1

HONORS SELF- DESIGNED PROPOSAL

Complete this proposal prior to your experiences start date and upload it in the UHP Database
(https://webapps.uc.edu/uchonorsstudent). Create an experience (Add a new record) in the Tracking Project
tab and upload your proposal document as an attachment. The deadline for submitting proposals is the 5th of
each month (excluding July).
Proposals are intended to be well developed plans for your experience. However, experiences are exploratory in
nature, and we are flexible with changes throughout the experience. If your experience changes after receiving
approval on your proposal, contact your honors advisor to verify the changes still satisfy the requirements of an
honors experience.

Basic Information
Full Name: Zohabe Bakali
Title of Project: University of Cincinnati Undergraduate Consumer Behavior
Thematic Area(s): Research, Creativity
Expected Start Date: January 10, 2015
Expected End Date: April 10, 2015

GUIDELINES
1. Proposal submission timeline: Proposals should be submitted at least one month prior to the expected
start date of the experience. International experiences require at least two months notice. Contact your
honors advisor immediately for any exceptions.
2. Proposal length: While the quality of the proposal is most important, strong proposals are typically 3-4
pages single-spaced.
3. Proposal format: Please maintain the proposal format (e.g. headers, layout)
4. Time commitment: Experiences should consist of at least 75-90 hours of preparation, execution, and
reflection. This is approximately equivalent to the commitment of honors seminars and pre-approved
experiences.

REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

All self-designed international travel experiences require two months notice and must be at least one week in
length. You will need to provide a detailed itinerary (dates, locations and activities). If participating in
independent travel (not with UC faculty, staff or student group), you must also fill out a Worldwide: Honors
Experience application via UC International.
Additionally, the Student Travel Policy restricts UC-sponsored travel to countries under a U.S. Department of
State Travel Warning. Those who wish to visit a country with a travel warning must seek an exemption through
UC International. Students traveling without a faculty or staff leader must individually request an exemption.
We cannot allow you to count this travel as an honors experience nor can we give you a grant without an
approved exemption.

1. Abstract
I will be conducting empirical research on the consumer behavior of college students at UC and analyzing it in order to
come up with general rules to help students budget money more wisely. This idea is inspired by the Nobel Prize recipient
from Princeton University for conducting empirical research on the spending habits of those in poverty to be able to create
policy to improve the quality of life for the underprivileged. This experience is meaningful because it directly relates to
me as I am also a college student and will let me see my spending habits and how they can be improved. It also allows me
to help my peers who are all on the same journey to complete their education. My goals for this research project are to
find existing trends and general habits among my demographic and be able to work with the Lindner College of Business
to create general guidelines for college spending.
The timeline is as follows:
January: Create survey and verify with business professors to get it running in the SONA lab
February: Market the survey to students to have as many take it as possible and work with professors to have their classes
take it as well. Analyze data and note for trends as submissions continue.
March 1 March 15: Set up booths for experimentation that see how college students are loyal towards branding and
school products as well as see how well targeted marketing techniques lure students in to make purchases.
March 15 March 31: Analyze overall data from surveys and experiments.
April 1 April 10: Look at patterns and work with the College of Business to determine solutions and possible general
rules that would help all students.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Brief description of the experience

Personal connection to the experience
Identified goals for the experience
Timeline from start to finish
*Itinerary (international experiences only)
**Explanation of differentiated experience
from what is required of other students

2. Experience Advisor
Experience advisor: Jane Sojka
Email: sojkaje@ucmail.uc.edu
I chose Professor Sojka as my experience advisor because she was my marketing professor and was also one of my
favorites. I know that her expertise would definitely help me successfully complete my research and she is a pleasure to
work with. I plan to receive feedback from Dr. Sojka on my procedure and planning as well as assistance on data
collection and interpretation as those were concepts also taught in her class.

3
Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Experience advisor name and contact

information
Description of why advisor was selected
Specific plans to engage with advisor

3. Connection to Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcome 1: My first learning outcome is to articulate the broader significant of my endeavor and the value of its
contributions from the creativity thematic area. I will definitely have to be creative throughout this entire process as I will
be creating my own experiment and survey and then working to create general rules as well. I feel however, that the
largest contribution to the university will be when I have completed my project and am forming general rules to help
students spending habits. This part will be in the beginning of April and will tie my entire project together creatively. It is
estimated to take about 15 hours of my own time and working with other professionals to establish such policies.
Learning Outcome 2: My second outcome is to identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for
analysis from the research thematic area. This will be mainly when I am using observational experimentation and creating
my survey as those will be when I am going to apply methods for data collection and organization. These will assist in the
progress of the achieving this learning outcome as I will be forced to create, consult, and edit multiple times so I can
perfect my methods. It is estimated to take about 40 hours of time creating and distributing surveys and experiments.
Learning Outcome 3: My third outcome is to analyze and interpret the meaning of results from the research thematic area.
This is a given with the nature of my experiment and all activities listed in the timeline will involve me analyzing and
interpreting results continuously. This will help with progress on the outcome and the outcome of my project as a whole
(establishing spending rules/advice based on observation and data collection) depends on my success of being able to
interpret and analyze data. This is estimated to take about 25 hours.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

