The economic return to earning an MBA. Refer to the

QUESTION:

Problem 8E

The economic return to earning an MBA. Refer to the International Economic Review (August 2008) study on the economic rewards to obtaining an MBA degree, Exercise 1.25 (p. 26). Job status information was collected for a sample of 3,244 individuals who sat for the GMAT in each of four time periods (waves). Summary information (number of individuals) for Wave 1 (at the time of taking the GMAT) and Wave 4 (7 years later) is provided in the accompanying table. Use a graph to compare and contrast the job status distributions of GMAT takers in Wave 1 and Wave 4.

1.25 The economic return to earning an MBA. What are the economic rewards (e.g., higher salary) to obtaining an MBA degree? This was the question of interest in an article published in the International Economic Review (August 2008). The researchers made inferences based on wage data collected for a sample of 3,244 individuals who sat for the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). (The GMAT exam is required for entrance into most MBA programs.) The following sampling scheme was employed. All those who took the GMAT exam in any of four selected time periods (Jan. 1990, Sep. 1991, Jan. 1993, and Jan. 1997) were mailed a questionnaire. Those who responded to the questionnaire were then sent three follow-up surveys (one survey every 3 months). The final sample of 3,244 represents only those individuals who responded to all four surveys. (For example, about 5,600 took the GMAT in Jan. 1990; of these, only about 800 responded to all four surveys.)

a. For this study, describe the population of interest.

b. What method was used to collect the sample data?

c. Do you think the final sample is representative of the population? Who or why not? Comment on potential biases in the sample.