Survey of market research managers' views about customer analytics

Data based on survey responses from an online questionnaire directed at market research managers in the US.

Using an online questionnaire 435 market research managers in the United States were surveyed about their views on using customer analytics to provide reliable customer information to gain market edge.

Using SPSS AMOS software, the resulting data identifies new trends in the business intelligence industry in transition and particularly the usage by market relations managers of customer analytics information.

Story as a vehicle for learning in online role play : a case study

In online role plays, students are asked to engage with a story that serves as a metaphor for real-life experience as they learn and develop skills. However, practitioners rarely examine the characteristics and management of this story as factors in the students' engagement in and learning from the activity. In this paper I present findings from a recent case study which examines these factors in an online role play that has been named as an exemplar and has been run for 19 years in Australian and international universities to teach Middle East politics and journalism. Online role plays are increasingly popular in tertiary education, in forms ranging from simple text-based role plays to virtual learning environment activities and e-simulations. The role play I studied required students to communicate in role via simulated email messages and draw on real-life resources and daily simulated online newspaper publications produced by the journalism students rather than rely on information or automated interactions built into an interface. This relatively simple format enabled me to observe clearly the impact of the technique's basic design elements. I studied both the story elements of plot, character and setting and the non-story elements of assessment, group work and online format. The data collection methods include analysis of student emails in the role play, a questionnaire, a focus group, interviews and the journal I kept as a participant-observer in the role play. In evaluating the qualities and impact of story elements I drew upon established aesthetic principles for drama and poststructuralist drama education.

Deakin Studies Online student survey 2004/2005

The data was collected to gauge Deakin University students' perceptions of the university's centralised learning management system, especially if it enhanced their learning experience. It identified the features that were most used and valued by the students and those they felt could be improved.

The dataset consists of a set of survey questions and the survey results in an electronic database. It comprises of 2908 responses from 2004 and 2526 responses from 2005; including approximately 1000 open-ended comments providing rich qualitative data.

The data includes the following categories of information:
• demographic and background information (including gender, mode of study);
• perception of importance of and satisfaction with a range of LMS functions;
• a number of overall LMS satisfaction measures; and
• open-ended written comments about the LMS.

Student and staff perceptions of learning and teaching online, 2005 data

The dataset consists of data gathered from Deakin University staff and students.

Staff-derived data consists of qualitative data relating to advantages and disadvantages of teaching online; manifestation of cultural diversity in online learning environments; strategies to accommodate cultural diversity online; and using online environments to support cultural diversity

Student-derived data consists of quantitative and qualitative data relating to student perceptions of online learning; student demographics; student expectations of their university experience; students' approach to learning and online learning; perceptions of online learning and online team work; and perceptions of student and teacher roles at university.

Ethical considerations and guidelines in web analytics and digital marketing : a retail case study

Within the information economy customers utilise the media that interests them, view the news that affects them and read about the people that inspire them. Web analytics enables an organisation to collect customers' data as they interact with an organisation. Then with analysis of the captured data, organisations can offer a unique online experience, tailored to the customer's individual preferences and create direct marketing campaigns that target individual consumers. This paper discusses the ethical considerations of collecting customer data and highlights how ethical guidelines can better inform organisational behaviour.

Understanding the context of distance students : differences in on- and off-campus engagement with an online learning environment

 While a growing number of higher education institutions are providing online modes of study for both on- and off-campus students, there are very real differences in demography, technology experiences, reasons for study, etc. between on- and off-campus students, and research into engagement with online learning environments (OLEs) indicate differences in the way that on- and off-campus students interact with OLEs. In Australia, Deakin University is a major provider of distance and online education, and provides a case study of a higher education institution with a mature and large-scale OLE implementation providing support to both on- and off-campus students. Deakin Studies Online (DSO) is Deakin University’s OLE. Based on a representative sample of 1322 responses to the 2011 DSO evaluation survey, this paper presents a large-scale, up-to-date and fine-grained investigation of impact of mode of study on the student experience of using an OLE. It was found that the primary place of access to DSO for both groups was home, mobile access to DSO seems likely to be of growing importance to both groups, and there was no statistically significant difference in the mean satisfaction ratings between on- and off-campus students for virtually all DSO functions. Off-campus students gave significantly higher mean ratings of importance (though not satisfaction) to a range of DSO functions that could be viewed as ‘value adders’ by off-campus students, enhancing their overall learning experience. For more than half of the DSO functions surveyed, on-campus students reported statistically significant higher mean frequency of access than off-campus students. The finding that elements of the institutional OLE are not universally perceived and used the same way by all students groups challenges the value of standard, one-size-fits-all institutional policies and templates relating to the use of OLEs.

