Psychometrics Of Hotel Service Quality: Comparative Factor Structures Of Alternative Market Segments

When different market segments are encountered, can the same instrument be used to understand and predict the determinants of customer perceptions of service quality, satisfaction and retention?  This paper analyzes a national sample of over 18,000 U.S. customer surveys regarding hotel experiences in a range of properties from budget to near-luxury accommodations.  Its purpose is to examine the dimensionality of customer satisfaction for business vs. pleasure travelers, and male vs. female guests, in order to determine the appropriateness of conceptualizing and measuring service quality with the same instrument for these potentially divergent segments.  Our findings provide good evidence of factor stability across these segments, using the multi-item scales that are employed by one of the largest privately held hotel chains in the United States.  Within the common factor structure, modest but intuitively reasonable differences in the importance of service attributes in determining customer loyalty for different segments do emerge

Are clinicians being prepared to care for abused women? A survey of health professional education in Ontario, Canada

Background: The current project undertook a province-wide survey and environmental scan of educational opportunities available to future health care providers on the topic of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. Methods: A team of experts identified university and college programs in Ontario, Canada as potential providers of IPV education to students in health care professions at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. A telephone survey with contacts representing these programs was conducted between October 2005 and March 2006. The survey asked whether IPV-specific education was provided to learners, and if so, how and by whom. Results: In total, 222 eligible programs in dentistry, medicine, nursing and other allied health professions were surveyed, and 95% (212/222) of programs responded. Of these, 57% reported offering some form of IPV-specific education, with undergraduate nursing (83%) and allied health (82%) programs having the highest rates. Fewer than half of undergraduate medical (43%) and dentistry (46%) programs offered IPV content. Postgraduate programs ranged from no IPV content provision (dentistry) to 41% offering content (nursing). Conclusion: Significant variability exists across program areas regarding the methods for IPV education, its delivery and evaluation. The results of this project highlight that expectations for an active and consistent response by health care professionals to women experiencing the effects of violence may not match the realities of professional preparation

Combining genomic and epidemiological data to compare the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha and Iota.

SARS-CoV-2 variants shaped the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the discourse around effective control measures. Evaluating the threat posed by a new variant is essential for adapting response efforts when community transmission is detected. In this study, we compare the dynamics of two variants, Alpha and Iota, by integrating genomic surveillance data to estimate the effective reproduction number (Rt) of the variants. We use Connecticut, United States, in which Alpha and Iota co-circulated in 2021. We find that the Rt of these variants were up to 50% larger than that of other variants. We then use phylogeography to show that while both variants were introduced into Connecticut at comparable frequencies, clades that resulted from introductions of Alpha were larger than those resulting from Iota introductions. By monitoring the dynamics of individual variants throughout our study period, we demonstrate the importance of routine surveillance in the response to COVID-19

Response—On Establishing a Dialogue in Television Viewing Research

Response to the commentary Pringle, L. G. 1984. A Comment. 125–126 on author's paper Rust, R. T., M. I. Alpert. 1984. An audience flow model of television viewing choice. 113–124.

An Audience Flow Model of Television Viewing Choice

A model for the prediction and explanation of individual television viewing choice is presented, incorporating considerations of utility, audience flow, and audience segmentation. The proposed model provides a quantifiably explicit theoretical explanation of television viewing choice, and its validation on large-sample network viewing data provides a baseline degree of accuracy against which the performance of future television viewing models may be compared. Of direct relevance to advertising agencies and the television networks is the suitability of the model for estimating the comparative impact of alternative programs on the audience size and composition of competing programs in the immediate and subsequent time slots.television viewing, audience exposure, advertising, television program scheduling