NYU Stern School of Business

I was part of a team of graduate students working toward our MBA's at NYU Stern. As part of a class project, we conducted some research for the school's part-time program. Our objective was to understand the tradeoffs potential students make among various program attributes such as the length of a program, the format of intensive classes and the availability of distance learning.

We found a useful tool in Hosted Survey; the service allowed us to field a survey efficiently and effectively. The response rate [of over 20%] and quality surpassed our expectations. This yielded a rich data set that we used to conduct statistical analyses. Since the meat of our survey consisted of a conjoint analysis, we derived part-worths for individual respondents and thus were able to determine the program offering that would be most preferred by potential part-time students.

Additionally, we were able to determine how preferences differed among various segments. From a student's perspective, the great thing about using Hostedsurvey was that it got us beyond the "convenience" samples students often use. By using a tool that simplified and expanded our reach to a real-world target, we not only learned something, but also produced some useful insights for a school that is actively trying to improve its programs.