RISULTATI RICERCA

Self-handicapping strategies: a comparison between sport domain and school domain ABSTRACT: A growing body of studies focuses on the cross-domain analysis of cognitive and emotional-motivational factors. The aim of this research is to study the relationship between the self-handicapping strategies and motivational beliefs such as the personal conceptions of abilities and the achievement goals and in school and sport domains. Four hundred eighty five subjects, from both sexes and from medium socio-economic status, were administered a questionnaire on self-handicapping strategies (Midgley, Arunkumar and Urdan, 1996), the Personal Conceptions of Intelligence Scale (Faria and Fontaine, 1997) and a questionnaire on achievement goals (Duda and Nicholls, 1992). Results indicate differences in the use of self-handicapping strategies and goals of achievement according to domain and gender. Firstly, athletes used self-handicapping strategies significantly more often than students. In particular, we observe the existence of significant interaction effects between the domain and the gender for self-handicapping strategies, showing that athletes women used more frequently above-mentioned strategies than other groups. Moreover, the study highlights the existence of positive significant correlations between the self-handicapping strategies, the static conception of abilities and the performance goals both in school domain and sport domain. In summary the research emphasizes the importance of analyzing properties of school and sport domains in depth in order to better understand the use of self-handicapping strategies.

Competenza atletica percepita e valore soggettivo del compito nei bambini: uno studio longitudinale ABSTRACT: The experience in physical and sport activity during school represents a developmental opportunity for children to achieve an appropriate awareness of physical perceived competence and to enhance the subjective value of physical activity. We analyzed the effects of a motor activity program on the perceptions of physical competence and subjective value of sport activity in a sample of 119 children of third, fourth and fifth grades in three different schools located in Cagliari’s area. About half of our sample took part to a physical and sport program of twelve weeks promoted by CONI, whereas the other half attended standard curricular planning. We assumed that competence perceptions and subjective task value show a stronger increase in the experimental group; we also assumed that competence perceptions differ depending on age and gender. Results emphasized a meaningful program’s effect on subjective task value, whereas none effects on competence perceptions resulted. The competence perception was affected by age, but not by gender. Therefore our results partially differed from what was reported in literature previously. They suggest more testing about program’s efficacy and underline the importance of recognizing and supervising optimal conditions wherein children can fully develop personal competencies, since from childhood

Moving health. The physical abilities and habits of children ABSTRACT: The project MOVING HEALTH was born from the coordination among different public and private bodies that are busy with physical activity and health in a municipality of the North-West of Italy. It is addressed at mapping the current problems and at constructing a synergy among resources in the community for orienting the future intervention strategies, also on the bases of solicitations of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2004). In particular this study, which uses the data collected in three subsequent waves starting from 04/05 on almost the total school population aged 6 and 10 years (about 3.000 children) has the following goals: a) to describe the anthropometric condition (by the way of BMI); b) to investigate abilities and habits of 6 year children (e.g.: daily time for active and sedentary play); c) to investigate the relationship between time for active and sedentary play and the condition of obesity in 6 year children; d) to investigate the physical abilities of 10 year children (e.g.: elevation and strength). The results (frequencies and chi-squared test; means and analysis of variance; logistic regression) showed that: a) the conditions of overweight and obesity increase in more recent waves, especially among boys aged 6 years; b) the daily time for active play decreases, especially among obese children, while in parallel the time for sedentary play increases; c) the time for active play is negatively related to the condition of obesity; d) the physical abilities of 10 years children decrease, especially for elevation and among overweight children.

Generalized maximum entropy and simple component analysis for the customer satisfaction analysis in the local public transportation. The experience of the AMTS company (by Enrico Ciavolino, Luigi D’Ambra, Daniela De Franco). Objectives The necessity of developing an integrated system for evaluating the Passenger Satisfaction (PS) in the Local Public Transportation (LPT), is introduced in the our paper. The approach is presented in the second paragraph, where the main characteristics and the peculiarities of the PS survey and analysis management processes based, are explained by the experience of the ‘Azienda Mobilita Trasporti Sannio’(AMTS) Company of Benevento. Methods and Results In the third paragraph, the methodology Simple Component Analysis (SCA) is showed for analyzing and evaluating the questionnaire submitted to the customers of the LPT. The PS is formalized and studied by the Structural Equation Model (SEM) based on an innovative estimation method called Generalized Maximum Entropy (GME) showed in the forth paragraph. Conclusions The paper is concluded by a real experience of PS, processes based, realized by AMTS Company, where the potentialities of the statistical tools are showed. The statistical results obtained, are used by the decision makers, for choosing the quality characteristics have to been improved, for increase the level of the satisfaction, of their passengers.

