CURRENT STUDENT PERCEPTIONS RELATIVE TO BUSINESS SIMULATIONS Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 CURRENT STUDENT PERCEPTIONS RELATIVE TO BUSINESS SIMULATIONS Joseph N. Roger, Northeastern State University ABSTRACT This study utilizes a survey that presents a series of questions in the form of Liken-like scales in order to determine the effectiveness of The Executive Game from the perspective of the student. A Chi-Square analysis of the data that was collected, along with an index that was calculated to measure the positive, negative, or undecided nature of the group’s response, provides a validation of the effectiveness of business games as effective supplemental tools from the perspective of the student. An analysis of the results suggest that students exposed to The Executive Game as a component of their business degree course work perceive their experience as positive. They vary the strategies that they employ during the game in their efforts to learn and to win. They would recommend such courses to their friends based on what they have learned and would take another course in which the game was utilized to present business concepts. This study concludes that, from the viewpoint of the students involved, the business game is an effective supplemental educational tool. Specifically, this study provides an indication of positive student response to seven areas identified by the literature in which business games may be effective. PROBLEM STATEMENT The intent of the business game is to provide an effective supplemental educational tool. While most of the literature supports the continued use of such simulation games, a small number of researchers have suggested that there is no substantive evidence that games are any more effective than other more traditional forms of education (Buskirk. 1976). For this reason, it may be of interest to, and provide constructive information for, future research to understand the student’s perspective of the business gaming simulation experience. Like most research projects of this type, perhaps its main limitations were due to time and resources. Other limitations included nonrandom convenience sampling, sample size, and the tune lag between the survey administration and the actual game experience of the student. METHODOLOGY Kibbee, Craft, and Nanus suggest validating games used for teaching purposes. One method they discuss involves surveying the players in order to determine their reactions to the game (Watson, 1981). The methodology of this study revolves around such a survey. The population sample was selected by requesting students to complete a questionnaire for the purpose of this research. The requests were limited to those students who were attending classes at a small southern university and who had previously played The Executive Game. Specifically, instructors were asked to distribute and collect the forms in their classes for those students described above who had not previously completed the survey instrument. The instrumentation for this research concerned itself mainly with the seven areas where business games are thought to be effective. In addition, several questions related to demographics were included. The survey was refined by a panel of judges that had previously played the game. Data processing and analysis covered percentage calculations, central tendency measures, and a chi-square analysis for the non- demographic questions. Demographic questions were limited to percentage calculations. Chi-Square was calculated using the appropriate formula: 267 Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning, Volume 24, 1997 The degrees of freedom used in determining the critical chi-square value was determined in the following manner: df=k- 1=4 where k is the number of categories At a .01 level of significance the resulting critical chi- square value was: It should be noted that the overall response to a question, as determined by the preference index described below, could be undecided without the sample response being uniformly distributed. In fact, if the null hypothesis were rejected for any question response and the preference index for that response indicated that the sample group was undecided, this result would not be due to a uniform distribution. It should also be noted that the chi-square goodness-of-fit test resulted in the null-hypothesis being rejected in all cases at the .01 level; therefore, we were 99% confident that the responses to the survey questions were not uniformly distributed. In essence, each response reported by the preference index, whether positive, negative, or undecided, was due to a non-uniform response distribution. The preference index was defined here as a measure of the positive, negative, or undecided nature of the overall response of the sample population to a non-demographic survey question. It was computed based on the values assigned to the Liken scale categories that defined the question response and the frequency of occurrence of the particular responses expressed as a ratio of a totally undecided response. Therefore, its value was relative to undecided: that is, a preference value of one represented an overall undecided response, a preference value greater than one represented an overall positive response, and a preference value less than one represented an overall negative response. The specific values assigned to the categories were as follows: strongly agree 5 agree 4 undecided 3 disagree 2 strongly disagree 1 Therefore, the range of the preference index was: The index was described computationally by the following formula: (category value x frequency of occurrence) /(3 x 36) It should be recognized that this research was limited. Some of its main limitations were due to time and resources. Other limitations included non-random convenience sampling, sample size, and the time lag between the survey administration and the actual game experience of the student. