Statistical Inference Research Articles

Assessment of determinant factors responsible for divorce among divorcees in rural areas of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed factors responsible for divorce among divorcees in rural areas of Ibadan by specifically focusing on sexual satisfaction, ethnicity/culture, and educational disparities. Divorce is related to marriage and family, and it has been used as an instrument to expose failure through marriage. In Nigeria, the high rate of divorce is mostly associated with urbanization and industrialization. The study employed a multi-stage sampling procedure using a well-structured and closed-ended questionnaire. Three out of six rural local government areas were randomly selected, representing 50%. 354 divorcees were randomly selected out of 3,064 divorce cases heard in the last 4 years using the Taro Yamane formula. The collected data were analysed through descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (chi square). The study revealed that more than half of the respondents admitted that sexual intercourse brings peace to their family, while 52% disagreed that ethnicity has to do with divorce. Therefore, sexual activities between the couple must be set as a priority, with respect for one another's as well as unique cultural beliefs, customs, and communication preferences.

Work environment as predictors of perceived organisational performance of private university libraries in South-west, Nigeria

The library is the major source of information provider in the university community, which makes it a storehouse of information for intellectual development for staff and students. The effective and efficient performance of any private university library personnel will greatly depend on the work environment of the private university library which can be conducive or unconducive for them to perform their task. To this effect, this study investigated the influence of the work environment on organisational performance of private university libraries in South-west, Nigeria. Two research questions were answered while one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 alpha level. The study adopted survey research design of the correlational type with the study population of 430 librarians from 30 private universities established as at 2021, in the six states of South-west, Nigeria. The study used total enumeration method to cover all the professional and para-professional library personnel. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The Cronbach alpha was used to compute the reliability coefficient of the instruments as follows: Work environment (0.730) and organisational performance (0.885). Sample of 378 questionnaires were retrieved and used for data analysis using descriptive statistics, while inferential statistics was used for data analysis. Findings revealed that the state of work environment of private university libraries in the south-west is conducive. Result from the finding indicated that there is large organisational performance in the private university libraries, the result also revealed that there is a significant relationship between work environment and organisational performance of private university libraries in South-West, Nigeria (r=.513, n=378, p (.000)<.05) and Psychological work environment (r=.449, p(.000)<.05), has the highest influence. Hence, work environment influenced/enhanced organisational performance of private university libraries in the study.

Oral dysbiosis and risk of gastrointestinal cancers: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.

Poor oral health and oral dysbiosis were found to be associated with cancers, especially of the gastrointestinal (GI)system. But the cause-and-effect relationship and the effect of the risk are not yet known due to scarcity of literature. Understanding such risk relationship can contribute to an integrated multi-disciplinary approach for GI cancer prevention. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis is to assess the role of oral dysbiosis on increasing the risk of digestive system cancers. To evaluate the effect of poor oral health on increasing the risk of gastrointestinal cancers. We conducted a systematic search following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in databases PubMed, Elsevier, Wiley's online library and Web of Science from inception to February 2023 to include recent cohort studies that assessed the association between poor oral health and the risk of cancer. We assessed bias using the New Castle Ottawa scale. We used inferential statistics to describe the effect of oral dysbiosis on gastrointestinal cancers. We performed a sub-group analysis to assess the effect of oral conditions on individual cancers. We included 10 longitudinal studies in the meta-analysis. The overall effect size of poor oral health and GI cancer risk was hazard's ratio (HR) =1.30 (95% CI: [1.14, 1.46]) (p<0.001) (I2 = 68.78). Sub-group analysis indicated that poor oral health increases the risk of esophageal cancer HR=1.61 (95% CI: [1.37, 1.85]), stomach cancer HR=1.33 (95% CI: [1.08, 1.58]), pancreatic cancer HR=1.90 (95%CI; [1.29, 2.50]) and colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma HR=1.16 (95% CI: [1.08, 1.23]). The meta-analysis indicated that poor oral health was significantly associated with increasing the risk of GI cancers.

