Background: A systematic review is a secondary research method that follows a predetermined protocol to identify, synthesize, and assess the quality of primary studies that meet pre-established eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question (Higgins & Green, 2011; Higgins & Thomas, 2019). It uses systematic and transparent…

Background: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is a powerful and broadly utilized statistical framework. Researchers employ these models to dissect relationships into direct, indirect, and total effects (Bollen, 1989). These models unpack the "black box" issues within cause-and-effect studies by examining the underlying theoretical…

Background: For randomized trials that use text as an outcome, traditional approaches for assessing treatment impact require each document first be manually coded for constructs of interest by trained human raters. These hand-coded scores are then used as a measured outcome for an impact analysis, with the average scores of the treatment group…

Background: Meta-analysis refers to the statistical methods employed to combine results of several empirical studies in a topic of interest (Hedges & Olkin, 1985). Meta-analysis is often included in literature review studies to quantitatively analyze data from a collection of studies (Valentine et al., 2010). The statistical power of a…

Background: Quantitative methods used in social science research draw from frameworks that (a) abstract constructs and separate them from relevant knowledges that are not easily quantifiable, and (b) reify deficit orientations in support of racial oppression (Strunk & Hoover, 2019; Zuberi, 2001; Zuberi & Bonilla-Silva, 2008). This paper…

Background: Searching the literature and screening studies are two key stages to build a strong foundation for a quality systematic review. Low-quality handsearching and citation chasing processes may lead to missing relevant studies, while low-quality study screening may lead to human errors and a lengthy process (Haddaway et al., 2022; Zhang…

Background: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of interventions can provide critical evidence for educators and policymakers by providing insights into the effectiveness of related interventions. The quality of included studies builds the foundation for a high-quality review, while bias in the included studies increases the risks of unreliable…

Background: Despite the usefulness of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, they are time-consuming and labor-intensive (Michelson & Reuter, 2019). The technological advancements in recent years have led to the development of tools aimed at streamlining the processes of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Innovations such as Paperfetcher…

Background & Context: Intersectionality theory posits that each individual's unique intersection of identity is integral to understanding their lived experience. Intersectionality theory also understands that social positions interact with oppression to influence an individual's lived experience (Bowleg, 2012; Collins, 2007; Crenshaw, 1989).…

Background: Over the past decade, research on the development and assessment of tools to improve the generalizability of experimental findings has grown extensively (Tipton & Olsen, 2018). However, many experimental studies in education are based on small samples, which may include 30-70 schools while inference populations to which…

Background: For decades, education researchers have relied on the work of Campbell, Cook, and Shadish to help guide their thinking about valid impact estimates in the social sciences (Campbell & Stanley, 1963; Shadish et al., 2002). The foundation of this work is the "validity typology" and its associated "threats to…

Background: Research clearinghouses (CHs) seek to play an important role in identifying successful social programs and practices. The evidence-based policy movement has grown tremendously over the last few decades and has gotten institutionalized in the form of CHs in the US. CHs (1) specify standards for evaluating the quality of evidence from…

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent public health response led to an unprecedented disruption in educational instruction in the U.S. and around the world. Many schools quickly moved to virtual learning for the bulk of the 2020 spring term and many states cancelled annual assessments of student learning. The 2020-21 school year…

Background/Context: Social network methodology is particularly relevant to the types of social structures found in education research. The current study develops a finite mixture approach for clustering ensembles of networks (NetMix). Following a structural equation modeling framework, NetMix simultaneously estimates a measurement model comprised…

Background/Context: The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the way we conduct research. For some modes of data collection, such as interviews, there was a ready (if not perfect) analog: face-to-face became phone-based; paper and pen surveys moved online. Others, such as direct assessments of child development, proved more challenging. Despite the…