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Student perceptions were positive to all non- demographic questions presented with the exception of question eleven. The negative overall response to this question indicated that students were involved in experimentation and were therefore engaged in the learning process. The positive overall responses to all other questions also tend to validate that the business game is an effective supplemental educational tool. It is recommended that business games continue to be used to supplement course work. Furthermore, it is suggested that additional research might concern itself with similar studies that involve larger sample size, random sample selection, and a comparison of the differences between the preferences reported by graduate and undergraduate students. REFERENCES Available on request 268 Table of Contents Volume 24, 1997 Incorporating Computer Telephony into the MIS Course A Learner Oriented Infrastructure for videoconferencing Based Distance Education Courses The Identification of Temporally Related Structural Elements of the Experiential Component of Electronic Spreadsheet Tasks Does Involvement Influence Learning from Simulation Participation? Some Relationships with Helpfulness and Performance Outcomes Musings on Business Garne Performance Evaluation Performance on a TE Simulation: What does it represent? The Business Policy Game: An International Simulation - An Assessment Tool Students in Free Enterprise as Experiential Learning The Role of Computer Models in Wargames: A Practitioner's view Using Focus Groups as a Tool to Research Learning: A Demonstration and a Discussion Using Medical Simulations to Teach Multi-Cultural Diversity Using the World Game to Internationalize International Exchange Game Community Services Needs Assessment: An Innovative Approach Introducing Students to Potential Total Quality Management Ethical Dilemmas Privacy in the Workplace: A Situational Analysis Antecedents of Learning in Simulations Demonstrating the Learning Effectiveness of Simulation: Where we are and Where we need to go The Use of Computer Simulations as a Pedagogical Aid in Teaching Management Information Systems Evaluating Simulation Learning in a Distant Learning Instructional Model Financial Engineering of Global Investments The Labor History Game: Playing with the Past Perks Participation Assessing Negotiator's Proficiency with a Negotiation role-play The Art of Negotiating Enhancing Learning and Employee Development through the Assessment of Learning Pedagogy Preferences across selected Dimensions of Culture: A Preliminary Investigation Cooperative Learning: What are we Learning? Effective Use of Mastery Based Experiential learning in a Project Course to improve skills in system analysis and Design Simulations and Learning: Can we prove a relationship? (Seminar) Predicting and Reviewing NYSE Stock Prices by use of Basic Statistical Analysis and Logic Toy Car Depreciation Exercise ABSEL as Home Community: An Interactive Exploration Service Learning: Linking Academic Study to Community Development and Business Enhancement Ability of Efficient Evaluation of Knowledge-Based Management Strategies Corporate Ethics Training Programs Modeling Attributes in Demand Functions of Computerized Business Simulations: An Extension of Teach's Gravity Flow Algorithm Expert Systems Combined with Neutral Networks: Tools to Benefit the Marketing Researcher Computer Game Design: New Directions for Intercultural Simulation Game Designers Consistency in Simulation Performance over Time and Across Simulation Games The Impact of an Artificial Market Leader on Simulation Competitor's Strategies Business Plans, Case Studies, and Total Enterprise Simulations: A Natural Co-existence An Exploration into the Non-Use of Business Simulations The Market Game: Interactive Learning Through Market Simulation Plotting Brand Trajectories with the COMPLETE PPM package: A Market Segmentation Analysis and Positioning Tool Me and Mine Inc: An Exercise in Management Theory Learning to Differentiate Leadership from Managerial Position Business Ethics Survey: A Perspective from the Retail Industry Experiential Learning in Demand Analysis for an Agricultural Commodity Marketing on the Internet: A Pedagogical Exercise College Students Need Simple Computer Simulations, Especially for International Business Courses An Analysis of Student Attitudes, Performance, and Strategies in a Simulation Competition Based on a Controlled Product-Market-Entry Game Structure The Crystal Enterprise: Application of a Non-Computerized Simulation Model in a Process of Organizational Change Threshold: A Windows-Based Behaviorally Oriented Total Enterprise Simulation Coaching Business Game Teams Using a Decision Variable Optimizer Rock and Roll is here to Stay: Enhancing Experiential Pedagogy with Musical Exercises An Example of Business Process Analysis Simulation for Customer Software Support The Use of Business Gaming in Hong Kong Academic Institutions Using the Integrative International Simulation INTOPIA Mark 2000 in a Concentrated MBA Curriculum A Group Experience as an Integrated Part of the Core Management Course Empowered Learning in the Classroom The Inter-Group Interaction: An Innovative Approach to Cooperative Learning Courses that Utilize Student Team: An Approach to enhancing their Effectiveness Thoughts about the Measurement of Learning: The Case for Guided Learning and Associated Measurement Issues Measuring Student Learning Using Business Simulations: A Theory Based Perspective On the Use of PC Fingame in an Undergraduate Finance Course How Managers get Things Done: A Virtual Soundbite Internet Experiential learning in the Principals of Marketing Classroom: A Pedagogical Approach Current Student Perceptions Relative to Business Simulations Beyond Capitalism: Designing Business Policy and Social Justice The Use of Boards of Directors to Evaluate Reports and Presentations in an Undergraduate Business Policy Course Beacon Lumber: An Experiential Introduction to Financial Accounting The Application of Organizational Motivation Principles: The Experiential Business Simulation Motus Manufacturing Avoiding a Bogey: Grading Case Discussions Scientifically Communicating Consumer Behavior II: A Modified Exercise Using Personal Consumption Journals in Condensed Courses Designing Instruments for Assessing the Effectiveness of Simulations, (Seminar) 360º Performance Feedback: Appraisal vs. Assessment The Cafeteria Approach to Managing an Academic Career: Remaining Non-Perishable while Doing Your Own Thing An Experiential Exercise Related to Person-Organization Fit and it's Consequences For Today's Dynamic and Changing World, Business Simulations need to be expanded to encompass Much Greater Complexity: A Demonstration The Incident Process: A Case in Reverse Contextually-Anchored Business Simulations The Energy Factor: Building Motivation in the Simulation Gaming Environment The Design of an Internet Game