New activities in Catalunya
In 2006 I went with early retirement (62.5 years old) from the University of Amsterdam. I thought that I could continue with the grant of the Catalan government but that turned out not to be possible, being pensionist. That did not mean that I stopped working. The business school, Esade, expected me to teach a class in survey research, I was working with Irmtraud for the ESS evaluating questionnaires and analyzing the data from the MTMM experiments of the first rounds of the ESS. Besides that we prepared a book on survey research. I will tell about this later. First of all I have to report about my first priority as Dutch skater.
My third visit to the Weissensee
Each year thousands of Dutch skaters go to the Weissensee in Austria to test themselves on a tour of 200 km. I decided to go there once more with my Dutch skating friends before I would be too old for such a tour. Together with Irmtraud, Arie and Willem I went to the Weissesee . We had booked a nice hotel and went immediately to the ice to try it out. It was clear to me that there were so many skaters that the ice was already very bad. In the hotel we saw also many guests coming back with injuries. The track was 20 km long and so we had to skate 10 rounds to complete the 200 km. We started at 7 in the morning. In the first round, I saw again that the ice was so bad that one had to skate very carefully. Although I did so, I fell once. In the second and third round I fell again. Then I decided: if I would fall once more I would finish the 100 km and stop. In the past I was able to cope with falling more than 20 times, but now I did not want to run that risk any more. I fell again in the fourth round and so decided to stop. I finished the 100 km around 12 o´clock, looked for Irmtraud and we went to an ice-bar to eat and drink something. We had a nice day in the sun. looking at the beautiful scene of skaters on the Weissensee. Irmtraud was surprised that I took this wise decision. Arie and Willem finished the 200km and we had a very nice evening together in the hotel. Later we went with Willem to Salzburg as I had promised Irmtraud when we made the plan for the Weissensee. That was also a big success. A more detailed report with a video can be found in my skating website.
My third visit to the Weissensee
Each year thousands of Dutch skaters go to the Weissensee in Austria to test themselves on a tour of 200 km. I decided to go there once more with my Dutch skating friends before I would be too old for such a tour. Together with Irmtraud, Arie and Willem I went to the Weissesee . We had booked a nice hotel and went immediately to the ice to try it out. It was clear to me that there were so many skaters that the ice was already very bad. In the hotel we saw also many guests coming back with injuries. The track was 20 km long and so we had to skate 10 rounds to complete the 200 km. We started at 7 in the morning. In the first round, I saw again that the ice was so bad that one had to skate very carefully. Although I did so, I fell once. In the second and third round I fell again. Then I decided: if I would fall once more I would finish the 100 km and stop. In the past I was able to cope with falling more than 20 times, but now I did not want to run that risk any more. I fell again in the fourth round and so decided to stop. I finished the 100 km around 12 o´clock, looked for Irmtraud and we went to an ice-bar to eat and drink something. We had a nice day in the sun. looking at the beautiful scene of skaters on the Weissensee. Irmtraud was surprised that I took this wise decision. Arie and Willem finished the 200km and we had a very nice evening together in the hotel. Later we went with Willem to Salzburg as I had promised Irmtraud when we made the plan for the Weissensee. That was also a big success. A more detailed report with a video can be found in my skating website.
A book about survey research
Some years ago, I thought that we had collected sufficient information about survey research. Irmtraud and I studied at length questionnaire design, I had specialized in procedures to evaluate the quality of survey questions and the analysis of survey data taking into account measurement errors and we both had a lot of experience in data collection via the telepanel and the ESS. This time I wanted the book to be published by the internationally recognized publisher Wiley. I had sent them a proposal for the book and they agreed to publish the book if we delivered it camera ready. In 2004 we had finished the book and a professional type setter prepared the camera ready text of the book. The final product was sent to the publisher. After some months, in 2005, the publisher came back to us with lots of comments for corrections, so many that the text had to be rewritten and re-edited. We had to decide whether this was worth the money because we had to spent another 2.500 euros for the camera-ready book. In the end, we decided to do so. We did not think that we would get our money back by the sales of the book, but we were proud of the product and wanted to publish it.
We decided that we would never accept to prepare a camera-ready book anymore. We did the work and the book was published in 2007. Later Wiley asked us to provide a second edition but then we required that the type-setting would be done by them and that was accepted. We were and are proud to have published together this very fundamental book about survey research, which was also a financial success for the publisher.