3 learning outcomes explicitly identified

from any thematic area(s)
Examples of activities and explanation of
how each will assist the progress towards
the chosen learning outcome
Estimated time commitment for each
activity

4. Academic Resources Connected to the Learning Outcomes

As an academic research source, I plan to use several articles from the Journal of Consumer Research that pertain to my
project targeted towards consumer behavior that examine the differences across age demographics. This will supplement
my experience as I will be able to draw from it and connect it to my research learning outcomes like analyzing data and
methods for collecting data.

Advisor Feedback

4
acMust Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

1-2 academic resources connected to the

learning outcomes
Title and author of each resource
Description of how resources will help
make progress towards learning outcomes
and execution of experience

5. On-going Reflection
My method for an ongoing reflection would also supplement my research. I will keep a journal where I record my
procedures and decision making processes so that I can not only reflect, but also see my method of trial and error in
creating my experiments. I will also post a blog about the whole process after my project is completed that will describe
the results that I got and how I obtained them as well as the entire process. The topics of my reflection will include what I
did and how I did it, my successes and errors, the accuracy of my data and possible discrepancies, and possible
improvements I can make.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Method for ongoing reflection

Reflection questions/topics clearly
specified

6. Sharing Your Learning

Since I am doing research, I will be able to publish a blog that will be more accessible online that will include what I
mentioned in the reflection section above. If my endeavor is very successful, I may be able to get published in a business
research journal and that would definitely reach my targeted audience.

Advisor Feedback
Must Include:
At least one method to actively share takeaways/learning from the experience
A specific audience and why the audience
was selected

7. Budget (if applicable)

N/A

Required Revisions:

Effective:

Advisor Feedback
Notes:
Detailed budget of expenditures with
sources to justify budget estimates
*Indicates the number of hours per week
and number of weeks of participation

Required Revisions:

Effective:

6
THEMATIC AREA LEARNING OUTCOMES
Learning Outcomes for the Community Engagement Thematic Area:
By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Identify and differentiate multiple ways to contribute towards the development or

achievement of the communitys goals.
Develop a thorough understanding of the world view, beliefs, experiences, selfconsciousness, or history of community members through collaboration.
Articulate the purpose of service on a social issue or public policy and how service
mutually enhances individual growth and the common good.
Explain how education, advocacy, mobilization, or public policy can influence social
issues and transform communities.

Learning Outcomes for the Creativity Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Discover new techniques to gain knowledge, consider options, make new connections,
and ask questions.
Explore a new creative competency/medium or seek new ways to engage an existing
competency/medium.
Understand and optimize the use of people, technology, physical resources or community
in a creative process.
Articulate the broader significance of a creative project and the value of its contributions.

Learning Outcomes for the Global Studies Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Develop practical travel skills that promote safe, stimulating, and productive travel
throughout your life.
Summarize the interconnectedness of geography, history, cultural traits and world issues.
Articulate the interdependence of professional fields to address current and impending
global issues such as technology, the environment, human rights, or politics.
Demonstrate an understanding of cultural diversity by acknowledging the impact of their
own identity and the experience of social norms, customs, or beliefs that are different
from their own.
Demonstrate a sense of empathy, respect, and appreciation for others to build meaningful
cross-cultural collaborations toward mutual growth and prosperity.

Learning Outcomes for the Leadership Thematic Area:

By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Formulate and manage a shared vision and develop goals towards its achievement.
Motivate and collaborate effectively with others towards completion of shared projects or
goals.
Develop strategies to identify and respond to challenges and obstacles.
Identify personal strengths and areas of growth and evaluate opportunities to maximize
skills and abilities.
Synthesize the current trends related to a specific issue or field and evaluate how
thought-leaders are currently addressing them.

Learning Outcomes for the Research Thematic Area:

7
By engaging in this thematic area, you will make progress towards learning how to

Demonstrate the ability to locate, interpret, and critically evaluate primary sources
appropriate to field.
Identify and apply appropriate methods to collect and organize data for analysis.
Analyze and interpret the meaning of results.
Produce dissemination appropriate to the field in order to share the results or impact
of the research.
Articulate the broader significance of the research project and its relationship to other
fields, research and ideas.