final report repurposing project

Date: April 25, 2016To: Tomie Gowdy-Burke

Professor in the English DepartmentWashington State University (WSU) Pullman Campus

From: Alex Glidden, Undergraduate Accounting Student at WSU, Team LeaderRyan Paauw, Undergraduate Accounting/Information Systems Student at WSUDevon Ehlert, Undergraduate Finance Student at WSUAntoine Jones, Undergraduate Information Systems Student at WSU

Subject: Recommendation Report for the Textbook Program at WSU

Attached is the report regarding our team’s evaluation of various textbook programs, “Choosing the Most Cost Beneficial Option in Obtaining Course Required Materials at Washington State University (WSU): A Recommendation Report.” We completed the tasks set forth in the proposal of February 24, 2016: to gain a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the student body regarding the cost of textbooks and the on-campus bookstore, and gather information regarding the cost of textbooks for business majors through the following outlets: the WSU on-campus bookstore, Amazon, and Chegg from freshman to senior year.

To carry out these tasks, our primary research consisted of a survey, which was implemented to gain insight on the thoughts and feelings the current student body has regarding the costs of textbooks and the on-campus bookstore; and gathering raw data from the websites of each outlet listed in the preceding paragraph and then performing various data analytic strategies. Secondary research consisted of reviewing similar studies done at other universities.

Some significant findings from the research were that the overwhelming majority (>50%) of the current student body sampled hold negative connotations regarding the on-campus bookstore and were ultimately unaware of the potential cost savings through Amazon and Chegg. Also, Amazon consistently had lower textbook costs and over the course of four years a student could save an average of around $1000.

Our recommendation is take the advantage of the potential cost savings by purchasing the majority, if not all the required textbooks from Amazon. While ordering books for class is nobody’s favorite thing to do, we encourage everyone to take the time to use the information from the research we provide to give yourself the best opportunity to reap the possible savings.

As a team, we would like to extend our appreciation for the advice and guidance that you have provided throughout this process. It has given us the ability to not only collect the most relevant data, but also present that information in a professional manner. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the team leader, Alex Glidden, at [email protected]. Thank you for taking the time to read this report.

mailto:[email protected]

Choosing the Most Cost-Beneficial Option in Obtaining Required Course Materials at Washington State University:

A Recommendation Report

Prepared for: The Student Body, Families, and Professor,All Class Levels

Washington State University (WSU)

Prepared by:Alexander Glidden, Undergraduate Accounting Major Ryan Paauw, Undergraduate Accounting/Information Systems Major

Devon Ehlert, Undergraduate Finance MajorAntoine Jones, Undergraduate Information Systems Major

April 25, 2016

Table of Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………...…1

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………...2

Research Methods………………………………………………………………………………..4

Audience Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………..4

Design Development………………………………………………………………………………..4

Usability Test……………………………………………………………………………………..5

Results.............................................................................................................................................6

Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………….7

Students’ thoughts and feelings concerning the current WSU textbook program.…………........8

The meaning of the cost data comparisons..……………………………………………………..8

Recommendation………………………………………………………………………………...8

References………………………………………………………………………………………..9

Appendix A: First Draft of Pamphlet…………………………………………………………10

Appendix B: Usability Test…………………………………………………………………….11

Appendix C: Final Product………………………………………………..…………………...12

Executive Summary

The problem this report covers is whether the Washington State University (WSU) textbook program is the most cost beneficial to its students when compared to other outlets in obtaining textbooks. I was assigned a team for the task of presenting our findings and any recommendations we have to our primary audience, the students.

A key issue within the WSU textbook program is the current rental program available. The current rental program does not offer all of the textbooks required (in any given semester) by students with the rental option. When this occurs, students are then only given the option to purchase the textbook(s) at full price, either new, used, or electronically through the university’s website, however the used and electronic option isn’t always available. The university bookstore does not acknowledge or offer any sort of insight about alternative companies to rent or purchase the material from on their website; even through well known companies that offer such services, such as Amazon or Chegg.