Online communities and commercialization of Chinese internet literature

This article presents a case study on roles of online communities in development and commercialization of Chinese Internet literature (CIL). Online communities are widely used in ethnic Chinese communities for publication of CIL works. Uses of online communities in publication of CIL works enhance authors’ and readers’ experience and facilitate the growth of the CIL market. In turn, the growth of the CIL market creates new business opportunities that eventually lead to CIL commercialization. Evidences from the case show that the roles of online communities on CIL commercialization are much larger than simply being a new product development platform.

Designing online role plays with a focus on story development to support engagement and critical learning for higher education students

Online role plays, as they are designed for use in higher education in Australia and internationally, are active and authentic learning activities (Wills, Leigh & Ip, 2011). In online role plays, students take a character role in developing a story that serves as a metaphor for real-life experience in order to develop a potentially wide range of subject-related and generic learning outcomes. The characteristics of these stories are rarely considered as factors in the design―and success―of these activities. The unspoken cultural assumptions, norms and rules in the stories that impact on the meanings students make from their experiences are also rarely scrutinised in the online role play literature. This paper presents findings from a case study of an asynchronous text-based online role play involving politics and journalism students from three Australian universities. The findings highlight the centrality of students’ collaborative story-building activity to their engagement and learning, including their development of critical perspectives. The study underlines the importance of certain aspects of the role play's design to support students' story-building activity.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : a retrospective on the Trading Room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called the Trading Room in an undergraduate finance unit generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this innovation, viewed through the lens of Activity Theory, demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualised feedback and benchmark their work against others. While assessment is generally seen as the carrot and the stick of learning; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the Trading Room even if there was no assessment requirement. Students did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space.

I’m not like everybody else - online forums and PLT

This paper reports some of the findings from a study undertaken as part of the research component for a master of professional education and training degree.
The objectives of the study were to investigate students’ perceptions and satisfaction regarding CMC activities, including community of inquiry framework elements and self-system factors, and to frame recommendations that might improve the use of online discussions as a teaching medium in practical legal training.
A literature review identified themes arising from previous studies concerning the use of CMC in adult learning. The elements of the Community of Inquiry framework and Marzano and Kendall’s concept of students’ Self System were used as reference points to frame the study.
An online questionnaire was used to collect data from students who had undertaken online discussion activities as part of their practical legal training in the professional responsibility in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The data included the students’ opinions, attitudes and perceptions regarding the online discussions. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics that tended to indicate the participants were satisfied with online discussions as teaching medium for PLT. Tests for association between certain variables conducted using Barnard’s Exact Test disclosed 30 possible associations.
This paper focuses on part of the findings, namely associations between the participants’ attributes and contexts, student-student interactions, and satisfaction with the learning experience.
Further research specifically concerning the design and delivery of blended programs of practical legal training would be beneficial. Further study involving quantitative and qualitative methods and regarding the use of computer-mediated communications in PLT is recommended.

The rise of the 'silver surfer' : online social networking and social inclusion for older adults

As the proportion of older adults continues to grow in many Western countries, there are increasing concerns about how to meet their needs. Ensuring social connectedness and inclusion is one way to support older adults’ wellbeing. Online social networking has become common place amongst younger age groups, suggesting its possible usefulness for older adults, in order to combat isolation and loneliness. Some quantitative studies have already explored the amount and degree of online social networking amongst older adults. To add further understanding of how older adults experience social inclusion via the internet, the current qualitative study aimed to explore older adults’ subjective experience of online social networking. Findings demonstrated a number of supports and barriers to social inclusion which reflect barriers to social inclusion of older adults in the non-virtual world. Recommendations to support social inclusion of isolated older adults via online social networking are suggested.