Assessment of Impacts of Flood and Coping Strategies among Rural Households in Gicumbi District, Rwanda

Abstract Floods have become recurrent events in Rwanda, causing diverse effects on rural households across the country. However, little is known about the effects of floods encountered by people and their coping strategies, which are crucial for reducing vulnerability. Gicumbi District is among the most exposed to climate hazards and is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The effects of floods on rural households in Gicumbi district and their coping strategies were examined. A mixed approach was adopted where quantitative data was collected to inform wider understanding of a population and qualitative ones to acquire deep contextual insights about individual’s lived experiences. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 399 heads of households stratified into six district sectors. The study employed descriptive and inferential statistics for data analysis. Common effects of flooding experienced by the respondents included crop destruction, house damage, lack of sufficient food and safe drinking water. The coping strategies adopted by the respondents included saving money and food, support from friends and families, selling assets, borrowing money to restore losses, and migrating to other communities. In addition, flood victims received support from local authorities and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including financial support, temporary shelters, and life support materials. Adaptation strategies adopted by households included drainage channels, plantation of trees, radical terraces and sandbags. The results showed that lack of flood risk knowledge and access to early warnings, inadequate housing, living in high-risk areas, and dependence on a single source of income were the main factors influencing the severity of flood effects. Early warnings (p&lt;0.001) and flood risk awareness (p=0.009) significantly elicited positive coping mechanisms. Governments and relevant stakeholders should develop effective strategies and establish programs enabling timely access to early warning systems and increasing disaster risk awareness to reduce vulnerability for improved livelihoods and community resilience.

Anytime-valid off-policy Inference for Contextual Bandits

Contextual bandit algorithms are ubiquitous tools for active sequential experimentation in healthcare and the tech industry. They involve online learning algorithms that adaptively learn policies over time to map observed contexts X t to actions A t in an attempt to maximize stochastic rewards R t . This adaptivity raises interesting but hard statistical inference questions, especially counterfactual ones: for example, it is often of interest to estimate the properties of a hypothetical policy that is different from the logging policy that was used to collect the data—a problem known as “off-policy evaluation” (OPE). Using modern martingale techniques, we present a comprehensive framework for OPE inference that relaxes unnecessary conditions made in some past works (such as performing inference at prespecified sample sizes, uniformly bounded importance weights, constant logging policies, and constant policy values, among others), significantly improving on them both theoretically and empirically. Importantly, our methods can be employed while the original experiment is still running (that is, not necessarily post hoc), when the logging policy may be itself changing (due to learning), and even if the context distributions are a highly dependent time series (such as if they are drifting over time). More concretely, we derive confidence sequences for various functionals of interest in OPE. These include doubly robust ones for time-varying off-policy mean reward values, but also confidence bands for the entire cumulative distribution function of the off-policy reward distribution. All of our methods (a) are valid at arbitrary stopping times; (b) only make nonparametric assumptions; (c) do not require importance weights to be uniformly bounded, and if they are, we do not need to know these bounds; and (d) adapt to the empirical variance of our estimators. In summary, our methods enable anytime-valid off-policy inference using adaptively collected contextual bandit data.

An Investigation into the Efficacy of Structured Education Program on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse among Adolescent Girls in Certain Schools in Mysuru

The dark issue of child sexual abuse (CSA) must start at home and spread to all levels of society if reform is to be achieved. It is awkward for parents to discuss sexuality and sexual abuse with their children because Indian society has traditionally ingrained conservative beliefs about these topics in its youth. The majority of homes completely avoid having these conversations, which understates the potential of harm, particularly in cases of rare and underreported sexual abuse. Quasi experimental pre-test post-test design, a convenience sampling technique was used to select the samples (N=60). Tool was administered to assess the current knowledge, a structured teaching programme (STP) was conducted later post test was administered and data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The post-test knowledge score mean percentage (86.68%) was higher than the mean percentile of pre-test knowledge score (46.6%). The calculated paired ‘t’ value is greater than the table value (0.05 44df) = 2.01 It showed a significant difference between mean pre and post-test knowledge scores. Calculated Chi-square values are showed significant association between socio demographic data of respondents with their pre-test knowledge scores. The study findings showed that knowledge on CSA was less before STP. The results indicated that STP is helpful in increasing their knowledge effectively.