To explore this problem, I first had to narrow my topic from looking at the cost of all majors to specifically examining business majors. I was then able to conduct my cost research and being gathering data. For this research, I gathered information regarding the cost of textbooks for business majors through the WSU on-campus bookstore, Amazon, and Chegg from freshman to senior year. After gathering all the relevant cost data, I implemented a survey to better understand the thoughts and feelings of the student body regarding the cost of textbooks and the on-campus bookstore. Once all the pertinent data was collected, the team then had to repurpose the information and our findings into a final product to be distributed to our primary audience.

As a team, Ryan Paauw, Antoine Jones, Devon Ehlert, and myself set out to create a pamphlet containing only the most relevant information to students. The team’s goal throughout this project has been to provide fellow students with all the information necessary to make an informed decision in purchasing textbooks and ultimately help them in saving money. As current students, we feel deeply rooted in this problem in regards to the overall lack of knowledge in choosing the most cost-beneficial avenue in purchasing textbooks.

Some significant findings the research illustrated were that the overwhelming majority (>50%) of the current student body sampled hold negative connotations regarding the on-campus bookstore and were ultimately unaware of the potential cost savings through Amazon and Chegg.


Introduction

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The problem I conducted my research on is whether the Washington State University (WSU) textbook program is the most cost beneficial to its students when compared to other outlets in obtaining textbooks. The reality of the matter is that textbooks are becoming increasingly more expensive (through university book stores especially) carrying an extra financial burden to the students and their families (Popken 1). A key issue within the WSU textbook program is the current rental program available. The current rental program does not offer all of the textbooks required (in any given semester) by students with the rental option. When this occurs, students are then only given the option to purchase the textbook(s) at full price, either new, used, or electronically through the university’s website, however the used and electronic option isn’t always available. The university book store does not acknowledge or offer any insight of alternative companies to rent or purchase the material from on their website; even through well known companies that offer such services, such as Amazon or Chegg. A direct consequence is that an increasing number of students cannot afford the cost of the required materials for their various courses and do not know of the alternatives. This results in the students having to either borrow a larger amount of money, which pushes them further into student-loan debt, or not buy the materials at all and then attempting to succeed in classes without them.

To explore this problem, I first had to narrow my topic from looking at the cost of all majors to specifically examining business majors. I was then able to conduct my cost research and being gathering data. For this research, I gathered information regarding the cost of textbooks for business majors through the WSU on-campus bookstore, Amazon, and Chegg from freshman to senior year. After gathering all the relevant cost data, I implemented a survey to better understand the thoughts and feelings of the student body regarding the cost of textbooks and the on-campus bookstore. The cost research and survey implementation were the sources of my primary research and allowed my team to draw strong conclusions based on the results. Secondary research consisted of reading similar studies done at schools across the nation, specifically one that was conducted at the University of Michigan. Doing so allows the reader put this problem into perspective at a national level, rather than purely a local, WSU perspective.

Once all the pertinent data was collected, the information then had to be repurposed to a final product to be distributed to my primary audience. As a team, Ryan Paauw, Antoine Jones, Devon Ehlert, and myself set out to create a pamphlet containing only the most relevant information to students. This consisted of further analyzing the data I already had gathered and choosing only the most pertinent information that would best represent the results of the research. This pamphlet can be found in the appendices of this report.

The team’s goal throughout this project has been to provide fellow students with all the information necessary to make an informed decision in purchasing textbooks and ultimately help

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them save money. As current students, we feel deeply rooted in this problem in regards to the overall lack of knowledge in choosing the most cost-beneficial avenue in purchasing textbooks.

Some significant findings the research illustrated were that the overwhelming majority (>50%) of the current student body sampled hold negative connotations regarding the on-campus bookstore and were ultimately unaware of the potential cost savings through Amazon and Chegg. Also, Amazon consistently had lower textbook costs and over the course of four years a student could save an average of around $1000.


The remainder of this report will outline the research methods used in this project, the results of the research, along with the team’s conclusions and recommendations. References will be provided and our final product along with the usability test can be found in the appendices.

