1. IntroductionLikert items (usually referred to as Llkert-type scales) are often assumed by business researchers to produce data with interval properties. The reason, in most cases, seems to be that there is a wider range of statistical methods available for data analyses if the interval assumption is valid, that is, if data are equidistant. However, research shows that subjects seldom perceive Llkert-type scales as intervals, neither in general nor with respect to specific constructs. For example, it has been shown that subjects' perceptions of such scales are related to the way verbal anchors are used (e.g., Lantz, 2013a; Welters & Baumgartner, 2012), and correspondence analysis has been used to calculate the perceived non-equidistant gaps between scale points in Individual studies (e.g., Bendixen & Sandler, 1995; Lee & Soutar, 2010). Hence, the assumption that Llkert- type scales have interval properties seems questionable, at best. Even though the debate on whether parametric statistics can be used to analyze Llkert-type data without Invalidating the results goes many years back (e.g., Bradley, 1978), this paper does not explicitly aim to take a stand in that debate. Instead, we explore the sensitivity to non-equidistance of common parametric methods that applied researchers often use in analyses of Llkert-type data. The results can be used to choose the most suitable method for different situations.Basic parametric test statistics, such as the omnibus one-way ANOVA, rely on assumptions of normality and homoscedasticity. Alternative parametric test procedures that compare locations, such as the Brown-Forsythe test (Brown & Forsythe, 1974) and the Welch test (Welch, 1951), are considered robust against heteroscedasticity, especially in the case of unequal sample sizes. However, they have slightly less power than the ANOVA when the homoscedasticity assumption is not violated (Tomarken & Serlin, 1986). Alternative non- parametrlc methods for comparing locations, such as the Mann-Whlthey test (Mann & Whlthey, 1947) and the Kruskal-Wallls test (Kruskal & Wallis, 1952), are robust against the violation of the normality assumption, as they only assume that data can be ranked, but they also have less power than the ANOVA when normality actually holds.The ANOVA and Its alternatives have, for many years, been subject to Monte Carlo-based analyses of their robustness against violations of normality and homoscedasticity (see e.g., Harwell, Rubinstein, Hayes, & Olds, 1992, for an extensive historical review). In short, the ANOVA seems relatively robust against minor heteroscedasticity when normality holds (e.g., Glass, Peckham, & Sanders, 1972), and the Brown-Forsythe test and Welch test appear to be superior under various types of major heteroscedasticity (e.g., Tomarken & Serlin, 1986). However, violation of the normality assumption seems to be a more complex Issue, since normality can be violated In several different ways, which may have different Impacts on the ANOVA and Its alternatives (Harwell et al., 1992). The parent distributions may, for example, be positively skewed, negatively skewed, platykurtlc, leptokurtlc, multimodal, and/or discrete. In some of these cases, the violation of normality seems to be of minor Importance, while the difference In performance becomes substantial In other cases (e.g., Lantz, 2013b; Schmlder, Ziegler, Danay, Beyer, & Buhner, 2010; Tomarken & Serlin, 1986; Bevan, Denton, & Myers, 1973). Hence, the preferred choice of statistical test procedure when normality has been violated depends a great deal on how this has occurred.Non-equidistance constitutes yet another way to violate the assumption of normality. A violation of equidistance means the researcher assumes that the distance between adjacent scale points is constant along the scale, even though it is not perceived as such by subjects. Since Likert-type scales have, in many cases, been proven to be non-equidistant, the phenomenon is obviously a potential validity issue within parametric statistics. …
Revenue capping is a common way to regulate monopolistic utilities. A common suggestion when the revenue cap is cost based is that the regulator needs to determine the revenue cap so that both fixed and variable cost components as closely as possible match the true cost of the monopoly. In this report, however, it is shown that the variable cost component in the model needs to exceed the true variable cost in order to give incentives to efficiency improvement compared to the case of no regulation. It is also shown that the size of the fixed cost component only affects the amount of market power that the monopoly can excercise.
I denna rapport konstateras att intaktstak ar en regleringsmodell som dras med tva mycket allvarliga langsiktiga problem. For det forsta maste regleraren bestamma parametrarna i modellen med omsorg, sa att den inte ger felaktiga styrsignaler. Eftersom de styrsignaler modellen ger baseras pa intaktstakets lutning i forhallande till monopolets kostnadsfunktioner pa kort och lang sikt kan det vara svart eller omojligt att faststalla modellparametrar som styr ratt pa bade kort och lang sikt, da dessa kostnadsfunktioner normalt sett ar olika. For det andra kravs att regleraren har tillgang till detaljerad information om monopolets kostnadsvillkor pa bade kort och lang sikt for att kunna avgora hur olika varden pa intaktstakets parametrar paverkar monopolets beteende.
