AN ALTERNATING LEAST-SQUARES PROCEDURE FOR ESTIMATING MISSING PREFERENCE DATA IN PRODUCT-CONCEPT TESTING*

Product-concept testing is a popular activity in marketing research. Often the number of new product/service concepts under study far exceeds the time available for any single respondent. Respondents therefore may receive only a subset of the concepts comprising the total design. Researchers are interested in making plausible imputations for the missing evaluations of any given respondent. This paper proposes a model and an iterative estimation procedure to impute missing entries for each evaluator. The model and the procedure incorporate (1) the internal structure of the response matrix and (2) an ancillary matrix of (nonmissing) respondent background data; they also (3) allow for individual differences in respondents' uses of the numerical rating scale. The model is applied to both real and synthetic data. Suggestions also are given on how the data imputations may be used in market segmentation and product-line decisions.     

Solving the Economic Lot-Scheduling Problem Using the Method of Prime Subperiods

In recent years the reported successes of Japanese production systems, particularly the just-in-time approach to inventory control, has caused managers to focus more of their attention on efficient decision-making procedures for determining production schedules that minimize inventory costs. One such potential area of attention is the economic lot-scheduling problem (ELSP), which occurs in a variety of manufacturing environments where machining operations are prevalent. The economic lot-scheduling problem addresses the determination of lot sizes for N products with constant demand (and cycled through one machine with a given production rate) to minimize setup and inventory costs. The most successful solution approaches to the ELSP have been based on the concept of a basic period that is of sufficient length for the production of all items, even though each item might not be produced during each repetition of the basic period. This paper proposes a heuristic approach to the solution of the ELSP (referred to as the method of prime subperiods), which is an extension of the basic period approaches. The procedure is described and demonstrated via an example and then tested using a set of six example problems previously employed in the literature related to the ELSP. The results indicate as good or superior performance by the proposed method of prime subperiods.     

A Comparative Analysis of the Relative Effectiveness of Four Dynamic Lot-Sizing Techniques on Return on Investment

The relative performance of dynamic lot-sizing techniques has been of considerable interest to researchers in recent years. While research has addressed performance in terms of cost-effectiveness, researchers have not determined the impact of dynamic lot-sizing techniques on return on investment (ROI) as it applies to finished goods' schedules. The purpose of this research is to explore the relative performance of four dynamic lot-sizing techniques with regard to ROI, namely the Wagner-Whitin, Incremental Part Period, Silver-Meal, and Groff techniques. Computer graphics are employed to analyze the relative ROI effectiveness.     

Knowledge and Beliefs About Gambling in Australian Secondary School Students and their Implications for Education Strategies

This study investigated the nature of gambling-related knowledge and beliefs in a survey study of 2,669 students aged 13–17 years in South Australia. Students were classified as pathological gamblers, at risk, or not at risk based upon the DSM-IV-J, and their responses to questions relating to objective odds, probabilities, and common misperceptions were compared. The study confirmed previous studies which have shown that pathological gamblers are more susceptible to erroneous beliefs concerning randomness and chance, but do not differ in terms of their knowledge of objective odds. These findings were discussed in terms of Ladouceur’s notion of “cognitive switching” and the distinction drawn between “hot” and “cold” cognitions in clinical outcome studies. The implications for school-based education programs are examined with attention given to the potential value of role-playing and simulations in encouraging student reflection and self-awareness.     

Managerial audit and community mental health: a study of rationalising practices in Finnish psychiatric outpatient clinics

In many European welfare states the reform of mental health services has been accompanied by the implementation of new forms of governance, including the introduction of managerial audit systems. While such systems have been developed for ‘good causes’, such as quality assurance, financial management and monitoring staff performance, they may simultaneously produce diverse and contradictory effects on practice. The aim of this article is to examine the role of one managerial audit system, introduced in psychiatric outpatient clinics in central Finland, and assess its impact on practice. Reference is made to modernising mental health policy in the UK as that has producedsimilar practics outcomes. The research was an empirical study of practice using a mixed-method case study design involving documentary research and semi-structured interviews. Insights from Mitchell Dean's notion of governmentalisation of government were utilised in the analysis. It was found that, although the audit system primarily served administrative needs, it began to reshape practice by reinforcing certain modes of working and excluding others. The analysis of community mental health work in Finland, with similar trends in the UK, highlights the connection between documentation, resource allocation and managerial priorities that reinforce particular styles of practice. In community mental health services it would appear that the problems of professional practice have become the problems of administration.     

