17. According to Marriott’s vice president of marketing and public relations, quality, price, service, amenities, comfort, and convenience are all independent variables that affect the preference for a hotel chain. Assume that in a survey of hotel chains, each of the independent variables is measured on a 7-point scale, with 1 = poor and 7 = excellent. Preference for hotel chain is also measured on a 7-point scale, with 1 = not at all preferred and 7 = greatly preferred. Each respondent rates Marriott and three competing hotel chains on all the independent variables as well as preference to stay there on a vacation. What statistical technique(s) would you use to answer the following questions?

a. About 13 percent of the respondents have missing values on one or more variables. How would you treat the missing values?

b. A question asked the respondents to check as many of the seven hotels that they had stayed in the past three years. How should the data for this question be coded?

c. The sample is divided into two groups: regular patrons of Marriott and patrons of other hotels. Is patronage associated with the customers’ respective incomes (defined as high, medium, and low)? How would you test the statistical significance of the observed association and what statistic would you use to measure the strength of association?

d. Is hotel patronage as defined in question 17c associated with family size (defined as small or large)? How would you test the statistical significance of the observed association and what statistic would you use to measure the strength of association?

e. Is preference related to each of the independent variables considered individually? What is the nature of the relationship you expect?

f. Is preference related to all the independent variables considered simultaneously?

g. Do the respondents evaluate the hotel chains more favorable on quality than they do on price? Formulate the null (H0) and the alternative (H1) hypotheses and specify the appropriate test.

h. Do the two groups of question 17c differ in terms of their ratings of Marriott on quality? Formulate the null (H0) and the alternative (H1) hypotheses and specify the appropriate test.

i. The goal of the management is that the mean preference of consumers for Marriott exceeds 6.0. Has this goal been achieved? Formulate the null (H0) and the alternative (H1)

hypotheses and specify the appropriate test.