A STUDY ON THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE SALES OF NEW LABORATORY KITS

FOR K-12 IN INDIA

Done by

Spandan Kumar Nanda (19BM63122)

Under the guidance of

Prof. Aradhna Malik

VINOD GUPTA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT INDIAN

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR
May 2020

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

Sr. No. Content Page No.

1 Executive Summary 3

2 Scope 3

3 Research Plan 3

4 Literature Review 6

5 Research Methodology 7

6 Results and Interpretation 12

7 Implications 18

8 References 19

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
It is estimated that during the coming decade most of the jobs would come from Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (further referred to as STEM) related domains in
India and the world. To capitalize on the same The Indian government (both central and
state) are trying to develop the human resources for these jobs by fostering STEM skills in
students during the schooling years (referred to as K-12 further). The theoretical knowledge
imparted in these domains is well supplemented by improving scientific and technical skills
imparted in the laboratories. By understanding the use of the end users –schools and
institutes, companies are offering affordable products at different price points. They are
offering various schemes such as bulk discounts to increase the customer base. Vendors are
also collaborating with aggregators like Labkafe.com to increase revenue generating
opportunities.
This project aims to find out the factors primarily responsible for the sales of new lab kits in
K-12 in India. The various variables that are associated with the existing sales of laboratory
kits were first explored through extensive literature review. Upon review feedback was
taken from guide and the company .A comprehensive questionnaire was prepared to collect
data from teachers associated with STEM. The responses were nominal in nature and were
encoded in excel for further analysis. For analysis IBM SPSS statistics software was used for
factor analysis where in Principal component analysis and other statistical tests were
performed. The results found out that three factors can be discovered affecting the sales of
aforesaid kits. These factors are:
1.
2.
3.
Apart from this most of the teachers laid high emphasis on practical skills to increase
knowledge in STEM. Most of the teachers also found an education in STEM boosts the
chances of getting a job. Majority of the teachers also wanted to use online aggregator
services for ordering such kits. Lastly the attributes the stakeholders’ value while ordering
kits were investigated and found out that most important attributes were quality
certifications and safety standards adhered to by these kits.

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 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

This project aims to study the factors that come to play when teachers in the area of STEM
in Indian schools order new laboratory kits. With the pandemic COVID -19 affecting
education severely the companies want to focus more on factors concerned with new
orders. With this objective this project was done through a judgemental sampling taking
responses of around 70 teachers via the online platform personal guru where teachers from
all over India meet and teach. With a larger sample size the results can be vetted.
This project also deals with the education curriculum in India with respect to K-12 so for
other geographies new variables could be present that influence the study.
The findings will help online aggregators focus more on the attributes that cause the new
orders. The factors that are considered important are also listed while ordering such kits
online.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

There are many research papers that motivated me for undergoing this research project. In”
Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics”,
published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America on June 10, 2014 the authors Scott Freeman, Sarah L. Eddy, Miles McDonough,
Michelle K. Smith, Nnadozie Okoroafor, Hannah Jordt, and Mary Pat Wenderoth
investigated the role of active learning through experiments and practical education
enhanced the performance of students in areas of Science, technology, engineering and
mathematics by 55 per cent compared to theoretical learning imparted to students. They
analysed 225 studies that reported data on examination scores or failure rates when
comparing student performance in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) courses under traditional lecturing versus active learning. The effect
sizes indicate that on average, student performance on examinations and concept
inventories increased by 0.47 SDs under active learning (n = 158 studies), and that the odds
ratio for failing was 1.95 under traditional lecturing (n = 67 studies). Thus with the advent of
new technological changes the lab kits provide an active learning experience to students.
In –“A study of the correlation between STEM career knowledge, mathematics self-
efficacy, career interests, and career activities on the likelihood of pursuing a STEM career
among middle school students” published on 16 May, 2018 in the International Journal of
STEM Education the authors Karen A. Blotnicky, Tamara Franz-Odendaal, Frederick French
& Philip Joy have found out the correlation between interest in STEM subjects such as
science and mathematics and careers in scientific and technical skills. This has led to ask
teachers in India their opinion about STEM subjects and career opportunities via
questionnaire in the research. Their responses correlate with the findings of the paper used
fro reference.
Further, a study of the paper “Challenges for Science Education” published in 2012 in
ELSEVIER- Procedia - Social and Behavioural Sciences journal by Kubilay Kaptan and Ozden
Timurlenk studies the various challenges teachers face while imparting science education in
developing countries. One of the most important findings by them is the lack of practical
skills in children affecting their motivation to pursue the subjects. In addition to this,
another factor has been the lesser presence of laboratories in developing countries. This led
to the discovery of an important variable in the study. The other significant factor they put
forth was the intensive curriculum design by the curriculum designers. This motivated to
select the variable “regulations by CBSE, ICSE” as a factor to influence the subject.
As K-12 comprises of elementary schools as well the factors affecting the science education
in them were also studied. In the Journal of Elementary Science Education (October 2006)
in the paper titled “Using science kits to construct content understandings in elementary
schools” by Daniel Dickerson, Matthew Clark, Karen Dawkins and Cathy Horne it has been