The online identity : towards a hermeneutic phenomenological approach

In order to better understand how artists working in countercultural or ‘fringe’ creative practice use social media to create online persona I am using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to investigate the lived experience of both online and offline persona creation by tattoo artists, street artists, craftivists, and slam poets. The use of phenomenology to investigate artists’ lived experience is particularly appropriate, as ‘artists are involved in giving shape to their lived experience, the products of art are, in a sense, lived experienced transformed into transcended configurations’ (Van Manen 2006: 74). This paper will outline the methodological underpinnings of this project, using these underpinnings to explore the benefits offered by phenomenology to internet studies.

Understanding how people use online social media sites to construct personas can benefit greatly from understanding the lived experience of those who use these technologies, the decisions they make in persona construction, and the online/offline, public/private continuums. A phenomenological approach ‘seeks to revel and richly portray the nature of human phenomena and the experiences of those who live through them’ (Grace & Ajjawi 2010: 197) and offers both the researchers and the participants a way to interrogate and interpret the experience of constructing online personas. A phenomenological approach allows for ‘an intimate awareness and deep understanding’ (Saldana, Leavy & Bertvas 2011: 8) of the experience of persona construction in online and offline spaces, and could equally be used to interrogate other aspects of internet use. 

The experience of connectivity : results from a survey of Australian internet users

This article presents the findings from a survey of Australian Internet users (n = 1172), conducted in 2007, investigating their overall experience of connectivity at home. Experience of connectivity is defined to mean how people use the Internet to achieve general outcomes of value to them in their everyday lives, and includes both the range of outcomes and the significance of the Internet in achieving them. The survey, thus, reports on the experience of a single behaviour – ‘using the Internet’ – rather than, as common in other research, multiple specific behaviours conducted while online. The article analyses the data collected to draw conclusions that provide greater depth of understanding of connectivity understood as the phenomenon in, and of, itself. This article contributes important information about the experiences of Australian Internet users, about which there have been only a few and relatively superficial studies. It also provides an example of a new approach to surveying Internet users that can lead to more direct conclusions about the value and extent of their uses of connectivity in their lives.

A pilot trial of 'panic online' as a self-guided treatment for panic disorder

Panic Online (PO) is a well-established evidence-based internet intervention program for panic disorder (PD) (with or without agoraphobia), when supported by a therapist (email or face-to-face). However, there has been no exploration to date as to whether PO is also effective when administered in a self-guided format (i.e. with no therapist assistance provided). The objective of this pilot trial was to examine whether PO as a self-guided program was effective at reducing panic symptomatology and furthermore, whether participants found the program format satisfactory. Pre- and post-treatment clinical interviews were conducted by telephone with six participants and experience of using the self-guided PO program was also explored. Paired samples t-tests revealed that PD and agoraphobia were significantly reduced by post-treatment, but panic frequency (over the previous month) did not significantly change. Qualitatively, all participants reported being satisfied with the program, however all participants reported that access to human support during the intervention (e.g. to answer questions, to be heard, to help motivate) was preferable. Initial pilot data suggests that PO self-guided works effectively as a stand-alone clinical internet-based treatment program for PD, however additional research is required to definitively establish its efficacy.

The impact of performance skills on students’ attitudes towards the learning experience in higher education

One way to assist in transforming a lecture experience into an occasion that can attract and engage students is via the use of performance techniques. Investigating the impact of certain types of performance skills on students' attitudes towards the learning experience can help better understand the relevance of such techniques in face to face and online learning experiences. This paper outlines a project which: i) surveyed students about their attitudes towards face to face and online recorded lectures, ii) surveyed students about their attitudes towards performance techniques, in particular, spatial awareness, vocalisation, eye contact and passion, iii) interviewed lecturers about the potential benefits of performance techniques to student learning in the lecture theatre, and iv) investigated which factors most affected a teacher's decision to incorporate performance techniques in the lecture theatre. The results suggest that students and lecturers value face to face delivery of content, recognising the benefit of performance techniques in the lecture theatre. Recommendations are made regarding ways to encourage a wider use and evaluation of performance techniques in teaching and learning at the university level.