EXPERIMENT

Consumer Equilibrium

Post date: Feb 19, 2017

What you NEED to do to become a SCHOLAR - the outcome of an experiment carried out in the department.

UNILAGED Administrators felt concerned about the academic performances of the students in the department, so we decided to take it up. We concluded on proposing 3 theories to the department with valid evidence reinforced by accurate data collected from randomly selected scholars in each class of the department. The respective aims of the 3 theories are:

1. to get the minimum number of hours per day that the average economics student needs for reading to earn first-class honours.

2. to know how the average economics student should rank his preference on what to read.

3. to get the equilibrium reading combination in terms of the number of hours that the average economics student need have, alternating between Lecturers' Lesson and 'Personal academic development' (Non-Lecturers' Lesson), given a constraint of the average number of hours needed for reading per day.

OUR ANALYSIS

First, we state the Assumptions of our Theories:

The Average Economics Student ...

Assumption 1:

is medically fit and healthy, sleeping and eating on time;

Assumption 2:

attends at least 70% of the classes, listens audibly to the Lecturer and writes notes accurately;

Assumption 3:

does assignments at least 2 days before submission;

Assumption 4:

writes tests and does a revision before every exam.

QUESTIONNAIRE FILLED BY SCHOLAR 'A'

THEORY 1

to get the minimum number of hours per day that the average economics student needs for reading to earn first-class honours.

We prepared a questionnaire, 24 copies; 8 copies for 8 randomly selected first class students in each class i.e. scholars in year 2, 3 and 4. Number 1 question on it asks the scholars on the average number of hours they read books related to their study of Economics per day. We got 17 responses out of the 24 randomly selected. We simply added the figures altogether and averaged the total by 17 — MEAN, our answer is 4.94. But for the sample data of 8 scholars in year 3, the average is 4.25 (4 hours 15 minutes).

Definition

Each alphabet represents a scholar.
A scholar in this analysis is a student on First-class.

From the analysis above it shows that the minimum number of hours per day that the average economics student needs for reading to earn a first-class honours is 4 hrs 15mins.

THEORY 2

to know how the average economics student should rank his preference on what to read.

In the number 2 of our questionnaire, we first created a list of items, materials, and activities, that relate directly to the Lecturers' Lesson (LL), in one category, and, in another category, another list of items that are more of personal academic development outside the lecturers' lessons, we named this Non-Lecturers' Lesson (NL).

Then we ask the scholars to cancel out any material or activity in each list that they don't use or do. Also, we ask them to include items (material or activity) in each of the categories if they have any.

In number 3 we asked them to rank the items in each category according to their importance. Some had a total of 3, 4 or 5 items listed in each category, therefore, to have an accurate ranking of pure numbers, i.e. numbers independent of the total items in each category, we scaled each ranking on 5: for example, for a category of 3 items, we first divide 5 by 3, then multiply the result by the number that represents the importance of each item.

In each category, we added up the results of the importance of each item of each response gotten, and presented the totals it a chart (BAR CHART).

From the chart, it shows that the average economics student should rank his preference on what to read by giving the most preference to LECTURER'S TEXTBOOK; WRITTEN NOTES should be next preferred; then PAST QUESTIONS; then PAST NOTEBOOKS; then ONLINE RESOURCE; and finally JOTTINGS, in the LL category.

He should also prefer RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS the most; then RELEVANT TEXTBOOKS; then PERSONALS; then ONLINE MATERIALS; and finally GROUP DISCUSSION, in the NL category.

THEORY 3:

to get the equilibrium reading combination in terms of the number of hours that the average economics student need have, alternating between Lecturers' Lesson and 'Personal Academic Development' (Non-Lecturers' Lesson), given a constraint of the average number of hours needed for reading per day.

Here we selected 8 students from the mid-class, 300L. In number 4 of the questionnaire, we ask them to divide their average reading time between the two categories, LL & NL. We took this as their first reading combination.

In question 5, we marked the reading combination derived in number 4 on the graph, drew up a vertical and horizontal straight line across it unto the ends of the graph, then shaded the diagonals. We then asked the 8 scholars to tell us 2 other reading combinations, one in each shaded part of the graph, that would leave the equally satisfied as their first reading combination provided in question 4. Through this process, we derived their Indifference Curve showing the reading combinations that give equal satisfaction to the scholars.

Original Table (Actual data collected):

we scaled each figure in the Original Table by the average in their set, for example, we divided the average derived in the Yellow Set (5.75) by the total of the first column in the Yellow Set (2.00 + 4.00 = 6), then we multiplied the result by each figure in this first roll (0.97 × 2 = 1.92 & 0.97 × 2 = 3.83). These new results make our new table:

New Table (Scaled on the average of their respective set):

We summed up each roll of each set, and the averages become the coordinates of our Scholars' Indifference Curve.

The effect of this scaling can be seen when you compare the Scholars' Indifference Curve above with the Un-scaled Indifference Curve below.

THE EQUILIBRIUM

The average derived from number 1 questions of the questionnaire of these 8 scholars become our budget line.

Our Equilibrium from the graph below is 2.75 LL and 1.50 NL (Point of interception)

From this analysis, it shows that reading items in the LL category for 2hrs 45mins, and items in the NL category for 1hr 30mins is the equilibrium reading combination that the average economics student need have to earn a first-class honours, alternating between 'Lecturers' Lesson' and 'Personal Academic Development' (Non-Lecturers' Lesson), given a constraint of 4hrs 15mins needed for reading per day.

To take a look at the full analysis, download the excel file here. The password to open is 'unilaged'.

NB:

1. The theories proposed are about helping the average economics student earn a first-class honours, they DO NOT assure 'SUCCESS' in the real world neither do they assure 'EXCELLENCE' in career.

2. The average number of hours recommended in the first theory is the average of the observations received from Scholars in the department. THIS IS NOT NECESSARYLY what you might need as the rate of assimilation and IQ differ from one student to another: The Scholar 'M' in our analysis is a first-class student in 200 Level who reads 1 hour per day, and of course, there are students who read for more hours but are not on the first-class.

3. We advise students to consider this analysis as just 'relevant and helpful'. Do not take it with all rigidity, as there are excesses and underestimations that MAY prove it inaccurate. Plus, there are certainly other factors that determine 'having a first-class honours' that are not considered in this analysis.

THE 3 THEORIES PROPOSED ABOVE HAVE BEEN CHECKED AND APPROVED BY THE 2017 NESA PRESIDENT, WOLE OLATUYI:

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