A significant part of the term project, a marketing research conducted for your client, is the design and the administration of a properly designed questionnaire. The days of writing questions in a word processing software are long gone; several powerful tools have become available to fill their place.

Watch the following video about Qualtrics survey software, then follow the instructions in another post to get yourself an account at Qualtrics. Once your account is activated, you will find many more useful, helpful, informative tutorial video programs on different parts of the software. Although there will be a general introduction to using Qualtrics in class, you need to work with it, experience how it works, and become sufficiently comfortable with it before you need to use it for your projects. If you try to learn it when you need to use it, you will find that to be far less efficient and effective in carrying out your responsibilities.

CEO of Qualtrics speaks on the software

Edit Survey Tab

My Surveys Tab in Qualtrics

Are you looking for instructions on how to create your own account on Qualtrics? Here they are.

Providence College has a site license to Qualtrics software. To have access to it, you need to create an account on their site. Follow the instructions below and you will have your account in quick order and be using the learning tools they offer.

1. Point your browser to the Providence College master account on the Qualtrics site:
   http://www.qualtrics.com/providence
2. You will see a link to create your account (see below), click on that link and follow the instructions. It is important that you use your Providence College e-mail address to have an account with full access to all the features of Qualtrics
   
3. Once you log in with your account, visit “Help and Tutorials” menu option at the top of the page. You will find many useful tutorials. I suggest that you start with “Create a Survey and My Surveys” group to get familiar with the software.
4. Additionally, you will find other types of help, tutorials, helpful documents in the area they call “Qualtrics University”. Explore them all.
5. Go ahead and create a sample survey with a few questions, try different question types, use available scales, etc.

Remember, you are learning something new which may feel awkward at first, like when you learned how to ride a bike. As you use the software you will learn its working paradigm and become more comfortable with its myriad of features. The idea is not to use them all, but to be able to choose what tools to use. A huge tool box is useless if you are trying to drive a nail to the wall and you cannot find the hammer; worse yet, you do not recognize the hammer!

Have fun (indeed many students find the survey creation part of this course to be fun; believe it, or not!)

Are they really what we think they are?

Presentation made on April 22, 2003
Yeditepe University Graduate Colloquium
Istanbul, Turkey

A. Cemal Ekin

We are all social scientists studying social phenomena that affect the business world in one way or another. I would like to explore a few critical and related terms we use both in our scientific endeavors as well as in our daily lives. After the presentation, I do not expect you to know more than you already do but I do hope that you will have more nagging questions that seek answers in your mind. After all, science is all about finding answers to questions.

Science, in a very general sense, is the sum total of our efforts to understand the world around us. Since the humankind looked at the sky and saw things that inspired awe, our curiosity to know more about our world, our universe and our selves never stopped. As a result, we have accumulated an enormous amount of knowledge yet what we yearn to know is even greater than what we already know. Read more

Studying requires more than time and learning stems from a mental process by which you, the learner, develop an understanding that makes sense to you and is consistent with the body of knowledge you are studying. Here are a few do’s and
don’ts.

Study by objectives

Understand what you are trying to learn before the study session begins. Quickly browse the chapter in five minutes or less to get familiar with the general nature of the material. Then, write on a piece of paper several learning objectives.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

There is no doubt that we will all make a mistake sooner or later. There is a great learning opportunity in what you might otherwise call failure, like receiving a low grade on an exam. Instead, take that as a great opportunity to find out why you received that grade and devise ways to prevent it from happening again. The greatest failure is the failure to learn from mistakes and the worst mistake is the one we repeat.

Assess learning

After you finish studying, refer back to your objectives to assess their achievement. If necessary, go back and review the part that you may have missed. You may save a great deal of time this way since you only have to study what has not clicked yet.

Teach to learn

Teaching is an excellent learning method. Try explaining what you have learned to a willing friend. You will be surprised to see how much more sense the material makes all of a sudden.

Don’t daydream, have fun

Daydreaming is a black-hole that swallows your time. In a contest, leisure wins over study. Don’t let them compete. Spare time for fun. Don’t steal from your study time and feel guilty about it. Have fun after serious studying.

Don’t procrastinate

“Later” is too close to the deadline and the end of the semester is sooner that you think. After procrastinating for a while, the backlog will be so great you will fall into another trap: “there is too much to study, I don’t know where to start.” It is easier to go over little hills than great mountains.

Manage time

One of the most important factors in good class performance is time management. The most likely reason of missed-deadlines is lack of organization. You need to have a system that will let you handle several classes with assignments, upcoming job interviews, personal commitments, and a good dose of “senioritis”. Organize your day, week and the semester to do all that and still have a little time for fun.

Be realistic

Don’t underestimate the time required to complete a project. You feel comfortable when you have the most time at the beginning of the semester and panic when you can least afford it, at the end of the semester. Remember, most projects will take more time than you think.

Set a schedule and stick to it

If you don’t stick to your schedule, time will slip through your fingers. Do things on schedule, not later or tomorrow.

Visit these pages periodically

If you have tips to share, send them to me. I will incorporate them to these pages with due credit to you unless you wish to remain anonymous. Wisdom cannot be told but experiences can be shared to build it.

Although at times it may be more difficult than working alone, working in groups is an effective learning tool. Be prepared to face the challenges of working with people (something you will do throughout your career) and avoid finger-pointing at the end of the semester. Allow me to provide assistance and guidance in the early stages of your project and organizing your group. Ask, and you will receive support

Organize early and you will be rewarded. Select a team leader who can organize meetings, keep assignments on time, and make the administrative burden much lighter on everyone. Exchange telephone numbers and e-mail addresses with each other and make sure that I have a copy of this information for the entire team.

Schedule standing meetings when everyone will show-up. Allow extra meeting time during the heavy load periods if necessary. Remember, the only people responsible for an efficient team are the team members! If there are minor difficulties in scheduling, assignments, etc., at the beginning, I will be glad to lend a hand to organize the team. I am a member of every team!