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Objective: Patient satisfaction is a personal evaluation of health-care services that is often used as an indicator of quality of care. The aim of this study was to identify aspects of hospital care that affect patient satisfaction by examining the structural and convergent validity of an in-house questionnaire.Methods: The sample consisted of 3320 patients discharged from an Italian public hospital. The questionnaire included items exploring communication with nurses and physicians, pain management, quality of accommodation, and discharge information. Data were analyzed using the Rasch model.Results: From the patients’ perspective, the number of response options was excessive and the questionnaire proved to have both medical and accommodation dimensions. Patients, on average, gave higher satisfaction scores to the medical dimension over the accommodation dimension. Higher satisfaction was associated with kindness and courtesy of the nursing staff, doctors’ courtesy, and the quality of bed linen.Conclusion: The results support the administration of the questionnaire but suggest change in the hospital’s analytical procedures in order to match the drivers of satisfaction as seen by the patients.

The Rasch measurement principles espoused in the Bond & Fox (2001) volume reviewed elsewhere in this journal are routinely adopted by Australia's major educational measurement projects (e.g., by Australian Council for Educational Research, Educational Testing Centre). Yet those ideas are yet to have their full impact in smaller research projects in educational and developmental psychology. A number of quantitative analytical techniques used in our disciplines are able to help us to draw conclusions like “Betty is better than ormore developed than Bob”, but Rasch measurement is uniquely placed to help us conclude that “Betty is this muchbetter than ormore developed than Bob.” In educational and psychological statistics, we regularly presume the “interval” nature of our research data, but only the Rasch model sets about to ensure that the units of measurement maintain their unit value across the whole achievement or development scale.

The Rasch measurement principles espoused in the Bond & Fox (2001) volume reviewed elsewhere in this journal are routinely adopted by Australia's major educational measurement projects (e.g., by Australian Council for Educational Research, Educational Testing Centre). Yet those ideas are yet to have their full impact in smaller research projects in educational and developmental psychology. A number of quantitative analytical techniques used in our disciplines are able to help us to draw conclusions like “Betty is better than ormore developed than Bob”, but Rasch measurement is uniquely placed to help us conclude that “Betty is this muchbetter than ormore developed than Bob.” In educational and psychological statistics, we regularly presume the “interval” nature of our research data, but only the Rasch model sets about to ensure that the units of measurement maintain their unit value across the whole achievement or development scale.

This article focuses on the creation of the book "Applying the Rasch Model: Fundamental Measurement in Human Sciences," by Trevor G. Bond and Christine M. Fox. The absence of an introductory text on Rasch analysis led the authors to write the book. Several editors and colleagues convinced the authors to broaden the scope of their writing. The book implies that Rasch measurement is the model of choice for data analysis in social sciences.