RESEARCH & TEACHING TOOLS
During his time as a researcher, Winchester has had the unique challenge of custom building research tools to better enable multiple studies of his and his coauthors. Primarily, he has built a Zoom Transcript Analysis Excel Tool and the Carlson Studios Team Simulation. Details of what each of these tools can do and how you may be able to use them to benefit your research are noted below.
Zoom Transcript Analysis Excel Tool
This tool (which can be downloaded for use in Microsoft Excel) uses transcripts auto-created by Zoom to provide you with three key metrics for teams ranging from 3 to 5 participants:
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Proportion of time speaking
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Average speaking length
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Emotion used when speaking
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Instructions to use the tool are located on the first tab (i.e., "Start Here (INT)").
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Carlson Studios Team Simulation
The Carlson Studios simulation hosts teams of 4 students in an imagined Hollywood movie studio. Each member within the team will acquire a specific role within their teams. These roles and positions will come with varying degrees of information and responsibilities. Each role contributes differently to team decision making processes and dynamics. There are 4 roles including President, VP of Marketing, VP of Industry Research, and VP of Talent Appraisal. Through a combination of shared information (i.e., that all members have) and role-specific knowledge shared with each member, the teams will roleplay throughout the simulation to collectively maximize their profits over 3 separate decision rounds (i.e., “years”). Teammates will debate over the merits of each script, set of actors, and directors, determine which movies to produce/greenlight, determine how to spend their $150 million budget each year, and allocate marketing dollars for their selection. The ultimate goal is to earn the most profit for their production company, Carlson Studios, which is a sum of their profit each round. After each decision year, groups will receive feedback in the form of how much profit they were able to generate as well as movie specific profit margins. Over the decision rounds/years, teams should be able to improve their results after learning from performance feedback as well as how to collaborate and combine information to collectively succeed.
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The video below is what we play for our undergraduate students to introduce and overview the entire simulation.
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