MV2 Background

Round Two...(Updated 01/22/2007 02:12 PM)

"I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it."

--Morpheus (The Matrix)

Project Background

As mentioned in class, I have a working hypothesis that decision makers will be more effective (however that's defined) if they possess high levels of 'financial market awareness.' Financial market awareness means being able to make sense of the data that define the market environment--kind of like being able to interpret that streaming computer code in The Matrix!

Three years ago my Wall Street friend Todd Harrison created a website, Minyanville, as a platform for helping people to develop better financial market awareness. Because Toddo has a keen interest in developing strong ties between business schools like ours and Minyanville, he's graciously opened the Minyanville website for some research projects here at NKU.

The current Fall 2005 project builds on a research project done last spring. Last spring, we wanted to know whether students who were exposed to Minyanville content exhibited higher measured financial market awareness than students who weren't exposed to Minyanville. Our findings suggested that, indeed there was a statistically significant 'Minyanville effect.' Such findings are encouraging and suggest that students may be able to develop financial market awareness through 'vicarious learning.' Vicarious learning basically means learning by observing others (if you've ever 'shadowed' someone around while training for a new job, you were learning vicariously). In our MV research, vicarious learning is proposed to occur when students, while reading Minyanville content, observe the thought processes of financial market experts who contribute commentary on the site. Over time, the hypothesis goes, students should adapt similar thought processes and gain capability for making sense of financial market environments.

While our initial results were encouraging, our project was plagued by some problems (no research project is perfect!). On average, students assigned to the MV group spent only one hr/wk at the site over a six week period. A total of 6 hrs of website exposure isn't all that much. What if students were exposed to the site for a longer time period? Another problem related to deciphering the jargon used by financial market experts. Many students complained that reading MV content was like reading a foreign language. Plus, they didn't know which part of the MV website to focus on. What if students received more guidance during their early exposure period?

Research Questions

Our research questions basically flow from these issues:

How much financial market awareness can we expect students to develop if their exposure time is increased to at least one hour per week for nearly an entire semester?
Can we improve student learning by providing some guidance--i.e., structure to enhance learning particularly during the awkward early exposure period?
Given the design of this experiment, can we detect an 'inflection point' where learning really takes off?

Here's the Deal...

The time period of this project will be from mid September till early December (the last week of the semester). If you'd like to participate in this project, here are the basic terms. Participants will receive:

10 points of extra credit to be applied to the final exam.
Approximately 3 months of exposure to a novel financial education and learning technology

In exchange, you'll be expected to do the following:

Avail yourselves to up to four questionnaires designed to measure your 'financial market awareness' at various points during the experimental period.
Commit to at least 1 hr/week of reading Minyanville content over the period of the experiment.
Complete a log of your activities to be submitted end of project.

If you initially participate but decide at some point during the semester to bow out, that's ok. However, you'll receive the extra credit only if you 'make it thru to the other side' and satisfy the entire commitment outlined above.

Please contact me with any questions...thx!