Role and problems of the statistical methods to evaluate services related to goods production systems (by Umberto Magagnoli, Gabriele Cantaluppi). Objectives This paper gives a brief overview of the statistical methods concerning new features in Quality Control either in the productive and distributive system or in internal and external services. Methods and Results Some of the main statistical methodologies related to the traditional methods of Quality Control, already innovated by the Total Quality Methods and the Taguchi Methods, and some other methods to verify the Service Quality and to test the Customer Satisfaction are given and compared. Conclusions The statistical tools support consideration to the quality of goods and services, favoured by the following factors: complexity and innovation of the productive systems, market and know-how globalisation, and the increasing of the information thorough the diffusion of data processing.

Assessing sensitivity analysis in patient satisfaction: a case study from "Luigi Sacco" Hospital (by Nadia Solaro, Massimo Pagani). Despite of the recognized relevance of conceptual models as a theoretical reference in patient satisfaction studies, in some practical circumstances they are too complex to be applied. This is particularly true when patients are aged, so that higher risks of misunderstanding and consequent biased answers would suggest employing simpler data collecting procedures. These considerations suggest the importance of employing statistical methods capable to deal with data collected according to quality evaluation systems that are necessarily simplified. By starting from a survey carried out experimentally on a set of patients admitted in 2003 at Sacco Hospital in Milan, in this work we have relied on a combination of statistical methods for: 1) constructing patient typologies, by using some indicators of clinical picture complexity, effectiveness of given treatments and perceived quality, this latter in the binary form Satisfied/Not satisfied; 2) performing a sensitivity analysis, to assess if results derived from analysis are sufficiently stable, and then reliable; 3) carrying out a more thorough inspection on the underlying data structure by referring to the results derived from sensitivity analysis.

Airport service quality and customer satisfaction: a methodology that supports the traditional one (by Valerio Gatta). Objectives In this paper we consider the problem of service quality measurement. In marketing literature the study of service quality has focused on customer evaluation. Often, the global service quality index is simply computed as the average of the clients’ responses on the overall service evaluation and then, through the relationship among the latter and the judgments on each service dimension, the importance weights of the single service characteristics are calculated. Sometimes, the importance of each dimension is obtained by directly asking respondents to allocate a certain amount of points across the dimensions. It is to stress that these procedures may lead to partial or biased measures. With the aim to overcome this problem and to obtain a more precise satisfaction index, we consider a Stated Preference survey to be used in combination with the traditional customer satisfaction survey. Methods and Results Stated Preference methods refer to a family of techniques which foresees interviewing individuals concerning their preferences regarding a set of different options to estimate utility functions. In particular, we use a choice-based conjoint analysis which asks people to choose among hypothetical alternatives of the services. These options are described in terms of combinations of levels of the various airport features. By means of discrete choice models we analyze the data and we get the information required. We present findings from an empirical study. The data considered for this application is derived from a survey on airport customers conducted on a large Italian airport. Given our objective, in the actual study attribute levels are simply selected according to the items and verbal scales used in the general survey. We found that waiting time and airport services have the largest relative importance weights, while shops and duty free the smallest. Moreover, for each attribute, the effect on utility increases moving from the lowest category very poor to the highest category excellent, but this growth is not perfectly linear. Another aspect which is worth mentioning regards the substantial difference between the overall satisfaction index derived by linking up the two types of survey and the global judgment on the airport. Finally, through simulations we show the main elements in which airport management should concentrate their efforts. Conclusions The results obtained from the analysis are very interesting and potentially useful for airport marketing. By employing the methodology proposed, we are able to get the relative importance measures of the attributes, jointly evaluated, that is, based on an explicit trade-off between attributes, and through the latter information to calculate the service quality index.