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found out that science kits were quite efficient in imparting content knowledge to the
students in the elementary schools. Thus, the variable modern technological advancements
in kits has been chosen in the study.
Further, post COVID -19 pandemic, the use of online aggregators is expected to increase as
per many surveys done by market research agencies. Thus the respondents were asked if
they would prefer an online aggregator of lab kits and the factors they keep in mind while
ordering.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology depicts the flow of the research process and serves as guidance
for the research to carry out the research study.

Finding the factors leading

to sales of lab kits in K12

Literature review

Report
Questionnaire Results and
preparation implications

Sample selection and

data collection

Reliability test of
sample

Data analysis using

SPSS
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Research Design:
The aim of research is to find components leading to sales of new lab kits for K-12 in India.
For the same after gaining insights from Literature review a descriptive research was chosen
with nominal factors. It was decided to use quantitative analysis for analysing the principal
components of the study using SPSS(dimension reduction technique via factor analysis).The
method of non – probability judgemental sampling was used and data was collected from
about 70 teachers involved in teaching STEM courses.
Research Model & Sampling procedure:
Primary research was carried out by collecting responses to questionnaire developed via
Google-forms. The method of non- probability judgmental sampling was used. The
respondents were contacted online and telephonically. Data was obtained from around 70
respondents out of 150 teachers who were contacted.

Data Collection:
The questions explored the demographic factors such as age of respondents and their area
of residence for reflecting the choices as per demography. The respondents’ answered their
preference towards a practical based learning via questions.
The other variables were chosen from careful literature review and gathered data on a
Likert scale for deciding the principal factors affecting the teachers for ordering new kits.
Scaling formats were treated as ordinal or interval variables, divided into five intervals from
does not prompt to prompts highly.
The teachers’ preference on online aggregator services was taken on a Likert scale
(numerical). Further, the factors affecting their choice while ordering kits online were
investigated on a Likert scale. Scaling formats were treated as ordinal or interval variables,
divided into five intervals from not all important to prompts highly important.

Data Analysis:
After data collection the ordinal variables were coded in excel on a likert scale. The
demographic factors were analysed in Excel using frequencies and charts.
For deciding the principal factors that are affecting the sales of new lab kits of K-12 a
statistical package offered by IBM SPSS was used. The factors that were used in
questionnaire were reduced in dimension by means of principal component analysis (PCA)
performed. This, apart from principal components also led to the weights of all the factors
present in the study which can be further used in regression analysis in future studies for
prediction purposes.

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The preferences of factors considered important while ordering these kits online were
analysed in excel using charts.
Results were interpreted for gathering meaningful insights from the research.

RESULTS & INTERPRETATION

Demographic results: The results obtained from 69 teachers is presented here with
regards to age, area of residence and their preferences.
Chart1: Age wise respondents

age wise respondents

2 2

25

40

20-30 30-40 40-50 50 above

Chart 2: Area of residence

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Chart3:

Chart4:

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Chart5:

Chart 6:

Chart 7:

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Results from SPSS by performing Factor analysis:

Table 1: KMO & Bartlett’s test

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .709
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 203.850
df 55
Sig. .000

The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy is a statistic that indicates the

proportion of variance in the variables that might be caused by underlying factors. The
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin is the measure of sampling adequacy, which varies between 0 and 1. The