Community pharmacists’ awareness, identification, and management of prescribing cascades: A cross-sectional survey

BackgroundPrescribing cascades can lead to unnecessary medication use, healthcare costs, and patient harm. Pharmacists oversee prescriptions from multiple prescribers and are well positioned to identify such cascades, making pharmacists key stakeholders to address them. ObjectivesTo evaluate community pharmacists’ awareness, identification, and management of prescribing cascades and to assess behavioural determinants that may be targeted in future strategies to minimise inappropriate prescribing cascades. MethodsAn online survey was developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and emailed to all registered community pharmacists in Ireland (n = 3775) in November 2021. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Free-text sections were given to capture reasons for non-resolution of identified prescribing cascades and suggestions to aid prescribing cascade identification and management; this text underwent content analysis. ResultsOf the 220 respondents, 51% were aware of the term ‘prescribing cascade’ before the survey, whilst 69% had identified a potentially inappropriate prescribing cascade in practice. Over one third were either slightly confident (26.4%) or not confident at all (10%) in their ability to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing cascades in patients' prescriptions before the survey, whilst 55.2% were concerned that patients were receiving prescribing cascades they had not identified. Most respondents wanted further information/training to help prescribing cascade identification (88.3%) and management (86.1%). Four predominant TDF domains identified were common to both i) influencing non-resolution of identified prescribing cascades and ii) in the suggestions to help identify and manage prescribing cascades: ‘Environmental Context and Resources’, ‘Social/Professional Role and Identity’, ‘Social Influences’ and ‘Memory, Attention and Decision Processes’. ConclusionsThere is a clear need to provide additional resources to help community pharmacists identify and manage prescribing cascades. These findings will support the development of theory-informed behaviour change strategies to aid the minimisation of inappropriate prescribing cascades and decrease the risk of medication-related harm for patients.

Statistical inference for linear quantile regression with measurement error in covariates and nonignorable missing responses

Statistical inference for linear quantile regression with measurement error in covariates and nonignorable missing responses

Information Systems and Operational Efficiency of Maritime Firms in Port Harcourt

The study examined the relationship between information systems and operational efficiency of maritime firms’ in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Three research questions and three research hypotheses were formulated to address the specific objectives of this study. The RBV theory was adopted in this study and also quantitative research design using a correlational method of investigation. The population consists of 16 maritime firms in Port Harcourt. Census sampling was applied with focus on managers. Four managers per firm were sampled; a total of 64 managers were sampled. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha test and it stood at 0.88 higher than the benchmark of 0.7. The data collected for this study were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The Spearman Rank-Order Correlation Technique was employed to test the various hypotheses formulated. The result of the analysis revealed that the information system is significantly and positively related to the operational efficiency of maritime firms’ in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The empirical results of this study confirmed this as a positive and significant relationship was found between processing transaction systems and operational efficiency of maritime firms, and between electronic data interchange and operational efficiency of maritime firms. Based on these findings, it was concluded that the information system with its dimension of processing transaction system and electronic data interchange will improve operational efficiency of maritime firms in Port Harcourt. This study recommends that maritime firms should leverage on information systems as this would ensure reduction in cost and improve operational efficiency; they should use processing transaction system in order to facilitate the recording, tracking, and management of business transactions within the organization and the port, and they should adopt electronic data interchange for processing of documents and timely delivery of same.

Factors associated with timely initiation of antenatal care among reproductive age women in The Gambia: a multilevel fixed effects analysis.

A significant factor impacting the incidence of maternal and neonatal fatalities is the timely initiation of antenatal care (ANC) services in healthcare facilities. Despite the recommendations by the World Health Organization and the numerous benefits of timely initiation of ANC, studies have revealed that the overall prevalence of timely ANC initiation in 36 sub-Saharan African countries remains low and women in The Gambia also initiate ANC late. However, no known study in The Gambia has focused on assessing the factors associated with timely initiation of ANC at the time of writing this paper. Thus, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with the timely initiation of ANC among reproductive-age women in The Gambia. A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study and conducted among 5,734 reproductive-age women using data from the 2019-2020 Gambia Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS). Using STATA version 14.0, we conducted the analysis using descriptive and inferential statistics. Multilevel logistic regression models were fitted to determine the factors associated with timely ANC utilization and adjusted odds ratios were used to present the results with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. The overall prevalence of timely initiation of ANC services among reproductive-age women in The Gambia was 43.0%. We found that women aged 30-34 [aOR = 1.79, 95% CI = 1.30-2.47], those who were married [aOR = 2.69, 95% CI = 1.85-3.90] as well as women from the richest households [aOR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.20, 2.20] had higher odds of seeking timely ANC services as compared to their counterparts. Also, those who had given birth to two children [aOR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.6 -0.91] had lower odds of initiating timely ANC as compared to those who had given birth only once. Women who reside in rural areas [aOR = 1.72, 95%CI = 1.34, 2.20] also had higher odds of seeking timely ANC services than those residing in urban areas. Individual-level factors such as maternal age, marital status, parity, wealth status, place of residence, and religion were associated with the timely initiation of ANC services among reproductive-age women. These factors ought to be considered in efforts to increase the timely initiation of ANC among reproductive-age women in The Gambia.

