|
|
This is the place to check if you have questions about my methodology. Your data is the only thing like it I have found on the Internet are there any other sites like yours? I want to recommend you go look at Rik Bloks page that has a very similar focus to mine with its own unique Canadian perspective
Doesn't using only 2 issues per year limit the accuracy of the any extrapolated results? Yes it does. But using, say, double the number of issues per year (that would be 4) would not make the results twice as accurate. Going through every advertisement in 26 magazines took long enough. I just wasn't interested in doing twice the work to get what might be a very small improvement in my results. Extrapolated results are only a guess about the future anyway. Using more samples per year might also give a more accurate picture of seasonal price trends. It might isolate price spikes or drops due to temporary supply situations. I wasn't interesting in looking for any seasonal variance in price, assuming there is any, and I think the long term nature of the study should help isolate any misleading data from any particular half year. In other words, I'm happy with my sample set.
What about tax? Some advertisers show prices excluding sales tax. Where they say this is the case, I did not use their prices. The tax situation on computer hardware in Australia changed in 2000. It went from a 22% wholesale sales tax to 10% retail tax (GST). This made about a 10% price drop after its introduction. I have made no effort to correct for this because a 10% difference across 13 years of data makes hardly any difference to any projections I make anyway.
Doesn't choosing the cheapest drive in a particular size also usually give the lowest performing drive? Yes it does. As most advertisements only give a size, a type (ATA vs SCSI) and a price, this is the best that could that I could achieve given the source.
How well do the results translate to US pricing and trends? The Australian to US dollar value has varied quite a lot during the period of the sample but the start and finish points are very close together. In 1992 the Aussie dollar bought about 73c US and today is buys about 93c. Investment advisers often tell clients making long term foreign investments that they should not worry about currency shifts because they often balance themselves out in the long term. This seems to the case here too. Got other questions?
|
|
|
|
|