The objective of this research is to develop and pilot-test a questionnaire with which to gather information on cognitive aspects of market competition among hospitals. Hospital administrators' perception of the market and their competitors are not currently used as an indicator of competition among hospitals. Perception is important for many theoretical and practical reasons. Measures of perceived competition can be compared with and added to more objective measures of realized competition to enrich the research on hospital competition and shed light on how the market functions. The long-term objective of this research is to collect a database of hospitals across the country that tells us how hospital administrators perceive their market and their competitors. The questionnaire is designed to obtain information on who hospital administrators judge the main competitors to be; hospital administrator's perceptions of today's hospital market conditions; hospital administrator experiences with changes in hospital markets; things hospital administrators pay most attention to in assessing their market position; sources of information hospital administrators rely on in formulating their marketing strategies; and how hospital administrators cope with managed care and how much the rise of managed care has influenced their marketing strategies. The specific objectives of this project include developing a questionnaire and pilot-testing it to identify a person or persons who are best positioned to answer the survey questions and making sure wording is understandable and response sets are appropriate. I will conduct validity and reliability tests on questionnaire items, and test response rate assumptions about administration methods. The complexity of competition in today's health care market can be better captured should we consider both realized and perceived competition. This study will be a first step in creating a database that will give us information on hospital administrators' perception of the market competition. The project will be conducted in collaboration with the Survey Lab of the NORC.
