LaKind and Goodman wrote they excluded survey respondents who omitted their age, body mass, smoking behavior or other variables to keep the data consistent.

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Ithai and Jim examined these tactics constructing and using an elaborate database on 1822 top executives, measuring their ingratiation behavior (assessed through questionnaires) and various other variables.

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But especially with hybrids such as the C-Max, he says, variables such as temperature, a driver's behavior and the engineering choices Ford makes to balance mileage and performance can make a big difference.

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