Background: It is well established that parents must interact with their new‐born babies to facilitate attachment. However, very little is known about how parents perceive different types of medical technology products commonly used in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) as barriers to their wish to interact with their infants. Aim: This study aims to examine to what extent the different medical technology products commonly used in the NICU are perceived by parents to be obstacles in their wish to interact with their babies. Design and methods: In 2010, a cross‐sectional survey, using a questionnaire specifically developed for this study, was conducted among the parents of children who were discharged from any of the five NICUs of the Västra Götaland region in Sweden. A consecutive sample of 248 parents participated, and multiple regressions and t ‐tests were used to analyse the data. Results: The parents generally perceived the various medical technology products differently, according to the perceived level of obstruction. The variables of gender, age, educational level, origin, gestational age, previous experience of being a parent, and the offer of accommodation at the NICU were significantly associated with the perceived level of obstruction in the parents’ wish to interact with their baby while the baby was being treated with different medical technology products. Conclusion: The primary implication for practice is that to facilitate attachment, nurses should involve different categories of parents in different ways in the care of their children, depending on the equipment being used in the treatment of the children. Thus, the individual care plan should explicitly include the details of the specific medical equipment, because although its use is medically beneficial for the child, it is associated with potential liabilities regarding parent–child interaction and, consequently, regarding parent–child attachment.
Outsourcing, i.e., the strategic use of outside resources to perform activities traditionally handled by
internal staff and resources, have received increased attention in management practice around the world
over recent decades. However, even though the main goal of outsourcing must be assumed to be improved
financial performance, few researchers have been able to empirically establish this relationship.
Furthermore, because most studies have been focusing on large firms, there is also a lack of knowledge on
how small firms adopt outsourcing strategies. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore outsourcing
strategies among small manufacturing firms, and to test how these strategies can be linked to financial
performance. The study is based on questionnaire and financial data collected through a stratified sample
of 700 small (<50 employees) manufacturing firms in Sweden (with a response rate of 56 percent or 400
firms). Measures of outsourcing were collected from the questionnaire, and performance indicators were
collected from annual reports published one year later. We used Principal Component Analysis to identify
four outsourcing strategies: Back office activities, Primary activities, Accounting activities, and Support
activities. However, in line with previous research, multiple regressions did not reveal any significant
relationship between these strategies and financial performance.
Extremism ar en term som syftar pa en politisk eller religios askadning som kan anses vara positionerad langt utanfor samhalleliga normen. En askadning som ligger langre bort fran samhalleliga normen kan da anses vara mer extrem. I denna korta skrift operationaliserades samhalleliga normen i ett diagram med en vanster-hoger-skala och en GAL-TAN-skala till den genomsnittliga position (tyngdpunkten) de atta riksdagspartierna enligt SVT hade i samma diagram i valrorelsen 2018, viktat for de antal roster partierna faktiskt fick i det valet. Graden av extremism for ett visst parti beraknades sedan baserat pa det rektilinjara avstandet fran tyngdpunkten till partiets position. Enligt denna analys ar det V som ar det mest extrema partiet, foljt av MP pa andra plats och SD pa tredje plats. Det minst extrema partiet ar L.
Aim:The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in reasons, facilitators, and barriers for parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) based on statistical analyses of secondary data. Background:Factors that may influence parental presence should be taken into careful consideration by NICU staff. These factors are likely to differ between genders, as research studies demonstrated that mothers tend to spend more time with their preterm infants in the NICU than the fathers. Methods:The study was based on secondary data, which was obtained, corrected, and analysed with Fisher's exact test. Findings:For control reasons, a larger proportion of fathers are present at the NICU than mothers. A larger proportion of fathers, as compared to mothers, perceive difficult socio-economic situations as a barrier for parental presence. In contrast, mothers perceive good-quality treatment by hospital staff as a facilitator and poor treatments as a barrier for parental presence. Conclusion:Reasons, facilitators, and barriers for parental presence should be considered in order to increase parental presence in the NICU.
Healthcare systems worldwide are faced with continuously increasing demand for care, while simultaneously experiencing insufficient capacity and unacceptably long patient waiting times. To improve healthcare access and availability, it is therefore necessary to improve capacity utilization and increase the efficiency of existing resource usage. For this, variations in healthcare systems must be managed judiciously, and one solution is to apply a capacity pooling approach. A capacity pool is a general, collaborative capacity that can be allocated to parts of the system where the existing workload and demand for capacity is unusually high. In this study, we investigate how basic mean-variance methodology from portfolio theory can be applied as a capacity pooling approach to healthcare systems. A numerical example based on fictitious data is used to illustrate the theoretical value of using a portfolio approach in a capacity pooling context. The example shows that there are opportunities to use capacity more efficiently and increase service levels, given the same capacity, and that a mean-variance analysis could be performed to theoretically dimension the most efficient pooling organization. The study concludes with a discussion regarding the practical usefulness of this methodology in the healthcare context.
Abstract After making a final landing with their hydrogen balloon on the Arctic pack ice on 14 July 1897 at 82°56′N 29°52′E, expedition members Salomon August Andrée, Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel began a slow march with very heavily laden sledges over the ice to try to reach a depot at Cape Flora. Two fundamental errors regarding where to go and what to bring sealed their fate. This note will explore the theory that, given the information they had at the time, the explorers should not have made these mistakes. In fact, the expedition members could have survived if they had instead travelled directly to their other depot at Seven Islands with more lightly laden sledges.
This paper reports the results of a survey study regarding the attitudes towards the Network Performance Assessment Model (NPAM). The NPAM is a revenue cap regulation model that has been developed to evaluate revenue reasonableness of the electricity distribution companies (EDCs) in Sweden. The EDC attitudes towards the NPAM was mapped and the main conclusion from the study is that there are three typical respondents in the study: ”The generally dissatisfied”, ”the critical analyst” and ”the generally optimistic”.