Some years ago, I thought that we had collected sufficient information about survey research. Irmtraud and I studied at length questionnaire design, I had specialized in procedures to evaluate the quality of survey questions and the analysis of survey data taking into account measurement errors and we both had a lot of experience in data collection via the telepanel and the ESS. This time I wanted the book to be published by the internationally recognized publisher Wiley. I had sent them a proposal for the book and they agreed to publish the book if we delivered it camera ready. In 2004 we had finished the book and a professional type setter prepared the camera ready text of the book. The final product was sent to the publisher. After some months, in 2005, the publisher came back to us with lots of comments for corrections, so many that the text had to be rewritten and re-edited. We had to decide whether this was worth the money because we had to spent another 2.500 euros for the camera-ready book. In the end, we decided to do so. We did not think that we would get our money back by the sales of the book, but we were proud of the product and wanted to publish it.
We decided that we would never accept to prepare a camera-ready book anymore. We did the work and the book was published in 2007. Later Wiley asked us to provide a second edition but then we required that the type-setting would be done by them and that was accepted. We were and are proud to have published together this very fundamental book about survey research, which was also a financial success for the publisher.
Business research with Joan Manuel Batista
Working at the business school ESADE I was asked by Joan Manuel Batista to join him in his research on leadership, a complete new topic for me. He was working together with two Americans, Richard E. Boyatzis and Fabio Sala, who had developed a scale to assess Emotional Intelligence Competences. The idea was that this scale would not asses the general intelligence of people but especially the Emotional Intelligence that leaders in business need for their job. Juan Manuel had to create a Spanish version of this scale and tested it. Based on the work of Irmtraud, concerning the definition of concepts, I have theoretically evaluated the new created Spanish scale, analyzed the collected data and suggested different adjustments. The scale was developed further, introducing also alternative response scales. In the research of Joan Manuel and his students the new scale has been used.
Another topic we worked on was the specification of interaction effects in causal models. This work was done in cooperation with Germa Coenders of the University of Girona. We developed procedures that were simpler to use than the procedures that we suggested before.
Working at the business school ESADE I was asked by Joan Manuel Batista to join him in his research on leadership, a complete new topic for me. He was working together with two Americans, Richard E. Boyatzis and Fabio Sala, who had developed a scale to assess Emotional Intelligence Competences. The idea was that this scale would not asses the general intelligence of people but especially the Emotional Intelligence that leaders in business need for their job. Juan Manuel had to create a Spanish version of this scale and tested it. Based on the work of Irmtraud, concerning the definition of concepts, I have theoretically evaluated the new created Spanish scale, analyzed the collected data and suggested different adjustments. The scale was developed further, introducing also alternative response scales. In the research of Joan Manuel and his students the new scale has been used.
Another topic we worked on was the specification of interaction effects in causal models. This work was done in cooperation with Germa Coenders of the University of Girona. We developed procedures that were simpler to use than the procedures that we suggested before.
The summer music festivals in Catalunya
A very nice tradition in Catalunya is to organize series of concerts during the summer holidays in the countryside. Especially in August nearly all companies and government buildings are closed and many people go on holidays inside or outside the country or to their family house somewhere in the countryside. In that period the cultural life in the big cities is reduced to zero, but music festivals are organized in the countryside.
The first time we went to such a festival was in Torroella de Mongri in the north of Catalonia. This region is called Empordà. Torroella de Mongri is a little town with a nice main square, a rambla and an impressive old church. This time the concerts took place in the church. A professional Baroque ensemble performed very beautiful music in this authentic atmosphere. This was a nice experience and we have repeated visits to such festivals several times.
What surprised us even more was that there are many small authentic picturesque villages within a very short distance from the town in Empordà. They are nearly empty except for some villages which are well known tourist attractions. In the video below, we show the beauty of this countryside.
A very nice tradition in Catalunya is to organize series of concerts during the summer holidays in the countryside. Especially in August nearly all companies and government buildings are closed and many people go on holidays inside or outside the country or to their family house somewhere in the countryside. In that period the cultural life in the big cities is reduced to zero, but music festivals are organized in the countryside.
The first time we went to such a festival was in Torroella de Mongri in the north of Catalonia. This region is called Empordà. Torroella de Mongri is a little town with a nice main square, a rambla and an impressive old church. This time the concerts took place in the church. A professional Baroque ensemble performed very beautiful music in this authentic atmosphere. This was a nice experience and we have repeated visits to such festivals several times.
What surprised us even more was that there are many small authentic picturesque villages within a very short distance from the town in Empordà. They are nearly empty except for some villages which are well known tourist attractions. In the video below, we show the beauty of this countryside.