Defining and measuring patient satisfaction with medical care

This paper describes the development of Form II of the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ), a self-administered survey instrument designed for use in general population studies. The PSQ contains 55 Likert-type items that measure attitudes toward the more salient characteristics of doctors and medical care services (technical and interpersonal skills of providers, waiting time for appointments, office waits, emergency care, costs of care, insurance coverage, availability of hospitals, and other resources) and satisfaction with care in general. Scales are balanced to control for acquiescent response set. Scoring rules for 18 multi-item subscales and eight global scales were standardized following replication of item analyses in four field tests. Internal-consistency and test-retest estimates indicate satisfactory reliability for studies involving group comparisons. The PSQ well represents the content of characteristics of providers and services described most often in the literature and in response to open-ended questions. Empirical tests of validity have also produced generally favorable results.     

Planning future raw material supply

The emphasis of this article is on the need to pay greater attention to the longer-term. It deals particularly with the potential problems and opportunities surrounding the supply of key raw materials. A key question is the potential availability of certain new materials given what are now effectively uneconomic prices to the producer. The author argues for much closer liaison and involvement of Europe organizations in mining (e.g.) and points to some areas of considerable potential.     

American Public Opinion on Immigration: Nativist,Polarized, or Ambivalent?

For Dauvergne (2016), one consequence of the “end of settler societies” is nativism, or what she calls “mean-spirited politics”: anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Multiculturalism. This accords with the prevailing tone of public opinion literature on the subject, which links anti-immigrant hostility in settler societies to influxes of diversity and associated racial threat. In this essay, we determine just how closely this stylized vision of anxiety-fuelled nativism resembles the true state of mass opinion about immigration. Using a variety of surveys fielded in recent years, we show that Americans: 1) hold generally positive views about immigration, though with a substantial dose of ambivalence about its consequences; 2) are not especially consistent in their policy attitudes over time; 3) express policy attitudes that readily depart from their underlying predispositions, and; 4) have only become more pro-immigrant in recent years, and whatever partisan polarization exists on the issue stems from the fact that Republicans are becoming more positive at a slightly slower pace than Democrats. All of this suggests that, while there is a hard core of ethnocentrism and "mean-spiritedness" in the U.S., the prevailing tone is much less negative than the standard portrayal assumes.     

GETTING INTO THE WEEDS: DOES LEGAL MARIJUANA ACCESS BLUNT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE?

This paper examines the effect of legal access to marijuana on student performance stemming from a voter-approved initiative legalizing marijuana for those 21 and older in the State of Washington. Using panel data from a medium-sized public university, we use a within-student and within-class estimator to show that legalization reduces students' grades, with an effect size about one-half the impact of gaining legal access to alcohol. Consistent with how marijuana consumption affects cognitive functioning, we find that students' grades fall furthest in courses that require more quantitative skills. These effects are largely driven by men and low performers. (JEL I23, I18, K32)     

A Primer on Visualizations for Comparing Populations,Including the Issue of Overlapping Confidence Intervals

In comparing a collection of K populations, it is common practice to display in one visualization confidence intervals for the corresponding population parameters θ₁, θ₂, …, θ_K. For a pair of confidence intervals that do (or do not) overlap, viewers of the visualization are cognitively compelled to declare that there is not (or there is) a statistically significant difference between the two corresponding population parameters. It is generally well known that the method of examining overlap of pairs of confidence intervals should not be used for formal hypothesis testing. However, use of a single visualization with overlapping and nonoverlapping confidence intervals leads many to draw such conclusions, despite the best efforts of statisticians toward preventing users from reaching such conclusions. In this article, we summarize some alternative visualizations from the literature that can be used to properly test equality between a pair of population parameters. We recommend that these visualizations be used with caution to avoid incorrect statistical inference. The methods presented require only that we have K sample estimates and their associated standard errors. We also assume that the sample estimators are independent, unbiased, and normally distributed.     

On some properties of variable size simple random sampling and a limit theorem

This paper introduces a sampling plan for finite populations herein called “variable size simple random sampling” and compares properties of estimators based on it with results from the usual fixed size simple random sampling without replacement. Necessary and sufficient conditions (in the spirit of Hajek (1960)) for the limiting distribution of the sample total (or sample mean) to be normal are given.     

Contributions of unrestricted funds: The donor organization–public relationship and alumni attitudes and behaviors

This exploratory pilot study examined alumni attitudes and behaviors toward making contributions in a nonprofit higher education organizational setting. The theoretical base of the study was that nonprofit higher education organizations operate in competitive marketing environments within a resource dependence open systems framework. In an effort to better understand alumni donor attitudes and behaviors in this context, this research explored the predictive relationship between the donor organization–public relationship (OPR) and alumni donor attitudes toward willingness to contribute unrestricted funds and donor behaviors concerning size of gifts made, frequency per year of contributions, and frequency of years of contributions using Huang's (2001) organization–public relationship assessment. Results indicate that donor OPR significantly predicts alumni donor attitudes toward willingness to contribute unrestricted funds. The results do not support that donor OPR significantly predicts size of gifts made, frequency per year of contributions, and frequency of years of contributions.     

Inference for a Class of Stochastic Volatility Models Using Option and Spot Prices: Application of a Bivariate Kalman Filter

In this paper Bayesian methods are applied to a stochastic volatility model using both the prices of the asset and the prices of options written on the asset. Posterior densities for all model parameters, latent volatilities and the market price of volatility risk are produced via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling algorithm. Candidate draws for the unobserved volatilities are obtained in blocks by applying the Kalman filter and simulation smoother to a linearization of a nonlinear state space representation of the model. Crucially, information from both the spot and option prices affects the draws via the specification of a bivariate measurement equation, with implied Black-Scholes volatilities used to proxy observed option prices in the candidate model. Alternative models nested within the Heston (1993) framework are ranked via posterior odds ratios, as well as via fit, predictive and hedging performance. The method is illustrated using Australian News Corporation spot and option price data.