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values closer to 1 are better and the value of 0.5 is the suggested minimum. As, we have got a
KMO value of 0.709, hence our sample size is adequate to proceed for Factor Analysis.
Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity: Taking a 95% level of Significance, α = 0.05
The p-value (Sig.) of .000 < 0.05, therefore the Factor Analysis is valid. As p < α, we
therefore reject the null hypothesis (H0) and accept the alternate hypothesis (H1) that there
may be statistically significant interrelationship between variable.
The Kaiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's Test measure of sampling adequacy was used
to examine the appropriateness of Factor Analysis. The approximate of Chi-square is 203.850
with 55 degrees of freedom, which is significant at 0.05 Level of significance. The p value is
0.000which indicates the same. The KMO statistic of 0.709 is also large (greater than 0.50).
Hence Factor Analysis is considered as an appropriate technique for further analysis of the
data.

Table2: Correlation Matrix

The Correlation matrix gives the Pearson correlation coefficient between the various
variables as shown below. The estimated correlation matrix from the factor solution.
Residuals (difference between estimated and observed correlations) are also displayed.

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 Co rre lation Matrix
presence
of online
high modern recomme aggregato
experentia importanc strong developm technologi price new dation of r for
l learning e of demand of ent of changes cal discounts developm boards buying lab
through practical STEM cognitive in modern wearout advantage on bulk ents in such as kits for K-
kits skills education abilities education of old kits s in kits orders STEM CBSE,ICS 12
Correlatio 1.000 0.381 0.254 0.180 0.215 0.068 0.301 0.082 0.126 -0.075 -0.045
n experentia
l learning
through
kits
high 0.381 1.000 0.649 0.714 0.612 0.207 0.255 0.365 0.383 0.387 0.169
importanc
e of
practical
skills
strong 0.254 0.649 1.000 0.535 0.531 0.279 0.230 0.339 0.269 0.432 0.060
demand of
STEM
education
0.180 0.714 0.535 1.000 0.612 0.138 0.327 0.270 0.427 0.219 0.015
developm
ent of
cognitive
abilities
changes 0.215 0.612 0.531 0.612 1.000 0.080 0.447 0.545 0.437 0.425 0.072
in modern
education
wearout 0.068 0.207 0.279 0.138 0.080 1.000 0.297 0.246 0.135 0.126 0.020
of old kits
modern 0.301 0.255 0.230 0.327 0.447 0.297 1.000 0.392 0.356 0.156 0.248
technologi
cal
advantage
s in kits
price 0.082 0.365 0.339 0.270 0.545 0.246 0.392 1.000 0.449 0.436 0.376
discounts
on bulk
orders
new 0.126 0.383 0.269 0.427 0.437 0.135 0.356 0.449 1.000 0.412 0.135
developm
ents in
STEM
recomme -0.075 0.387 0.432 0.219 0.425 0.126 0.156 0.436 0.412 1.000 0.242
dation of
boards
such as
CBSE,ICS
presence -0.045 0.169 0.060 0.015 0.072 0.020 0.248 0.376 0.135 0.242 1.000
of online
aggregato
r for
buying lab
kits for K-
12

Table3: Anti-Image correlation matrix

The anti-image correlation matrix contains the negatives of the partial correlation
coefficients, and the anti-image covariance matrix contains the negatives of the partial
covariances. In a good factor model, most of the off-diagonal elements will be small. The
measure of sampling adequacy for a variable is displayed on the diagonal of the anti-image
correlation matrix.

