Frequently Asked Questions from Scholars about WCAI Research Opportunities

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1 Frequently Asked Questions from Scholars about WCAI Research Opportunities How do I find out about WCAI Research Opportunities? WCAI Research Opportunities are broadcast via a live webinar that allows scholars to learn about the research problem directly from the corporate partner sponsoring the project, get an understanding of what data are available to investigate the problem and ask questions. Webinars are announced by e- mail to all scholars who have signed up for the WCAI mailing list. (See the Contact Us page to signup). Research Opportunities may also be posted to mailing lists that target scholars such as ELMAR, INFORMS section listservs, and AmStat news, as well as other online communities that are likely to find the particular Research Opportunity appealing. If I can t make it to the webinar, can I still submit a proposal? Absolutely! All webinars are archived on our Research Page, so that you can view the webinar at your convenience. The archive is typically posted 1-2 days after the webinar. When are proposals due? Proposals are typically due two weeks after the webinar. A specific due date will be given in each webinar broadcast. We are sorry, but we cannot accept proposals after the due date unless arrangements are made in advance. Is there a typical length and format for the proposals? Why such a short time between the webinar and the proposal due date? Our objective is to move quickly, keeping the process as efficient as possible for both the proposers and the reviewers. We have a strict limit of 2,000 words - keep it short and sweet. Simply provide us with a pdf document that tells us 1) what you intend to do, 2) how the research will contribute to the academic literature and 3) why you think it will be valuable to the corporate partner. We also ask that you include a rough estimate of how long the project will take and explain who the members of the team are and why they are well-qualified to pursue the Research Opportunity. To make sure we can get in touch with you, we also ask that you list the names, affiliations and addresses for all members of the team at the top of the proposal and please designate one of the researchers as the corresponding author. We also ask that you give your proposal a descriptive title that we can post to our website, if your proposal is successful. In addition to your written proposal, we ask all teams to provide us with one slide describing your work at a managerial-level. The goal for this slide is to give the corporate sponsor an easy-to-understand, visual summary of your research project, similar in spirit to the NSF Discoveries reports ( We have found that communicating the project goals at this managerial travelers patients contributors attendees readers subscribers buyers clients visitors guests customers 1

2 level helps the corporate partner understand the projects better and generates enthusiasm and support for the project going forward. Our preferred format is PowerPoint and a template can be downloaded from our website. I m interested in data set from one of the past Research Opportunities. Can I get access? We re sorry, but we do not accept proposals for access to the data after the proposal due date. Our goal is to launch 6-8 high-quality research projects as quickly as possible after the data is announced. Since proposals are evaluated competitively, it would be unfair to consider proposals after the initial set of awardees is selected. However, one year after the data is initially awarded, we do make the data available to other scholars. To gain access to a retired data set, researchers must submit a proposal, which will be reviewed by the corporate partner and WCAI for academic and practical merit. Proposals for replication or extensions are encouraged. You can submit a proposal for access to a retired data set here. Is there funding associated with a Research Opportunity? Generally, there is no funding associated with a Research Opportunity, but if you have a specific need for funding directly related to the Research Opportunity, please let us know and we will consider it. (Please note that we do not provide funding for salaries, fellowships or computer equipment.) We are also happy to work with a team that plans to apply to other funding sources to pursue the Research Opportunity. Who evaluates the proposals? Proposals are evaluated jointly by the corporate partner who is co-sponsoring the Research Opportunity, staff and faculty of WCAI (Eric Bradlow, Pete Fader and Elea McDonnell Feit) and one or two members of our Research Council. If there are a substantial number of submissions that involve methods outside WCAI s core expertise, we may also invite scholars from outside of WCAI to review the proposals. The specific evaluation committee for each proposal will be included in the Research Opportunity announcement. Will the data be made available to multiple teams or is it just being given to one? For each Research Opportunity, we intend to award the data to a small number of teams. When we award data to multiple teams, we carefully consider the overlap between proposals and will only award the data to multiple teams if they appear to be going in substantially different directions. For example, we might choose one proposal that represents the most promising "standard" approach and then several riskier, more novel approaches. We also consider whether the teams are likely to target different publication outlets. Our goal is to avoid situations where two teams submit very similar papers to the same journal at the same time. travelers patients contributors attendees readers subscribers buyers clients visitors guests customers 2