Effect of Eco-Friendly Perceptions on Behaviour of Guests in Eco-Rated Camps at the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya

In the current era where environmental degradation is alarming, hospitality enterprises have picked up pace and put greater effort in finding practical solutions to the problem. In this regard, the main driver of environmental conservation is stakeholders’ support, especially that of clientele. However, effectiveness of ecological measures mainly depends on favourability of hotel guests’ perceptions towards the initiatives. Drawing on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study sought to establish the effect of eco-friendly perceptions on behaviour of guests in eco-rated camps at the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The philosophical position of the study was pragmatism with an embedded mixed methods research design. The study population comprised of 44 eco-rated camp managers and 208, 620 visitors to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 10 managers and 399 hotel guests were selected using clustered, stratified, and proportionate random sampling techniques. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics while, inferential statistics were derived from Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on the Partial Least Squares technique (PLS). Qualitative data was analysed using narrative analysis. The results showed that perceived behavioural consequences and perceived behavioural control had significant effect on eco-friendly behaviour of guests β=0.0317, p = 0.005 &lt;0.05 and β=0.289, p = 0.001 &lt;0.05, respectively. However, perceived subjective norms had no significant effect on eco-friendly behaviour of guests β=0.008, p = 0.36 &gt;0.05. The study recommends environmental protection campaigns that strengthen favourable behavioural and control beliefs as well as a better understanding perceived subjective norms and precise socio-cultural contexts in order to augment the most compelling practices. Future research approaches could narrow the sampling frames and test the predictive role of normative beliefs in a specified socio-cultural setting

The Perceptions of Indigenous Language and Cultural Synergy in Ghana and Sierra Leone: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study examined how young people perceive the revitalization of indigenous languages in multicultural environments. The research team gathered data from a stratified random sample of 200 participants hailing from diverse rural and urban areas in Ghana and Sierra Leone. Employing a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, the study employed questionnaires and interviews to gauge local community perceptions toward indigenous language revitalization in Ghana and Sierra Leone. The team also conducted focus groups to gain qualitative insights. The two data sets were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as thematic qualitative analysis to reveal the perspectives of study participants on the importance of indigenous language in maintaining cultural legacy. The findings underscored the significance of indigenous languages beyond communication, emphasizing their exposure to external threats such as cultural assimilation and the dominance of foreign languages. The research team calls on the Ministries in charge of culture in Ghana and Sierra Leone to prioritize initiatives aimed at recovering and safeguarding indigenous languages, as a critical step for cultural transmission and preservation. Keywords: Native Culture, Linguistic Traditions, Cultural Ecosystems, Language, Indigenous Languages, Cultural Synergy

Business Equity and Wealth Inequality in Central and Eastern Europe

AbstractThis paper analyzes the contribution of business equity, housing wealth and the rest of net wealth, to wealth inequality in eight post-socialist countries. Using the third wave of Household Finance and Consumption Survey, we decompose wealth inequality by factor components and use bootstrapping to provide statistical inference. We find that business equity, accounting for over 50% of within-country inequality in most cases, significantly surpasses the contribution of housing wealth. We extend our analysis through a novel simulation approach, employing counterfactual scenarios, to assess variations in between-country inequality. We find that the greatest reduction in the wealth inequality between these countries would occur if business equity were distributed more equally.