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 Anti-image Matrice s
Anti-image .439a -0.430 -0.123 0.285 0.044 0.131 -0.334 0.013 -0.067 0.282 0.178
Correlatio experentia
n l learning
through
kits
high -0.430 .720 a -0.236 -0.535 -0.208 -0.165 0.277 0.028 -0.005 -0.186 -0.274
importanc
e of
practical
skills
strong -0.123 -0.236 .858a -0.163 -0.126 -0.207 0.057 -0.029 0.139 -0.276 0.057
demand of
STEM
education
0.285 -0.535 -0.163 .715 a -0.227 0.063 -0.186 0.128 -0.249 0.269 0.126
developm
ent of
cognitive
abilities
changes 0.044 -0.208 -0.126 -0.227 .776 a 0.291 -0.327 -0.401 0.023 -0.162 0.275
in modern
education
wearout 0.131 -0.165 -0.207 0.063 0.291 .472 a -0.331 -0.220 0.016 0.019 0.198
of old kits
modern -0.334 0.277 0.057 -0.186 -0.327 -0.331 .635 a -0.025 -0.140 0.036 -0.307
technologi
cal
advantage
s in kits
price 0.013 0.028 -0.029 0.128 -0.401 -0.220 -0.025 .770 a -0.231 -0.092 -0.346
discounts
on bulk
orders
new -0.067 -0.005 0.139 -0.249 0.023 0.016 -0.140 -0.231 .821 a -0.290 0.068
developm
ents in
STEM
recomme 0.282 -0.186 -0.276 0.269 -0.162 0.019 0.036 -0.092 -0.290 .723 a -0.104
dation of
boards
such as
CBSE,ICS
presence 0.178 -0.274 0.057 0.126 0.275 0.198 -0.307 -0.346 0.068 -0.104 .405 a
of online
aggregato
r for
buying lab
kits for K-
12

Thus, from both Table 2& Table3 it can be concluded that the sample is adequate for factor
analysis as the diagonal elements meet the said criteria.

Table 4: Commonalities

Communalities

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 Initial Extraction
experiential learning 1.000 .624
through kits
high importance of 1.000 .763
practical skills
strong demand of STEM 1.000 .623
education
development of 1.000 .696
cognitive abilities
changes in modern 1.000 .687
education
Wear out of old kits 1.000 .326
modern technological 1.000 .700
advantages in kits
price discounts on bulk 1.000 .675
orders
new developments in 1.000 .444
STEM
recommendation of 1.000 .662
boards such as CBSE,ICS
presence of online 1.000 .546
aggregator for buying
lab kits for K-12
Extraction Method: Principal Component
Analysis.

Table 5:

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 Total Variance Explaine
Extraction Sums d
of Squared Rotation Sums of Squared
Initial Eigenvalues Loadings Loadings
Compone % of Cumulativ % of Cumulativ % of Cumulativ
nt Total Variance e% Total Variance e% Total Variance e%
1 4.200 38.177 38.177 4.200 38.177 38.177 3.300 30.004 30.004
2 1.410 12.818 50.996 1.410 12.818 50.996 1.899 17.260 47.264
3 1.136 10.328 61.324 1.136 10.328 61.324 1.547 14.059 61.324
4 0.971 8.823 70.147
5 0.826 7.506 77.652
6 0.671 6.100 83.752
7 0.582 5.290 89.042
8 0.486 4.417 93.459
9 0.332 3.021 96.481
10 0.221 2.010 98.490
11 0.166 1.510 100.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

6:

Component Matrixa

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 Component
1 2 3
experential learning through .336 -.532 .478
kits
high importance of practical .811 -.289 -.151
skills
strong demand of STEM .727 -.242 -.192
education
development of cognitive .732 -.348 -.195
abilities
changes in modern .812 -.082 -.146
education
wearout of old kits .331 .034 .464
modern technological .570 .102 .604
advantages in kits
price discounts on bulk .674 .457 .111
orders
new developments in STEM .638 .184 -.049
recommedation of boards .582 .408 -.397
such as CBSE,ICS
presence of online .270 .661 .192
aggregator for buying lab kits
for K-12
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
a. 3 components extracted.

Rotated Component Matrixa

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 Component
1 2 3
experential learning through .285 -.333 .657
kits
high importance of practical .845 .074 .209
skills
strong demand of STEM .774 .081 .133
education
development of cognitive .820 -.014 .151
abilities
changes in modern .766 .262 .176
education
wearout of old kits .075 .179 .537
modern technological .191 .343 .739
advantages in kits
price discounts on bulk .345 .699 .260
orders
new developments in STEM .482 .433 .152
recommedation of boards .493 .606 -.228
such as CBSE,ICS
presence of online -.102 .716 .150
aggregator for buying lab kits
for K-12
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.a
a. Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

Component Transformation Matrix

Component 1 2 3
1 .833 .419 .362
2 -.375 .908 -.186
3 -.407 .020 .913
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.
Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser
Normalization.

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