This was a final presentation for a Marketing Research course, where we were tasked with developing, distributing, analyzing and interpreting data about how "green" Georgetown students are.
1. Just How Green Are We?A Study of Georgetown University Undergraduates Team 23 Phoenix Enterprises Proshawn Chakravarty Jonathan Jacobs Aditya C. Sahajwalla Andrew Zhen
2. Phoenix Enterprises uses innovative data collection and analysis methods to provide information that can help solve a plethora of different business problems. Our firm has worked with Fortune 500 companies, political campaigns and international NGOs.
3. Research Objective: To study the “green” attitudes and behaviors of Georgetown University undergraduates
5. Are there significant differences between the green attitudes of upperclassmen (seniors) and underclassmen (freshmen)? Are there significant differences between the green behaviors of upperclassmen and underclassmen?
6. 3) Are there significant differences between the green attitudes and behaviors of MSB underclassmen and upperclassmen as they compare to the other three undergraduate schools?
38. Areas for Future Study: Do students minoring in a subject that is not in their major school exhibit different levels of “greenness” than their non-minoring peers in their major school? Include or separately study graduate students Conduct a longitudinal study Study how “green” our classrooms are
39. Just How Green Are We?A Study of Georgetown University Undergraduates Team 23 Phoenix Enterprises Proshawn Chakravarty Jonathan Jacobs Aditya C. Sahajwalla Andrew Zhen
Editor's Notes
These constructs formed because they each represent a group of activities such that, if a respondent does one, they will like do all of the others included in that category. Examples of each:1)A government rating system would make “green claims” by companies more transparent2)If things continue on their present course, we will soon experience a major ecological catastrophe3) The Earth has plenty of natural resources if we just learn how to develop them4) Switch off lights when leaving a room, take shorter showers5)When public transportation is available, used that rather than driving a car6)Purchased “green” cleaning products, purchased low energy light bulbs
Overall, we discovered that there were no significant differences, anywhere, between MSB students and students in other schools, regardless of class standing, and, that there was no significant trend of becoming more or less green. As was mentioned previously, our hypothesis in asking question that compared MSB students to students in the other school was that MSB students, as is commonly believed, are less green than their peers. The data invalidates our working hypothesis, meaning that when comparing them solely on the basis of class standing, Georgetown undergraduates are a lot alike.
This data includes all freshman and senior respondents, regardless of school. It is clear that the average freshman and senior in this sample exhibit no significant difference with regard to how green they are in terms of their behavior or attitudes. The insignificance of the small discrepancies between the groups is not statistically significant and is therefore not of concern to us. On the whole, the opinions that Georgetown undergraduates have on “green” and the “green” behaviors they exhibit display no significant variation between grade levels.
We find ourselves asking what could cause a data trend that is the inverse of what we expected? We hypothesize a number of things could cause this. Firstly, students are overexposed to green. Given that green is the current “cause of the moment” and has been for some time, we feel it not unreasonable to posit that students, rather that not being exposed to green, are actually exposed to too much of the subject. As a result, there is a backlash that builds as students begin to tire of hearing the same speeches on the subject. Often, these are dialogues that blame them for not doing enough to conserve and protect the Earth. Conversely, it is also entirely possible that students aren’t exposed to enough green. Professors have neglected to mention the subject in class, either because they do not care or because they would rather have/believe other professors have already tackled the subject. Both are possibilities, the existence of which can only be confirmed or denied by further research.
Although we have established that, across the four schools, there is no statistical difference between the green attitudes and behaviors of Georgetown underclassmen and upperclassmen, we desire to dig deeper to see if we can discern any trends in respondents’ green attitudes or behaviors that are a function of class standing. To do such, we further break down our data set to separate freshman and seniors on the basis of school enrollment, creating two distinct categories: “MSB” and “The Rest.” In this case, the rest includes the remaining three undergraduate schools at Georgetown.
Measured on the construct of whether or not they “Buy the Green Alternative,” Georgetown undergraduates are shockingly uniform in their response. Respondents’ opinions overlap almost identically, and no statistical significance is present.
The same is true when we attempt to measure their “Use Green Transportation.” Again, nominal relative differences in the absolute opinions in each group of students do exist, however these differences lack statistical significance of any kind.
There was one question where, above all the rest, we expected to see significant variance. The question asked of students was: “If you could set a market price for a deposit on plastic drinking bottles, what would it be?” In this scenario we expected to see significant variance, if for no other reason than the fact that the wide variety of response open to students would lead to relatively different answers. In one case, we weren’t surprised to see that the students in the other three undergraduate schools implemented a relatively higher tax than those in the MSB. However, we were shocked to discover that this difference was, once again, not significant. A commonly held conception is that MSB students are less “green” than those in the other schools. While this showed up in the actual value of the tax suggested (the fact that the MSB suggested a lower tax), the lack of a serious significance to this difference means that we can’t interpret the data to say that there is a serious difference in the level of greenness between these two sets of students.
Implement courses into the undergraduate curriculum focused on green issues such as “Green Marketing” and amend current course offerings to include a “green theme.” Show signage around the school that explains the schools initiatives underwayFor example, the tech center have should have information on recycling laptops and serve as drop-off center for old laptop batteries, printers, cell phones and other electronics. Examples: Reduce use of LCD TVs in the student lounges, breakrooms, caserooms and hallways especially during non-peak hours.Install motion-detecting lights in classrooms and break rooms to reduce energy consumption.
Before addressing the three major limitations of this study, we do need to acknowledge that this survey was written and administered solely by individuals who have a connection to the MSB, so this identity may have influenced researchers to create questions that forced respondents into preconceived categories.
Our study utilized the convenience method of sampling, which means that our sample consisted of those individuals who were readily accessible to the researchers and were willing to participate. In addition, no safeguard were used to ensure that all minority populations were accurately represented. As such, our conclusions are not generalizable to the Georgetown community as a whole.
Because no follow-up was conducted to get in touch with respondents, we cannot be certain of the validity of their existence/answers, nor the conditions under which the survey was taken (see previous slide).
We anticipate key differences in MSB students with any minor and “Rest” students who minor in the MSBDoes the trend hold for a larger, more established population?Allows more confidence in conclusions about how Georgetown changes students values over timeAnalyze syllabi, professor CVs, etc. to find out how, if it all, we are teaching “green.”