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 chain, 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 3 years. How should the data for this question be coded?