Research Methods

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To begin the process of repurposing this information, the group divided up the process into the following: audience analysis, design development, and the usability test and its results.

Audience AnalysisThe primary target audience for the repurposed product are the students enrolled in a business major, their families, professors, and the Bookie (on-campus bookstore) of Washington State University. This audience was chosen because the benefits of the research relates to the student population and their families. It allows for students and families the opportunity to use the information provided and take part in the potential cost savings. The professors can easily present the data from the research during syllabus week directly to their students, which can allow for more students to be able to purchase the required materials.

A secondary target audience may be the managers of the on campus bookstore because the information displayed in the pamphlet provided to students will bring light to the inflated prices of on campus books. This in turn may pressure them to lower prices as they realize they have other markets to compete with, especially if they see their profit margin decreasing rapidly.

Design DevelopmentOur goal was to present a pamphlet that delivered only the most relevant information from the original research conducted. Some initial concerns regarding the design of the product included determining what information would be the most beneficial to students and organizing that information in a way that displays it in an unbiased fashion, focusing on simply presenting the facts from our research.

The elements of the pamphlet’s design came from Williams’ four principals of professional design (Markel 251-252). In satisfying the principle of proximity we separated the pamphlet in sections for each class level and included the corresponding information. For the last page of the pamphlet we created a border around all the information regarding average costs of senior year before presenting the four-year averages. Any graphs presented are easily identifiable at the end of their corresponding section. Doing this ensures that the reader would be able to easily identify the information and its corresponding section. The alignment of the information consisted of centering and bolding the section titles, then presenting a short written description of the facts to be presented, then presenting the facts centered underneath their corresponding descriptions, and then the graph was included at the end of each section, centered similar to the section title. This format was repeated in the freshman-senior sections of the pamphlet to avoid confusing or distracting the reader. To achieve acceptable contrast levels, we wanted to the pamphlet to be as simple as possible. This was done by using a white background with black text to ensure the information is easy to read. Also by using a white background, the costs of producing this product are kept minimal as not a lot of color ink must be used in printing the pamphlet.

Usability Test

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In determining the extent this product was usable for our target audience, we set out to get opinions of friends and fellow students regarding the presentation of the information. We wanted to determine if the information was presented in way that was easily understood, if the pamphlet seemed cluttered, and if the conclusions were clear and concise. We developed questions (outlined in Appendix B) to conduct this test.

Results

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The initial pamphlet design was a good starting point in developing the final product. The subject of our project was widely appreciated and we were able to gather some valuable feedback.

From our usability test we discovered that our overall organization of the information was received very well, however the way we presented our cost comparison was a little confusing. After receiving the feedback, we critiqued the formula for how we compared the different costs. We originally presented the savings comparison from choosing either Amazon or Chegg as a percentage of the WSU cost. We critiqued this by presenting the estimated cost for a single textbook and the total cost at each class level for WSU, Amazon, and Chegg. In doing so, the information was received much better and we were told the information was much easier to understand. The feedback also revealed that our peers felt the organization of the pamphlet did not seemed cluttered, which allowed the reader to understand completely the conclusions we drew from our research. Besides these main issues, all that needed to be done with the main pamphlet was some restructuring and formatting.

Conclusions

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Presented in this section will be our conclusions derived from the research conducted and the team’s analysis of the data. Students’ thoughts and feelings concerning the current WSU textbook programThe survey was a successful tool in discovering the opinions of a group of current students. The responses to it allows me to the draw the following conclusion. Students have a negative opinion about the textbook program shown through the 83% majority of students surveyed that said they bought the material from the on-campus bookstore and 68% saying they will not participate in the buy-back program at the end of the semester. Students also don’t think they receive a fair amount for the textbooks when sold back to the campus bookstore. The meaning of the cost data comparisonsThe data illustrates the most beneficial route as being purchase the most required material possible from Amazon. Even if the class requires a custom WSU book, I calculated my data by using a combination of purchasing materials through both the campus book store for the custom material and the remaining material from Amazon. It still provides the greatest savings or about $1000 over the course of earning an accounting degree.