Synthetic Replacements for Human Survey Data? The Perils of Large Language Models

Abstract Large language models (LLMs) offer new research possibilities for social scientists, but their potential as “synthetic data” is still largely unknown. In this paper, we investigate how accurately the popular LLM ChatGPT can recover public opinion, prompting the LLM to adopt different “personas” and then provide feeling thermometer scores for 11 sociopolitical groups. The average scores generated by ChatGPT correspond closely to the averages in our baseline survey, the 2016–2020 American National Election Study (ANES). Nevertheless, sampling by ChatGPT is not reliable for statistical inference: there is less variation in responses than in the real surveys, and regression coefficients often differ significantly from equivalent estimates obtained using ANES data. We also document how the distribution of synthetic responses varies with minor changes in prompt wording, and we show how the same prompt yields significantly different results over a 3-month period. Altogether, our findings raise serious concerns about the quality, reliability, and reproducibility of synthetic survey data generated by LLMs.

Comparison of barriers to effective nurse-patient communication in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards

BackgroundCommunication is a basic need of humans. Identifying factors that prevent effective nurse-patient communication allows for the better implementation of necessary measures to modify barriers. This study aims to compare the barriers to effective nurse-patient communication from the perspectives of nurses and patients in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards.Materials and methodsThis cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2022. The participants included 200 nurses (by stratified sampling method) and 200 patients (by systematic random sampling) referred to two conveniently selected hospitals in Shahroud, Iran. The inclusion criteria for nurses were considered having at least a bachelor’s degree and a minimum literacy level for patients to complete the questionnaires. Data were collected by the demographic information form and questionnaire with 30 and 15 questions for nurses and patients, which contained similar questions to those for nurses, based on a 5-point Likert scale. Data were analysis using descriptive indices and inferential statistics (Linear regression) in SPSS software version 18.ResultsThe high workload of nursing, excessive expectations of patients, and the difficulty of nursing work were identified by nurses as the main communication barriers. From the patients’ viewpoints, the aggressiveness of nurses, the lack of facilities (welfare treatment), and the unsanitary conditions of their rooms were the main communication barriers. The regression model revealed that the mean score of barriers to communication among nurses would decrease to 0.48 for each unit of age increase. Additionally, the patient’s residence explained 2.3% of the nurses’ barriers to communication, meaning that native participants obtained a mean score of 2.83 units less than non-native nurses, and there was no statistically significant difference between the COVID and non-COVID wards.ConclusionIn this study, the domain of job characteristics was identified by nurses as the major barrier, and patients emphasized factors that were in the domain of individual/social factors. There is a pressing need to pay attention to these barriers to eliminate them through necessary measures by nursing administrators.

Perception Toward Work-Life Balance Among Healthcare Professionals

Background: Globally, work-life imbalance is a growing concern, especially among healthcare professionals like nurses and doctors. The ‘Work-Life Balance’ is a harmonious equilibrium between an individual's professional and personal responsibilities and being comfortable managing both work and non-work obligations. Methods: A descriptive single-centered quantitative study was conducted among 100 healthcare professionals (50 doctors and 50 nurses) in Kochi, focusing on work-life balance. Data was collected through a Semi-structured questionnaire to assess the socio-demographic data and a questionnaire for self-assessing work-life balance was used. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The comparison of work-life balance between nurses and doctors was computed by using an independent t-test. Results: The majority (65%) of the healthcare professionals were less than thirty years old. Most of them were married (76%) and had children (47%). There was a statistically significant association between monthly income and work-life balance (P=0.001). Around 23% of the health professionals had a poor work-life balance, 57% had a borderline work-life balance and 20% of them maintained a good work-life balance. There was a statistically significant difference between the work-life balance of nurses and doctors (P=0.001) Conclusion: The study findings revealed that majority of the healthcare professionals have a borderline work-life balance, indicating the need for immediate action to prevent further issues from escalating. Maintaining a balanced work-life is important for healthcare productivity, job satisfaction, positive clinical outcomes, and high-quality patient care and safety.

Problem-Based Learning With Tri Kaya Parisudha Model to Improve The Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills and Character of Elementary School Students

