2008-09 Student Entry Survey Key Driver Analysis Importance vs. Performance Maps for Your Program (Programs with intakes between November 1, 2008 October 31, 2009)
About Percept Research Percept Research provides high quality research and consulting services with cost-effective approaches. We offer a large variety of market research techniques, uniquely tailored to the needs of higher education clients. Our services include a lifecycle approach for MBA constituent research as well as market studies with program design consulting for the development of new programs at the Master s level. We appreciate your participation in this research initiative and hope you will consider us for your next project. Please contact us if you would like to receive more information about these services. EMBA Lifecycle Approach Research Offerings: Student Entry Survey. This benchmark initiative enables programs to assess and enhance their marketing strategies and strengthen the admissions process based on feedback of incoming students via a web-based survey. Student Mid-Program Survey. This initiative enables programs to assess operational services for first and second year students, providing an opportunity to address current students concerns and suggestions while in the program. Student Exit Survey. This benchmark initiative enables programs to assess the level of loyalty of graduating students on a wide range of program attributes, to identify areas for program improvement, and to help measure change over time. Alumni Survey. This initiative enables programs to assess the level of alumni longitudinal progress and learning outcomes since graduation, demonstrating assurance of learning and return-oninvestment. Consulting Engagements. Our consultants provide on-site workshops uniquely tailored for your program to facilitate action-oriented improvement based on your lifecycle research results. Our experience in marketing research and communication strategy extends to many areas. Our broad range of research and consulting services include Market Assessment Attitudes and usage Competitive benchmarking Customer satisfaction & loyalty measurement Feasibility studies for product expansion Focus group discovery Revenue analysis Internal executive interviews Win/loss analysis Brand Development Advertising tracking Concept and product testing Identity & naming Image and awareness (market share assessment) Media and copy testing Messaging Marketing Communications Advertising Communications training Internal communications Marketing materials Online communications Public Relations Reputation management Website development Contact inquiry@perceptresearch.com for more information. 2
How to Read this Report This section identifies those performance attributes in your program that are high priorities for improvement, based on their Mean Performance Rating and Stated Importance Rating. These are plotted as the axes of an Importance vs. Performance map. The Mean Performance Rating is the average rating students gave your program on a particular attribute, using a scale of 0 to 10 on which 0 means poor, 5 means average, and 10 means excellent. The Stated Importance Rating is the average rating students gave your program on a particular attribute, using a scale of 0 to 10 on which 0 means poor, 5 means average, and 10 means excellent. Mean Performance The diagonal line aids in determining attribute priority. This is termed the Optimal Performance line, where importance equals performance. The key to interpreting this map is to observe the perpendicular distance between an attribute and the diagonal green line. Based on this distance (appropriate distance from the Optimal Performance line is indicated by the dotted range lines), each attribute is coded as one of the following: Highest Priority (red): These attributes have a low performance relative to their impact on importance. Immediate improvements in perceptions of these attributes should be made. Appropriate Performance (yellow): These attributes have an appropriate performance level relative to their impact on importance. In other words, if the importance is high, then the performance ratings are also high, and vice versa. Your program should focus on these areas only if improvements can be made that are easy and have very low costs. Lowest Priority (green): These attributes have high performance ratings relative to their impact on importance. It is possible that more resources are being devoted to some of these attributes than is necessary; it may be possible to shift some resources away from these attributes and toward Highest Priority attributes. How the quadrants are formed: The horizontal line represents the average Mean Performance Rating of all attributes, while the vertical line represents the average Stated Importance of all attributes. This allows for relative differences among the attributes to be seen. The strongest drivers of importance to your program are those to the right of the vertical line. Stated Importance 3
Performance vs. Importance: Your Program Mean Performance Stated Importance 4
Performance vs. Importance: Top Competitor Mean Performance Stated Importance 5
Performance While Your Program attributes are usually rated higher than your Top Competitor ratings, it is important to look at the relative strengths and weaknesses. If your Top Competitor has attributes at the top of their list in terms of importance and the corresponding attributes for Your Program are on the bottom of your list, it could signify a strength in their program relative to your program. Your Program Location/Geographic Setting of Campus Quality of Faculty Program Format Reputation of School Curriculum/Class Offerings Quality of Classmates Class Size Admissions Process Rankings Global Content Strength in a Particular Functional Area Strength of Alumni Network Integration of Technology Strength of Elective Offerings Website of EMBA program Career Services Total Cost (tuition and fees) Top Competitor Career Services Strength of Alumni Network Quality of Faculty Global Content Curriculum/Class Offerings Admissions Process Reputation of School Rankings Strength of Elective Offerings Quality of Classmates Strength in a Particular Functional Area Integration of Technology Program Format Class Size Website of EMBA program Location/Geographic Setting of Campus Total Cost (tuition and fees) Findings: Location/Geographic Setting of Campus was your highest rated performing attribute, but it was the second to last performing attribute for your Top Competitor. Conversely, the highest performing attribute for your Top Competitor was Career Services, but that was your second to last attribute. Both you and your Top Competitor had Total Cost and Website of EMBA program within the bottom three performing attributes and Quality of Faculty within the top three performing attributes. 6