In this course students learn the basics of what marketing research can and cannot do for organizations. I teach this course as a hands-on immersive experience in which the students immediately form groups and obtain a client for whom they conduct a marketing research project over the course of one semester.
- Here is an example of how I teach p values and null hypothesis testing.
- Here is a sample final project. This project is the culmination of the entire semester long experience and the description of the project can be found in the syllabus. Over the 17 semesters I have taught this course, students have produced approximately 70 such projects, with clients all over Abilene and beyond.
In this course students learn the psychology of consumer choice. One of my main emphases for this course is that all individuals are predictably irrational when it comes to making decisions, even decisions that have measurable financial impact upon their lives. Ideally, awareness of these inherent irrationalities should help serve to (1) reduce their effect on the students, (2) increase their patience with people who display such irrationalities, and (3) help them effectively market to people who might not always make the optimal decision. Additionally, I encourage them to think critically about the evidence for irrational behavior, requiring them to design, carry out, and analyze an experiment to test a hypothesis related to consumer behavior.
- Here is an example of how I motivate a discussion of product placement.
- Here is a sample final paper. This paper is the result of research that the students’ must carry out from initial idea to finish, though it is less substantial than the project for marketing research. A description of it can be found in the syllabus.
- Here is a sample video showing a student group’s experiment that they created to support their final presentation. In the video, children were given one Oreo cookie and told that if they did not eat the cookie until the experimenter returns (5-10 minutes later) then they would receive a 2nd Oreo cookie. The video shows the desperate attempts of several children trying to wait so as to receive the 2nd cookie. This is also known as the Marshmallow experiment; it is a fun experiment — and video — so who cares that it does not fully replicate?
In this course students receive an introduction to the field of data mining, a growing field which takes the mountains of data produced by online and purchasing data and mines it for trends unobservable to the naked eye. My goals in this course are to (1) help students better understand proper reasoning and comparison techniques when dealing with data and (2) introduce them to a variety of data mining algorithms so that they can pursue a deeper understanding on their own and at least have familiarity with them when they are discussed.
- Here is an example of how I introduce multiple linear regression.
- Here is a sample final paper and, here, a related data file for download. This paper is the primary hands-on experience for the class and a description of it can be found in the syllabus. I explain to the students that they will speed date each of the different algorithms and, in the project, they take a few algorithms out for dinner and a movie.
In this course students learn the basics of statistical methods, from descriptive to introductory inferential statistics. Though I have not taught this course since my first year, my goal was to enable students to understand the logic underlying the statistics as well as to see that it coheres with what they would inherently agree was reasonable. Furthermore, I desired that they should be able to effectively identify when and what statistic was appropriate for each situation.
Foundations of Analytics (BUSA 550)
In this graduate course, first students obtain a statistical refresh from their undergraduate years, followed by introductions into statistical decision techniques, data mining, and time series analysis. Former MBA director-turned-dean Brad Crisp asked me to design and, later, to teach this course. The approach I used in designing and teaching the course was to remind students what they may have long forgotten, show them how it could be applied in their daily professional lives, and then engender their appreciation for advanced techniques.
Honors Colloquia
Bees brains and bad behavior: Big ideas in cognitive science (HON 402/412)
In this honors colloquium students are introduced to major findings and ideas within the field of cognitive science. This includes interesting and surprising findings from the study of attention, memory, learning, and decision making. Also, I introduced some statistical tools to help us understand why people often behave the way they do and addressed how we can better learn, teach, and make decisions. Under the assumption that many honors students will go to graduate school, my goal in teaching this course is to expose students to the field of cognitive science so that they can know whether they want to have graduate training in one of its various subfields (e.g., psychology, neuroscience, computer science, etc.).
Existence of God: Reason and evidence (Hon 407/417)
In this honors colloquium co-taught with John Homer, we first introduce students to logical arguments and logical fallacies. Then, we introduce several apologetical arguments for the existence of God, followed by a discussion of extra-Biblical evidence for the existence of Jesus and God. This colloquium was in part inspired by my experiences outside of the Bible belt, particularly at institutions of higher learning in Ireland and southern California where I encountered very intelligent individuals who vociferously attacked the foundations of my faith. I wanted students who completed this course to be better prepared and more confident in such encounters than was I.