Ok so I need your help pretty please!!!!!!

[blondebunny]

Ok, so Im doing a project for my Econometrics class (fun i know!!) and well we had to pick a topic and come up with formulas and all kinds of fun stuff.. ANYWAYS.. I decided.. what better than do it on diamonds! Ok well Mine topic is what affects diamond prices.. My dependent variable is diamond price... and my independent variable are going to be Cut(im only focusing on RB, Princess, and cushion), Color (only focusing on DEFGHI), Carat Size (only focusing on .5-1.5), Clarity (only focusing on IF,VVS1-2,VS1-2, SI1-2).. some of these obviously will be dummy variables because you cant input a number for clarity and stuff...

SO my question is if ya''ll can help me.. Im trying to find any studies related to this, specifially Im trying to find a reliable source that says how many buyers of diamonds are uneducated when they buy them, and my model would help an uneducated buyer simply input their diamonds specs and give them a round about price they should be paying plus or minus standard deviations... I know it may not be correct but my teacher said that it was a good project so even if it isnt helpful.. i figured itd be fun and give me more reasons to look at sparkley things I am going to get my sample data from JamesAllen, BlueNile, and GoodoldGold... they seemed to be easy to navigate and have a lot of choices because my sample size has to be pretty large... I wanna get about 25-50 of each diamond from each site to give me a pretty decent sample size..

Ok sorry so long, if anyone can help I would really appreciate it

 

[Dreamgirl]

I want to help you BB, but I'm not sure how. But I'll bet several PS'ers around here will be able to help you out! Good luck on the project

 

[loriken214]

This sounds like a project for Strm aka Karl!

Lori

 

[blondebunny]

BUMP anyone have any ideas???

 

[katamari]

Hi, blondebunny. I don''t know what sort of resources your school library has, but I think google scholar is a good place to start.

The main advice I have for you, and maybe what you already know, is to start general. I would look for economics articles about consumer information and think about how you can draw from that to construct an argument specific to your topic. When I grade student work, I find this approach far more impressive than to use articles specific to your topic. If no articles address this topic, it is a good thing, because it means there is a need for your research!

 

[JulieN]

Hey, I'm taking econometrics, too!

I feel like clarity would be a discrete random variable, just like color. Basically, you're doing what an appraiser does.

 

[strmrdr]

I know of no such diamond buying study that is public information.

You can use the PS search engine to get your numbers.
They wont be helpful for more than a week or so but sounds like a fun project.
But there is one variable that is going to be your chaos variable and that is that the grades are not constant across labs.
Comparing gia to ags to egl numbers is going to introduce so much chaos into your system that it isnt going to be accurate.

So that means your stuck doing gia only and need to view the reports for every stone to get the grade.
Which introduces another variable and that is the range of the cut grades.
GIA EX is huge and has a huge range of prices.
The cheapest gia EX is not comparable to the most expensive.

Next point of chaos is prices for one market are not valid for another.
Online prices may be 50% less than high end b&m prices. (Tiff,HW) at the same quality level.

Diamonds grading and pricing is subjective to the point that such a study is not useful.

 

[rockzilla]

Make sure you have the vendor as a variable in there as well....I have a feeling it will definitely impact prices...and, would just be good to know!

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 10/25/2008 6:00:03 PM
Author: strmrdr
I know of no such diamond buying study that is public information.

You can use the PS search engine to get your numbers.
They wont be helpful for more than a week or so but sounds like a fun project.
But there is one variable that is going to be your chaos variable and that is that the grades are not constant across labs.
Comparing gia to ags to egl numbers is going to introduce so much chaos into your system that it isnt going to be accurate.

So that means your stuck doing gia only and need to view the reports for every stone to get the grade.
Which introduces another variable and that is the range of the cut grades.
GIA EX is huge and has a huge range of prices.
The cheapest gia EX is not comparable to the most expensive.

Next point of chaos is prices for one market are not valid for another.
Online prices may be 50% less than high end b&m prices. (Tiff,HW) at the same quality level.

Diamonds grading and pricing is subjective to the point that such a study is not useful.

This is kind of what I was thinking, but of course Strm said it better !
Do you plan on focusing on only one lab BB? Also, like Strm said no need to go to each site unless you want to, the PS your diamond search will be handy enough..
I imagine no one has done it before due to the above mentioned so many variables, but good luck none the less !