A Sex Difference in Mental Rotation in Infants: Convergent Evidence

Quinn and Liben (2008) reported a sex difference on a mental rotation task in which 3‐ to 4‐month‐olds were familiarized with a shape in different rotations and then tested with a novel rotation of the familiar shape and its mirror image. As a group, males but not females showed a significant preference for the mirror image, a pattern paralleled at the individual level (with most males but less than half the females showing the preference). Experiment 1 examined a possible explanation for this performance difference, namely, that females were more sensitive to the angular differences in the familiarized shape. Three‐ to 4‐month‐olds were given a discrimination task involving familiarization with a shape at a given rotation and preference testing with the shape in the familiarized versus a novel rotation. Females and males preferred the novel rotation, with no sex difference observed. This finding did not provide support for the suggestion that the sex difference in mental rotation is explained by differential sensitivity to angular rotation. Experiment 2 revealed that the sex difference in mental rotation is observed in 6‐ to 7‐month‐olds and 9‐ to 10‐month‐olds, suggesting that a sex difference in mental rotation is present at multiple ages during infancy.     

Collegiate Recovery Communities Programs: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?

As the broad construct of recovery increasingly guides addiction services and policy, federal agencies have called for the expansion of peer-driven recovery support services. The high prevalence of substance use and abuse in colleges and universities in the United States constitutes a significant obstacle to pursuing an education for the unknown number of youths who have attained remission from substance use dependence. Collegiate recovery programs (CRPs) are an innovative and growing model of peer-driven recovery support delivered on college campuses. Although no systematic research has examined CRPs, available site-level records suggest encouraging outcomes: low relapse rates and above-average academic achievement. The number of CRPs nationwide is growing, but there is a noticeable lack of data on the model, its students, and their outcomes. We review the literature supporting the need for the expansion of CRPs, present information on the diversity of CRP services, and outline key areas where research is needed.     

Kulturen und Spiralen des „Eigentlich“. Hierarchisch gesteuerte Veränderungsprozesse am Beispiel nachgelagerter Dienststellen des österreichischen Bundesministeriums für Bildung

Amidst the current debates on education, in Austria the former academies of the compulsory and vocational teachers’ training shall be transformed to educational “colleges” or even “universities”. The Federal Ministry is driving this process top-down, first and foremost tackling the manifest structures. This gradually unsheathes a latent “culture of eigentlich” within the affected educational institutions. It turns out that this culture, which is functional for the system in dealing with ambiguous, contradictory, or even unattainable requirements, does not disappear, but that it rather absorbs and transforms the manifest demands “from top” in practice “at the bottom”. This again provokes hierarchical interventions top-down, and eventually leads to self-enforcing dynamics between manifest and latent structures, fuelling the spiralling process.     

Do Expectations Make the Difference? A Look at the Effect of Educational Expectations and Academic Performance on Enrollment in Post-Secondary Education

Despite the belief that education is the great equalizer in American society, previous research has shown that the promises of educational accomplishments have not extended equally across racial/ethnic groups as minorities are less likely to matriculate to post-secondary education. Using data from the second follow-up and base year of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, we examine the impact of GPA and students’ expectations on the probability of post-secondary enrollment. Specifically, we assess the impact of low achievement on the probability of post-secondary enrollment across racial/ethnic groups. We find that low achievement acts as less of a barrier to post-secondary enrollment for minority students compared with their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Moreover, students with high expectations and low achievement experienced higher probabilities of post-secondary enrollment than students with low expectations and high achievement. Given that minority students are said to have higher expectations, we examine whether the interaction of expectations and achievement varies across racial/ethnic groups. While we did not uncover racial/ethnic differences for low-achieving students with high expectations, our findings suggest that expectations help propel all low-achieving students with high expectations into post-secondary enrollment. This study moves beyond the traditional black/white differences by including a number of racial/ethnic groups.     

Gender Differences in the Presentation of Observable Risk Indicators of Problem Gambling

In many countries where gambling is legalised, there has been a strong public policy focus on the need for strategies to reduce gambling related harm. These have often included policies requiring staff in gambling venues to identify and/or assist people who might be experiencing gambling-related harm. To facilitate this process, researchers have developed visible behavioural indicators that might be used to profile potentially problematic gambling. Few of these studies have, however, examined whether such indicators or ‘warning signs’ might differ between men and women. In this study, we describe the results of an analysis of data drawn from 1185 fortnightly gamblers that included 338 problem gamblers as classified by the Problem Gambling Severity Index. Indicators of problem gambling were similar between males and females with a few key exceptions. Indicators reflecting emotional distress were more commonly reported by females with gambling problems, whereas problem gambling males were more likely to display aggressive behaviour towards gambling devices and others in the venue. Amongst males, signs of emotional distress as well as attempts to conceal their presence in venues from others most strongly differentiated between problem and non-problem gamblers. Amongst females, signs of anger, a decline in grooming and those attempts to access credit were the most distinguishing indicators. These findings have implications for the refinement of identification policies and practices.