This assignment provides insight into Internet distribution and the workings of Revenue Management. It’s also a chance to complete a small (very small) research project. The project includes these steps:
Provide the context for the study. The research question and hypothesis should flow from your understanding of airline industry competition and pricing. Explain the situation chosen and place the research question within this context.
Develop a research question and hypothesis about airline pricing. Several research questions are listed below and you may choose one of these or develop one of your own. The research question must be one that can be answered by collecting pricing data. The hypothesis is your specific prediction that the data will confirm or refute. This prediction will usually be based on the airline’s price response to competition and the operation of revenue management systems.
Next explain how you will answer your question (what markets are chosen, what are the dates of travel, what is the means of finding the price data).
Then conduct the research and obtain ticket prices and present your data (ticket prices). Pricing data is often best presented in a table.
Finally, draw conclusions. Explain whether the hypothesis was supported or rejected. In your conclusions, you should speculate (hypothesize) about the market forces and reasons for your findings employing concepts from the course. Those involved in the Graduate Capstone Project will recognize this process. It’s the basic format for all research.
The instructions below are also available as a document you can download:
