Managing Ashland MultiComm Services Ashland MultiComm Services (AMS) provides
high-quality telecommunications services in the Greater Ashland area. AMS traces its
roots to a small company that redistributed the broadcast television signals from nearby
major metropolitan areas but has evolved into a provider of a wide range of broadband
services for residential customers. AMS offers subscription-based services for digital
cable television, local and long-distance telephone services, and high-speed Internet
access. Recently, AMS has faced competition from other service providers as well as
Internet-based, on demand streaming services that have caused many customers to
“cut the cable” and drop their subscription to cable video services. AMS management
believes that a combination of increased promotional expenditures, adjustment in
subscription fees, and improved customer service will allow AMS to successfully face
these challenges. To help determine the proper mix of strategies to be taken, AMS
management has decided to organize a research team to undertake a study. The
managers suggest that the research team examine the company’s own historical data
for number of subscribers, revenues, and subscription renewal rates for the past few
years. They direct the team to examine year-to-date data as well, as the managers
suspect that some of the changes, they have seen have been a relatively recent
phenomenon.
1. What type of data source would the company’s own historical data be? Identify
other possible data sources that the research team might use to examine the
current marketplace for residential broadband services in a city such as Ashland.
Primary data is data collected by the investigator himself/ herself for a specific
purpose E.g Data collected by a student for a research project, survey reports.
Secondary Data: Data collected by someone else for some other purpose ( but
being utilized by investigator for another purpose). Secondary data may be
obtained from published books, directories. In the case of Ashland MultiComm
Services, the researchers use the past data which is already existing, it is known
as the Primary form of data. The other form of data sources that the research
team might use to examine the current marketplace is the published data from
the Market research companies and trade association data about the population
using board band service. Print and online media companies also distribute data
that they may have collected themselves or may be republishing from other
sources.
2. What type of data collection techniques might the team employ?
3.
Observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of users
and the usage of internet.
4.
Obtaining relevant data from management information systems.
5.
Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to face and
telephone, interviews, questionnaires etc).
In their suggestions and directions, the AMS managers have named a number of
possible variables to study but offered no operational definitions for those
variables. What types of possible misunderstandings could arise if the team and
managers do not first properly define each variable cited?
A characteristics or property of an item or individual that can vary among the
occurrence of those items or individual, Using definition of variable you can state the
definition of data, in its statistical sense, as the set of values associated with one or
more variable. Inorder to choose statistical method that are appropriate for the data,
there is a need to know the type of data that a variable defines it is either Numerical
(quantitative) can futher classified into Discrete (e.g Monthly sale) & continuous
(Measuring process time spent on working)process or Categorical(qualitative) (e.g
good fair poor/ yes & No)
Microsoft Excel infers the variable type from the data you enter into a column. If Excel
discovers a column that contains numbers, it treats the column as a numerical variable.
If Excel discovers a column that contains words or alphanumeric entries, it treats the
column as a non-numerical (categorical) variable. This imperfect method works most of
the time, especially if you make sure that the categories for your categorical variables
are words or phrases such as “yes” and “no.” However, because you cannot explicitly
define the variable type, Excel can mistakenly offer or allow you to do nonsensical
things such as using a statistical method that is designed for numerical variables on
categorical variables. If you must use coded values such as 1, 2, or 3, enter them
preceded with an apostrophe, as Excel treats all values that begin with an apostrophe
as non-numerical data. (You can check whether a cell entry includes a leading
apostrophe by selecting a cell and viewing the contents of the cell in the formula bar.)
Don’t label a variable as categorical or quantitative without thinking about
the data and what they represent. The same variable can sometimes take on
different roles.
Don’t assume that a variable is quantitative just because its values are
numbers. Categories are often given numerical labels. Don’t let that fool you into
thinking they have quantitative meaning. Look at the context.
Always be skeptical.
One reason to analyze data is to discover the truth.
Even when you are told a context for the data, it may turn out that the truth is a
bit (or even a lot) different.
The context colors our interpretation of the data, so those who want to influence
what you think may slant the context.
A survey that seems to be about all students may in fact report just the opinions
of those who visited a fan website.
The question that respondents answered may be posed in a way that influences
responses.
What types of possible misunderstandings could arise if the team and managers
do not first properly define each operational variable In Ashland Multicomm case
study.