Objective: Problem solving skills and character education are two important things that should be promoted in Indonesia education system. To promote those two things, an effective teaching model is needed. Thus, this research attempts to analyze the effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning with the Tri Kaya Parisudha model to improve elementary school students' mathematical problem-solving skills and character. This teaching model was developed using Balinese local wisdom concept. Theoretical Framework: Some theories were used in this study. They were problem-based learning, tri kaya parisudha, problem-solving skills, and characteristics of young learners. Method: This study used a quasi-experimental approach and involved with 130 students as the study samples. Specifically, the study was conducted by following post-test only control group design. The researchers used questionnaires and problem-solving ability tests to collect the study data. In this study, the questionnaires and post-test results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Simultaneously, inferential statistical analysis using the MANOVA test was performed. Results and Discussion: The analysis shows that problem-based learning with Tri Kaya Parisudha model effectively improves elementary school student's mathematical problem-solving skills and character. Thus, it is recommended that problem-based learning with Tri Kaya Parisudha model to be used by the elementary schools that have problems in improving their students’ mathematical problem-solving skills and character. Research Implications: Integrating local wisdom in teaching mathematical problem-solving skills and character brings some positive effects for the students. Originality/Value: Local wisdom is normaly considered as something traditional and not compatible with current era. However, this study found that local wisdom, especially tri kaya parisudha concept is still relevant to our current education system.

Educator-to-student incivility in online nursing education during COVID-19 as reported by nursing students: A descriptive cross-sectional study

BackgroundEducators' incivility in online nursing education is a serious academic issue; much of it is still unknown as it occurs in a less supervised environment. AimThis study examined variables and differences in educator-to-student incivility in online nursing education during COVID-19, as reported by nursing students. MethodsUtilizing the Incivility in Online Learning Environments (IOLE) online survey, a cross-sectional design was used to collect data in 2021 from a convenience sample of 163 nursing students studying in different universities in Jordan. Version 25 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. ResultsAs reported by nursing students, there was a low degree of incivility among nursing educators in online nursing education, 45(range 23–92), and a moderate frequency in the past 12 months, 63(range 23–92). Around 37.00 % of students thought incivility in online nursing education was a mild problem. On a scale of 0–100, 63.00 % of the students reported the level of nursing educators' civility in online nursing education ranged from 50.00 % to 70.00 % (an average of 60.00 %). Differences in students' reporting of online nursing educators' incivility and its' frequencies were significantly influenced by students' grade point averages (GPA) and genders, respectively. ConclusionsAlthough nursing students have a positive sense of civility among their nursing educators, incivility in online nursing education should be zero-level and disclosed and treated at its early signs.

‘University matching’ in state-regulated Sino-Australian transnational higher education: a Bourdieusian social network analysis

ABSTRACT The past three decades have seen proliferating research on Transnational Higher Education (TNHE), mostly understood through a market-oriented lens as a means of institutional and individual investment in economic and status gains. Less understood is the interplay between the state and the market logic in TNHE. Large-scale research on the market-state-status coordinated effect on TNHE is absent. This study makes a contribution in this regard through a Bourdieusian social network analysis of 130 state-regulated TNHE partnerships between 64 Chinese and 28 Australian universities. Descriptive analysis shows the evolvement of state-regulated Sino-Australian TNHE ‘networks’ over time from 2003 to 2019. Inferential statistics shows a significant homophily effect in the TNHE partnerships between Chinese and Australian universities with high rankings and research income. These results allude to a strong influence from the Chinese state on Sino-Australian TNHE partnerships.

Regional distribution of housing types and characteristics in Saudi Arabia

Purpose This study aims to explore and analyze the disparities in the distribution of housing types and characteristics among households in Saudi Arabia, taking into consideration the regional perspective. Design/methodology/approach This study uses quantitative data obtained from the General Authority for Statistics, specifically from the Saudi 2022 Statistical Census. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (percentages) as well as inferential statistics, including correlation analysis (Pearson correlation) and t-tests. Findings The study found a distinct preference among Saudis for villas, with 85.3% choosing this housing type, while only 14.7% of non-Saudis opted for villas. The statistical analysis confirmed the significance of housing type for Saudi citizens (t = 2.561, p = 0.037), while non-Saudis did not show a statistically significant preference (t = 1.703, p = 0.132). The Pearson correlation results revealed a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.641, p = 0.009) between regional landmass and the number of houses, and a very strong positive relationship (r = 0.984) between population and the number of houses across the 13 regions. As expected, with increasing population, there was a significant increase in the number of houses (p = 0.001). Originality/value This study fills a research gap by investigating regional disparities in housing characteristics in Saudi Arabia. The findings are valuable for policymakers, housing developers and the housing market in understanding these disparities. The insights from this research can inform decision-making to promote equitable access to housing types and foster social inclusivity in the housing sector.