Reports The Use of Spreadsheets in Commodity Trading | Page 5

The Use of Spreadsheets in Commodity Trading – 2015

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SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Survey and Responses
The survey was conducted via an on-line questionnaire and
was available to potential respondents between 9/11/2014
and 14/12/2014. ComTech used a variety of methods to solicit responses, including
// Email requests to a variety of internal ComTech distribution
lists including our newsletter subscribers and a number of agricultural trading and other lists acquired specifically for the
purpose,
// Requests posted on CTRMCenter,
// Requests posted on various social media sites such as LinkedIn.com and others.

Additionally, a small incentive was also offered to all qualified respondents in order to encourage a greater participation
level in the survey. In the end, a total of 133 responses were
collected however, only 50 (38%) of these were accompanied

by a valid email address and other identifying data.

Given that we offered an incentive, and that in order to
qualify for the incentive, a valid email address was required,
this low number of readily identifiable respondents was surprising and was, in of itself, an interesting statistic. Of the 133
total responses, some 38 (29%) were incompletely answered
and were therefore also discarded from further analysis.

As a result, two datasets were used to perform this analysis. The first is the core database of 50 valid and identifiable
responses; and for much of the report, this is the dataset that
was utilized. However, the broader dataset of 95 responses
was also referenced when it was felt that the non-identified responses might add to, or clarify, the overall results. At all times
in our analysis below, we identify when this occurs.

© Commodity Technology Advisory LLC, 2015, All Rights Reserved.