3 If WCAI awards the Research Opportunity to more than one group will each group receive the same data? Yes, each team will receive the same data. Any updates made to the data during the course of the projects (e.g., if a data error is discovered or if additional data is provided at the request of one team) will be make available to all teams. How do I know that the data are going to be good? What if the data described in the Research Opportunity aren t exactly what I need? When WCAI develops a Research Opportunity with a corporate partner, we try to assemble a dataset that will provide as much information as possible that is relevant to a particular problem and then describe that data to you in the webinar. The webinar slides will typically describe the structure of the data and the names of all the key fields included in the data. We also try to give summary statistics on the data so that you can get a sense of the variation that is in the data and think about what types of models the data might support. In many cases, limitations of the corporate partner s business model or their computer systems make it impossible to get certain types of data that might be relevant to the problem and so there might be fields that you would like that are not included in the data. We encourage you to ask questions during the webinar, so that you can hear directly from the company why certain types of data may not be available. However, occasionally, we may have simply overlooked relevant data that may be available. If you feel there is an important piece of information that would make for a much richer model and better solution to the problem, feel free to ask for that data in your proposal, making an argument for why those data are critical to the problem. We suggest that you describe what you would do using just the data provided in the webinar and then explain what additional data you would like and how that could be used to generate additional insights. In some cases, the company may be able to provide the additional data or, if they do not have that data today, your proposal may persuade them to develop the systems necessary to collect that data and provide it to you. If you plan to do this, we suggest you discuss it with the WCAI, prior to submitting your proposal. What are my obligations if I am awarded the data? First and foremost, we want you to do great research! While there are a few meetings and teleconferences that we ask you to be involved in, our intention is that these events will help you understand the data, spark new ideas and support your research. To that end, we ask that at least one member of each team attend two teleconferences with the corporate partner during the course of the project during which you will have the opportunity to ask questions about the data. We will also ask corresponding authors for quarterly status updates on the project. (A two-sentence is fine!) At the end of the project, we ask that you submit any working papers that result from the project to the WCAI Research Paper Series via SSRN and provide a revision of the slide which describes the project at a managerial level. travelers patients contributors attendees readers subscribers buyers clients visitors guests customers 3

4 Am I required to provide a report to the corporate partner? Are there any deadlines for finishing my project? About one year after the project launches, we will organize an symposium where you will have the opportunity to present your research to the corporate partner. Because the other teams who have been working on the data are also at the symposium to present their work, this tends to be a lively and interesting event. This symposium is held either at The Wharton School in Philadelphia, at the corporate partner s site, or remotely. How is a WCAI Research Opportunity different from a consulting engagement? WCAI corporate partners are interested in novel approaches to customer analytics. As we work with a corporate partner to develop the Research Opportunity, we encourage them to bring forward their most fundamental and critical problems problems that they are afraid would be too challenging for even the best analytics vendors. We work hard to help them understand that while academic projects tackle the most challenging problems, they generally take longer and the outcome is less predictable. In general, our corporate partners do not expect the same short timelines or frequent status updates that they might get from a supplier. We do, however, want corporate partners to share in the learning throughout the research and we do want to share key findings with the partners when the paper is complete. Can I augment the data provided with my own external data or lab experiments? Yes, absolutely! Proposals for this type of work are generally evaluated favorably. Just describe your plans in your proposal. Can I drop out if the data turns out to be ill suited for my project or if my research plans change? We understand that research is a risky endeavor and things don t always work out as planned. Any research team may drop out at any time for any reason. To formally drop out, please provide us with a one-page explanation of what you have done to date and why you have decided not to pursue the project further. What if there is an activity that I want to do with the corporate partner during the research project, for example interviews with senior management or field experiments on the corporate partners website? This may be possible. We suggest you describe what you would like to do in the proposal, making a case for why the company should invest the time and resources necessary to do what you are asking. The company can then evaluate your proposal and make a decision. It may be helpful to discuss this with WCAI, prior to submitting your proposal. How will I get the data? After the team(s) is selected to pursue the opportunity, we ask that everyone on the selected team sign a standard data sharing agreement that outlines how the data may be used. (The agreement always allows for publication of research findings based on the data, but may restrict researchers from using the data for other uses such as teaching.) After that agreement is signed, the data will be provided to travelers patients contributors attendees readers subscribers buyers clients visitors guests customers 4

5 researchers, typically in delimited text files. WCAI also develops a standard data key for every data set and we do our best to make it easy to find your way around the data. What should I do if I have questions that aren t answered here? Additional questions can be ed to the WCAI Research at wcai-research@wharton.upenn.edu. travelers patients contributors attendees readers subscribers buyers clients visitors guests customers 5