Competences of graduates by Rasch analysis (by Lucio Bertoli-Barsotti, Silvia Biffignandi, Valeria Caviezel). Objectives In this study we apply the Rasch analysis to evaluate the competences of graduates in their job (required and effective competences). The database comes from a study of employment performances of University of Bergamo graduates. In this paper, we study the latent variable which is constructed as a difference between the score attributed by the subject to the item on effectiveness and the score attributed to the importance of the corresponding item. Each item represents activities related to the job. Starting from 26 items, we want to determine a new collection as a good measurement instrument according to the Rasch analysis. Methods and Results Bearing in mind that the initial data was based on a Likert 5-point scale, the variable difference had a score ranging from 4 to +4. Recategorisation was necessary to avoid problems of ill-conditioning with the data set; optimal categorisation was determined via a Likert 4-point scale identified thus: 000123333. Subsequently, 6 sociodemographic variables were selected as person factors: degree course (Economics, Languages, Engineering), sex (male, female), graduation mark, income group, whether employee or self-employed, length of employment. The introduction of person factors allowed the collective data to be broken down into subgroups potentially reflecting a variety of response typologies (Differential Item Functioning). Subjects with a high level of missing responses, due either to effectively omitted responses or responses pertaining to the category of item not relevant, were eliminated from the original data set. Thus, 698 subjects were involved in the analysis. Having applied a stepwise selection of the items, which consisted in eliminating one item at a time, starting from the most problematic items, while observing the values indicated by the model’s goodness of fit, a new test containing 21 items was determined. The result obtained was additionally confirmed via an application of the Andersen test. Conclusions Finally, this newly determined test could have a future use in investigations aimed at assessing graduates’own perception of performance with respect to other subject groups, or within the same group or part of it, in those instances where the focus might be on a longitudinal analysis of data. Furthermore, there is potential for a least a partial use of the new test in the context of an extension of such measurements to other items and subjects (by linking design).

Statistics for the social enterprise of quality (by Maurizio Carpita, Elena Poli). Objectives The present study firstly proposes to extend the standard total quality approach, to take into account the peculiarities of the social enterprises, as the non profit organiza- tions offering social utility services are called in Italy since 2006 (DL n. 155/2006). Furthermore, the study aims at evaluating the characteristics of the quality systems in the certified social enterprises, in order to obtain a picture of the actual quality systems developed in the social service sector. Methods and Results The theoretical model proposed is called Social Relationship Value Management (SRVM) and is developed starting from the analogous model proposed in the for profit literature (Payne et al., 2001). The theoretical investigation, also concerning the statistical instruments to evaluate quality, is completed by a online survey involving the quality responsible of the certified social enterprises belonging to the CGM network. In this context, the SRVM approach can be developed by the linkage research techniques, using appropriate statistical indicators and models. The results of the survey clearly show that (i) the quality is considered as an internal instrument of organization and management rather than as an instrument useful to strengthen the relationships with the stakeholders and (ii) the weakness of the quality system is mainly due to the lack of recognition and interest from the external subjects. Conclusions The SRVM model can be adopted to develop effective quality systems in the social enterprises and can be supported by using appropriate statistical techniques. In our opinion, the proposed model can help to face and partly solve the problems pointed out by the survey.

Statistical indicators for the evaluation of university teaching satisfaction (by Paolo Cozzucoli, Salvatore Ingrassia, G. Damiana Costanzo, Angelo Mazza) . Objectives We present some simple statistical indicators and related graphical representations, to be considered in the analysis of data coming from student opinion surveys about educational activities in universities. Methods and Results These indices and graphics are normalized and capable to measure the satisfaction on specific areas of the learning process. Conclusions The proposed methodology could be applied in evaluation systems for measuring the university teaching satisfaction.

The quality of local public transportation services: synthetic evaluation by composite indices: Case study of line A of the underground of Rome (by Isabella Carbonaro). Objectives Comparing composite indices for four big dimensions of quality of transportation services. Methods and Results Composite indices are built from the results of a research of the Agency for the control and public services’quality of RomeT. wo methods, developed along the lines of MCDM (Multiple Criteria Decision Making), are applied: SAW (Simple Additive Weighting Method) and TOPSIS (Tecnique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution). The results are compared with the simple arithmetic mean composite indice calculated by the Agency. Different weights are linked to SAW and TOPSIS (derived from standard deviation measures for the former and entropy approach for the latter). The results can be used as a signal for different cluster of indicators and zones. Conclusions It is useful to have a set of aggregative methods, especially to obtain a feed-back from the synthesis procedures to the indicators (and the quality dimensions) that need priority intervention.

