Well, another week has gone and my Lit Review Outline is in a pretty weird stage: I'm having difficulty figuring out how to open my paper: I think I have a solution though, and I need to talk about it with someone this week.
Anyways, I need to come clean about my feelings this week, so lets get into it before I think too much.
So on thing that I'm feeling really good about is actually choosing the companies that I want to analyze for my research. I figured out that I'm going to look at 5 companies, which essentially compromise the main area that I am planning on looking at: Social Media firms with largely user-based revenue platforms. After cross-referencing two Indexes, the Solactive Social Network and Solactive Social Media Indexes, I found that companies that appeared on both were: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn, and Tencent Holdings. This last company may seem out of the ordinary, but it actually runs WeChat, the largest and basically, only, social media site in China. These companies are very similar to one another, and I think that they are really a logical choice to use within my research.
One thing that I'm feeling a bit eh about is picking the specific valuation models for my research within my method. There are a TON of different papers booing some models and praising others, even in the specific area that I am looking in, so I need to do a lot more work on justifying my choices. Right now, I could possibly consider using what an old study on valuing IPOs did in the late 1900's, but I feel like this might have limitations as well, given that it is really old. Maybe I could combine more modern sources, but generally I don't have the clearest idea of which models I will chose. Ultimately, though I don't think it will be the BIGGEST problem, probably a slightly minor bump.
The biggest problem I have in my research is going to be justifying my analysis method and doing some of the stats in the project. When I read some finance papers, I don't understand certain statistical justifications that they use. Like I saw a word called "endogeneity", and had didn't know what it meant. Luckily now, I know it means being affected by outside factors, or outside influence, but the point is that I must read a few statistics papers before beginning my project. Although this is a lot of work, I'm still sure I can pull it off. The good thing is, though, that I understand most of what the major analysis of the project is about.
Well, that's all folks! Hopefully I'm not in way over my head! (470).
Akash
Anyways, I need to come clean about my feelings this week, so lets get into it before I think too much.
So on thing that I'm feeling really good about is actually choosing the companies that I want to analyze for my research. I figured out that I'm going to look at 5 companies, which essentially compromise the main area that I am planning on looking at: Social Media firms with largely user-based revenue platforms. After cross-referencing two Indexes, the Solactive Social Network and Solactive Social Media Indexes, I found that companies that appeared on both were: Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, LinkedIn, and Tencent Holdings. This last company may seem out of the ordinary, but it actually runs WeChat, the largest and basically, only, social media site in China. These companies are very similar to one another, and I think that they are really a logical choice to use within my research.
One thing that I'm feeling a bit eh about is picking the specific valuation models for my research within my method. There are a TON of different papers booing some models and praising others, even in the specific area that I am looking in, so I need to do a lot more work on justifying my choices. Right now, I could possibly consider using what an old study on valuing IPOs did in the late 1900's, but I feel like this might have limitations as well, given that it is really old. Maybe I could combine more modern sources, but generally I don't have the clearest idea of which models I will chose. Ultimately, though I don't think it will be the BIGGEST problem, probably a slightly minor bump.
The biggest problem I have in my research is going to be justifying my analysis method and doing some of the stats in the project. When I read some finance papers, I don't understand certain statistical justifications that they use. Like I saw a word called "endogeneity", and had didn't know what it meant. Luckily now, I know it means being affected by outside factors, or outside influence, but the point is that I must read a few statistics papers before beginning my project. Although this is a lot of work, I'm still sure I can pull it off. The good thing is, though, that I understand most of what the major analysis of the project is about.
Well, that's all folks! Hopefully I'm not in way over my head! (470).
Akash
Hey Akash!
ReplyDeleteI’m really liking the choice of companies in your research paper! I think that the conclusion that you will draw from your research will hold a great amount of significance in the modern world due to the importance and global presence of these companies. The fact that they are similar to each other makes your research paper so much more interesting.
Regarding the statistics that you fear, I would prioritize your literature review for now. You will have a lot of time in the future to research different methods and how researchers were able to analyze their results. And as always, there will always be a plethora of teachers and professors available in and out of BASIS to help you with the math in your paper. The same thing goes for your choice of valuation models; you will be spending much time looking into that in the future.
Just make sure that the definitions in your paper are super clear to your readers! Hope that you don’t get too worried about your research!
(175)
Hi Akash,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Rema. You should feel really confident about the companies you chose, you managed to have breadth and significance with the ones you did. In terms, of what you feel "meh" about, I think it's probably best to approach it from a combination of more modern sources and pointing out the limitations and benefits of older sources. I think because so many exist out there, you will be able to find one, albeit maybe not the best holistically but the best out of all the options that are out there. In terms, of your method, I am totally with you there with freaking out about how to do it. But again, I agree with Rema that we have a lot of time to figure it out. And the better and more detailed the literature review is and how closely we read our sources, we will start to get ideas for a method. And if we don't, we can always talk about our mentors and our teachers. I don't think it is even close to being impossible, it just requires a lot of time and thinking, which we have which is good. I think we will be fine???
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Akash, I want to give you the same advice I gave Sunskruthi: perhaps it's time that we start thinking about reaching out to someone to be a mentor. I know you said you'd worked with a professor, and if that's the case, you should start contacting this person to gain clarity and vision.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the controversy surrounding different valuation methods will allow for rich conversation. But, again, I think it may be helpful to get input on how to look at some over the other. An expert can provide this feedback.
Finally, for sure include modern sources for valuation methods. Antiquated methods are not relevant and therefore not significant. I think. Unless you're trying to prove that dismissing them was wrong? IDK. Again, expert opinion would be nice.