978-1111826925 Case Knowing the Way

Case Six: Knowing the Way 217

Case 6

Knowing the Way

Objective: The purpose of this case is to allow students to analyze data.

Summary: The Swamp Palace museum is an interactive museum that teaches visitors the

ways of life on the swamps of the southern United States. It contains over 100 exhibits

demonstrating the ecology of the swamp and the habits of the animals and insects inhabiting it.

Additionally, there are restaurants, swimming, and thrill rides in the forty plus acres and miles

of pathways.

The park was originally government-funded, but now it is self-supporting. While there are

enough visitors, the park has struggled just to break even. The Swamp Palace sought the help

of Marketivity Group, and exploratory research results are provided. The park commissioned

Marketivity to undertake a further study addressing several research questions (see question 3

below for the research questions). Marketivity implemented a quasi-experimental design and

students are asked to analyze the data in the questions below.

Questions:

1. Run frequencies on Gender, Others, and Age. Are any problems evident with coding?

Take any necessary corrective actions.

Gender

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Male 65 32.7 32.7 32.7

Coding problem is evident by the 18 respondents coded with a 3 (1=Male and

2=Female)

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218 Part Seven: Cases

Age

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid 1.00 42 21.1 21.6 21.6

2.00 77 38.7 39.7 61.3

Frequencies suggest a younger clientele. Perhaps the 5 missing observations are 18 year

olds? Notice in the wording to the age question, 1 = less than 18 and 2 = 19-24, this

means that someone who is exactly 18 could be confused.

Others

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid Alone 42 21.1 21.9 21.9

1 35 17.6 18.2 40.1

Nothing out of the ordinary and no explanation for the 7 missing responses is evident

although some respondents hesitate to give their age in a given situation.

2. Compute a composite scale for the 5 SQ items and the 4 VAL items. Compute a coefficient

alpha for each of the resulting service quality and value scales.

The composites (SQT and VALT, respectively) can be created with a formula in Excel or using

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Case Six: Knowing the Way 219

Descriptive Statistics

N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

3. Perform an appropriate test of each research question RQ1, RQ2, RQ3, RQ4, and RQ5.

1. Do patrons who use a mobile phone navigation app report higher service quality and have

an improved experience relative to those who do not?

All should compare scores on SQT for those with and without the device. Here, those

without report slightly higher SQT. Experience could be captured either by the VALT score

Group Statistics

Wayf N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

SQT No 86 21.0698 3.87083 .41740

Yes 96 19.8646 4.12341 .42084

2. Do patrons who use the mobile phone app have a greater likelihood of upgrading to a

season pass?

This calls for a cross-tabulation with a chi-square test. The results are shown

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220 Part Seven: Cases

Wayf * UPGRADE Crosstabulation

Count

UPGRADE

TotalNo Yes Defer

Wayf No 33 32 9 74

Chi-Square Tests

Value df

Asymp. Sig.

(2-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square .341a2 .843

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum

expected count is 9.93.

3. Do patrons who use a coupon report more positive price perceptions?

This can be answered with an independent samples t-test as shown below. In

Group Statistics

Groupn N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

4. Do patrons who use the mobile phone app have a greater likelihood of upgrading to a

season pass?

5. What factors contribute to improved value perceptions?

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Case Six: Knowing the Way 221

A number of analyses could address potential relationships with value

perceptions. The key is that VALT is the dependent variable. Here, a

Other analyses could use the GLM to examine the effect of nominal variables such as coupon

4. List an additional research question that can be addressed with a one-way ANOVA.

Conduct the test.

5. List an additional research question that can be addressed with a GLM model. Conduct the

test.

Again, several are possible. Here is one that involves an analysis comparable to a full-factorial

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222 Part Seven: Cases

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects

Dependent Variable:VALT

Source

Type III Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Corrected Model 572.887a3 190.962 25.567 .000

a. R Squared = .291 (Adjusted R Squared = .279)

The overall model is significant as indicated by the F of over 25 (p < .001). The results show

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Case Six: Knowing the Way 223

6. Summarize the implications for the decision statements that arise from the tests above.

Make sure you cover whether the park should invest in the navigation system and coupon

technologies.

The results do not support further investment in the app. The app does not produce positive

duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.