA, 200-day MA, a slow stochastic oscillator, MACD oscillator, Bollinger Bands, Volume, and basic trendline analysis. I would program a computer to look for these signals and that would buy or sell a security. I would use historical data from finance.yahoo.com or marketwatch.com. I could write my own backtesting software. I could use hypothesis testing to determine if my strategy returns higher than a market index with statistically significant results.
My SIP proposal which would require the collection of original data would be a cross-cultural study to determine how people from different countries view the importance of investing. I could do a stratified random sample from 3 or 4 different countries. I could measure things like percent of income invested, risk tolerance, or average expected retirement age.
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