Recommendations

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Our recommendation is to take the advantage of the cost saving opportunity presented in our research by purchasing the majority, if not all the required textbooks from Amazon. While ordering books for upcoming classes is nobody’s favorite thing to do, we encourage everyone to take the time to use the information from the research we provide to give yourself the best opportunity to reap the possible savings. Even if a course requires a custom textbook that must be purchased from the on-campus bookstore, we still encourage students to obtain all the remaining materials through Amazon because a combination of purchasing from the on-campus bookstore and Amazon is still cheaper than going solely through the on-campus bookstore.

We recommend that students take advantage of the studies we have provided and that teacher’s aid students with the allocation of this information by distributing our product at the beginning of every course they teach. Professors always have a syllabus with the recommended and required textbooks used for the course, and often students are given a hard copy of this syllabus. Our product would be attached to the syllabus, being a very easy and effective way to get the information out the the current business students. What makes our product extremely usable is that it can be accessed online as well. If a professor doesn’t hand out a syllabus, they would have posted it online and our pamphlet could easily be attached that way as well. We recommend this as it is the prime time that students are going to be purchasing their textbooks and it clearly shows that using alternative websites is cheaper than purchasing through the on-campus bookstore. This solves the problem that students face spending extreme amounts on textbooks, with the knowledge we have provided them they can decide whether they want to buy from cheaper alternatives or to continue purchasing their texts through the Bookie. We also recommend that this information be presented in a way that does not seem to discredit the on campus bookstore as a place to buy materials or harm its reputation as such. We are simply providing information that will aid students in saving money, if this information is presented in a negative light towards the on campus bookstore, the University may elect to have the pamphlet removed from everything WSU related.

For future use of this pamphlet we recommend that each year the data is updated. We have studied specifically business students, broken down into their classes (freshmen, etc.) and looked at the basic business courses and the textbooks that each require. If this pamphlet were to be used in years to come the data would have to be up to date to that specific year, sometimes the university changes the classes required to receive a business degree and sometimes the professors or individual courses change the required texts. The overall outline of the pamphlet could stay the same but in order for the research to be credible the data would need to be analyzed yearly. Not only can the university and professors vary the results but also the prices offered by university's on-campus bookstore and those of amazon and chegg. One can assume that the difference of one year won’t be much but to make sure that the allocated information is correct, the data should be updated every academic year. Updating the information each year may also require looking into other sources for buying textbooks, as new stores may emerge in the coming years. As the updates are made it may also be necessary for professors to custom tailor the information so it pertains to their specific emphasis of study.

References

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Natsuko, Nicholls H. "Demographic Data on Textbooks and Usage Statistics: Implications for Textbook Cost-saving Analysis." June 2012. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.lib.umich.edu/files/Cost-Analysis-Student-Survey.pdf O'Rourke, John. "Textbooks: Rent, Buy, or Ebook It? | BU Today | Boston University." BU Today RSS. N.p., 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/textbooks-rent-buy-or-ebook-it/>. Popken, Ben. "College Textbook Prices Have Risen 1,041 Percent Since 1977." NBC News. N.p., 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman-year/college-textbook-prices-have-risen-812-percent-1978-n399926>.

Markel, M. (2016). Designing Print and Online Documents. In Technical Communication (11th ed., pp. 251-252). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's. Washington State University Edition

Appendix A: First draft of product

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Appendix B: Usability Test Questions

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In this section we present the questions asked to our peers to determine our usability of the product. The test consisted of the following questions:

Would recommend the product to a friend?

Did the pamphlet influence the decision to buy textbooks elsewhere other than the bookie?

Would you try this product in the future?

Did you find this product useful?

Did the pamphlet alter your opinion of the bookie’s prices?

Do you have any recommendations to improve the document?

Appendix C

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In this section you will find our repurposed product. This is not the actual size of the pamphlet—it was condensed to fit within this document.

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