SIS-RAI: the statistical information system of the Direzione Amministrazione abbonamenti of the Italian public radio and television system (RAI) (by Bruno Chiandotto, Bruno Bertaccini) . Objectives Current Italian law, (R.D.L. 21/02/1938 n. 246), requires that every household owning one or more TV sets should pay a subscription fee. Because this norm is not always complied with, a specific agency (Direzione Amministrazione Abbonamenti) was created in order to enforce it, thereby acquiring new subscriptions, maintaining the old subscription portfolio and recuperating subscriptions not paid previously. The objective of the present paper is to illustrate the main characteristics of the Statistical Information System implemented by the authors for RAI. Methods and Results The Statistical Information System has to deliver information regarding the different structural components of the TV audience. In addition, the information system should provide the agency with year-end forecasts regarding flows in the characteristics of the TV audience. These forecasts are made utilizing the methodology proposed by Balestra and Matoussi in 1984. This model, suitably generalized and adapted to the case on hand, should generate three different forecasts, (Low, Average, High) which are updated each month on the basis of the newly-acquired data. Since 2005, the Agency has made large use of the Statistical Information System software for its activities, that is implemented on intranet website. The System now produces a rich and well organized set of information on the basis of specific queries (registered viewers, paying viewers, default debtors, new subscribers, cancellations, ecc.) and the mentioned forecasts. These forecasts are then compared to the Agency’s pre-defined goals. If there are differences between the forecasts and the goals, and especially if these fall short of the goals, attention must be given to the most critical aspects which have emerged, in order to implement corrective interventions. Conclusions The peculiarity of the implemented system is the transformation of statistical data in information that becomes knowledge directly utilizable for decision purposes.

A longitudinal analysis of academic achievements in the University of Bologna (by Stefania Mignani, Paola Monari, Silvia Bianconcini, Silvia Cagnone). Objectives The aim of this paper is to analyze academic achievement of a cohort of students enrolled in 2001 at one of the most numerous Faculties of the University of Bologna. This represents a first longitudinal study motivated by a new requirement of the University system, that is supporting students in their whole career. Methods and Results We make use of latent growth models for longitudinal data. The basic idea of this approach is that individuals differ in their growth over time according to a continuous underlying or latent trajectory. Random coefficients in the model permit each individual to have a different trajectory. Latent growth models can be incorporated in the Structural Equation Models (SEMs) framework by viewing the random coefficients as latent variables. Hence model identification and estimation are performed according to the conventions of the SEM analysis. Conclusions Latent Growth models are particularly useful in analyzing student performances over time. We identified three different subgroups or cohorts, and we applied linear and non linear latent growth models. The effects of different covariates in the student temporal behavior is also evaluated.

Multivariate analysis for evaluation of e-government policies (by Marco Mancini, Maria Adele Milioli, Dimitri Tartari, Sergio Zani, Andrea Cerioli). Objectives Emilia-Romagna is a leading region in Europe on e-government applications. In this field it experienced the use of statistics as a key input to identify weak areas and to define policy priority. Thanks to the UnderStand project (European Regions UNDER way towards STANDard indicators for benchmarking information society) Emilia-Romagna has produced a set of indicators on ICT infrastructures, technology adoption, interactivity and quality of on-line public services, comparable at European level. This multivariate information is essential for the purpose of comparing local performances with respect to key e-government issues and for evaluating the impact of e-government policies. Major funding policies will be based on data gained through the UnderStand project, which need to be analyzed through integration of different data sources and application of appropriate multivariate statistical techniques. Methods and Results In this paper we present a cluster analysis of the municipalities of Emilia- Romagna, based on a set of back office and a set of front office indicators. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering algorithms have been applied to each set of indicators to identify homogeneous groups of municipalities according to back and front office dimensions. The results have been compared to discover similarities between groups: the clusters of municipalities that are weak on ICT infrastructure and on interactivity of public services show good overlap and similarly for the strongest municipalities. Differences in e-government behaviour can be explained in terms of political and strategic attitudes. Conclusions The results of this paper show the importance of multivariate statistical methodology for the purpose of benchmarking the Information Society. Cluster analysis has been applied in the spirit of measuring for governing, as the ultimate goal of benchmarking is to provide policy makers with extensive information about the performance of e-government actions and policies.