Search results for "scale"

Banks’ business strategies on the edge of distress

2019

AbstractThe paper investigates the importance of banks’ business classification in shaping the risk profile of financial institutions on a global scale. We employ a rare-event logit model based on a state-of-the-art list of major global distress events from the global financial crisis. When clustering banks by their business strategies using a community detection approach, we show that (i) capital enhanced resilience only for traditional banks that were on average less capitalized than other banks; (ii) boosting ROE, usually associated with riskier exposures, improved resilience for stable funded and asset diversified banks; (iii) conversely, higher levels of ROA exacerbated banks’ vulnerab…

Psychosocial factors associated with helmet use by adult cyclists

2019

Abstract: This study examines beliefs about helmet use in adult cyclists from 17 countries participating in the COST Action TU1101 Project (Helmet Optimization in Europe – HOPE). A total of 5797 respondents were included in the analysis after applying eligibility criteria and data cleaning. Cyclists' beliefs were assessed by 25 items using a 7-point Likert scale. These items were factor analyzed resulting in a four-factor solution (Factor 1: Perceived Benefits and Risk Reduction, Factor 2: Perceived Disadvantages and Barriers to Helmet Use, Factor 3: Perception of Group Norms, and Factor 4: Situation-Dependence of Helmet Use). Results show that both beliefs and helmet wearing behavior diffe…

Measuring situations that stress Mexicans while driving

2016

The purpose of this paper is to construct a scale that will help determine the aspects involved in driving a motor vehicle that influence the levels of stress in a human being. Two complementary studies were conducted: the first one determined, by qualitative methods, the aspects of driving that 103 participants found most stressful whilst driving; the second was a validation of the scale constructed with said information on 295 participants (142 males, 153 females, age mean 37.41, std. dev. 14.008). The scale included 22 situations that were then evaluated on a Likert scale to assess the level of stress they evoke. These items were arranged on 3 factors, and descriptive statistics were com…

Assessment of the Total Factor Productivity Change in the Spanish Ports: Hicks–Moorsteen Productivity Index Approach

2016

AbstractThe assessment of the productivity growth of ports is essential to improve their performance and competitiveness. Although there are several nonparametric methodologies to compute the productivity change, the Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index is the only multiplicatively completed index that can be computed without price data. For the first time, the total factor productivity (TFP) change of a sample of ports is evaluated. The analysis covers the 28 ports comprising the Spanish port system, using data over the period 2005–2012. The drivers of TFP—technical change, technical efficiency, mix efficiency, and residual scale efficiency—are also investigated. The results indicate that fr…

Driver stress in five Spanish-speaking countries: Construct validity of the LatinSET

2020

Abstract Introduction Driver stress is a phenomenon many have studied in probably all five continents. It has been the focus of curiosity for all sorts of disciplines, and science has been unable to curb it, much less park it. Objectives This study aims to generate a unique scale that can be used in Spanish speaking countries regardless of culture or geography. Method and Materials A sample of 1954 drivers from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Chile and Spain was comprised. Through this study, the original 21 items of the ISET (Stressful Situations in Transit Inventory, in Spanish) were used to carry out both an Exploratory Factorial Analysis as well as a Confirmatory Factorial Analysis. Resu…

Investigation of the consequences of the modifiable areal unit problem in macroscopic traffic safety analysis: A case study accounting for scale and …

2019

Abstract Traffic safety analysis at the macroscopic level usually relies on previously defined areal traffic analysis zones (TAZs) that are used as the units of investigation. Hence, statistical inference is made on the basis of such units, implying that the consideration of a certain TAZ configuration may influence the results and conclusions achieved. Regarding this, the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) is a well-known issue in the field of spatial statistics, which refers to the effects that arise in statistical properties and estimations when there is a change in areal units of analysis. In this paper, the consequences of MAUP have been investigated through a dataset of traffic cras…

“Pédaler en toute sécurité”: The Cycling Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) in Belgium – A validation study

2021

Abstract Introduction: During the last few years, the use of behavioral questionnaires for assessing risky behaviors of road users different from motor-vehicle drivers has grown considerably in applied research for road safety. In this regard, recent tools such as the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) are gaining ground, being adapted and tested in further languages, thus getting useful to address the case of countries whose language is different to the English and Spanish. Therefore, and in order to extend the use of the CBQ, this study aimed (i) to develop the validation of the CBQ to the French and Dutch languages, in order to cover the population of Belgian cyclists and (potentially)…

Assessing the factor structure of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS)

2020

Abstract The Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) is a self-report instrument to assess risky driving behaviours among youth population. Although previous studies have offered evidences of reliability and validity for the BYNDS scores, results are not conclusive as regards its factor structure. The aim of this research was to assess the factor structure of the BYNDS via Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA). The BYNDS was administered to a sample of 832 drivers aged from 18 to 25 years (Argentina = 270, Colombia = 350, and Mexico = 212). Six models were examined: three derived from previous literature, one emerged from an exploratory factor analysis, a unidimensional model, and a bi…

Design aspects of rating scales in questionnaires

2018

Researching pronunciation learning strategies: An overview and a critical look

2018

Disparate goals that learners might have in learning second or foreign language pronunciation and the scant classroom time that can be dedicated to teaching this target language subsystem dictate that learner autonomy is of vital importance in this case and adept use of pronunciation learning strategies (PLS) can be viewed as key to the development of this attribute. Surprisingly, research on these strategies is scarce, mainly focusing on the identification and classification of PLS, diverse instruments are used for data collection and the findings are inconclusive. The paper provides an overview of the available research on PLS with respect to their identification, learners’ preferences co…