A staple of many spreadsheet-based management science courses is the use of Excel for activities such as model building, sensitivity analysis, goal seeking, and Monte-Carlo simulation. What might those things look like if carried out using Python? We describe a teaching module in which Python is used to do typical Excel-based modeling and…

It has become increasingly important for future business professionals to understand statistical computing methods as data science has gained widespread use in contemporary organizational decision processes in recent years. Used by scores of academics and practitioners in a variety of fields, Monte Carlo simulation is one of the most broadly…

Bayesian statistics has gained great momentum since the computational developments of the 1990s. Gradually, advances in Bayesian methodology and software have made Bayesian techniques much more accessible to applied statisticians and, in turn, have potentially transformed Bayesian education at the undergraduate level. This article provides an…

Data simulation and Monte Carlo simulation studies are important skills for researchers and practitioners of educational and psychological measurement, but there are few resources on the topic specific to item response theory. Even fewer resources exist on the statistical software techniques to implement simulation studies. This article presents…

We propose a semester-long Bayesian statistics course for undergraduate students with calculus and probability background. We cultivate students' Bayesian thinking with Bayesian methods applied to real data problems. We leverage modern Bayesian computing techniques not only for implementing Bayesian methods, but also to deepen students'…

Plausible values can be used to either estimate population-level statistics or compute point estimates of latent variables. While it is well known that five plausible values are usually sufficient for accurate estimation of population-level statistics in large-scale surveys, the minimum number of plausible values needed to obtain accurate latent…

The article introduces a software application (MATH) supporting an education of Applied Mathematics, with focus on Numerical Mathematics. The MATH is an easy to use tool supporting various numerical methods calculations with graphical user interface and integrated plotting tool for graphical representation written in Qt with extensive use of Qwt…

This study addresses the current debate about the beneficial effects of text processing software on students with different working memory (WM) during the process of academic writing, especially with regard to the ability to display higher-level conceptual thinking. A total of 54 graduate students (15 male, 39 female) wrote one essay by hand and…

Free software for the demonstration of the features of homo- and copolymerization processes (free radical, controlled radical, and living) is described. The software is based on the Monte Carlo algorithms and offers insight into the kinetics, molecular weight distribution, and microstructure of the macromolecules formed in those processes. It also…

This article attempts to introduce the reader to computational thinking and solving problems involving randomness. The main technique being employed is the Monte Carlo method, using the freely available software "R for Statistical Computing." The author illustrates the computer simulation approach by focusing on several problems of…

One prominent approach in the exploration of the variations in project team performance has been to study two components of the aggregate personalities of the team members: conscientiousness and agreeableness. A second line of research, known as self-categorisation theory, argues that identifying as team members and the team's performance norms…

Many latent traits in the human sciences have a hierarchical structure. This study aimed to develop a new class of higher order item response theory models for hierarchical latent traits that are flexible in accommodating both dichotomous and polytomous items, to estimate both item and person parameters jointly, to allow users to specify…

In the social sciences, latent traits often have a hierarchical structure, and data can be sampled from multiple levels. Both hierarchical latent traits and multilevel data can occur simultaneously. In this study, we developed a general class of item response theory models to accommodate both hierarchical latent traits and multilevel data. The…

This paper discusses common approaches to presenting the topic of skewness in the classroom, and explains why students need to know how to measure it. Two skewness statistics are examined: the Fisher-Pearson standardized third moment coefficient, and the Pearson 2 coefficient that compares the mean and median. The former is reported in statistical…

Statistics is a critical tool for robustness analysis, measurement system error analysis, test data analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and many other fields in the engineering world. Traditionally, however, statistics is not extensively used in undergraduate engineering technology (ET) programs, resulting in a major disconnect from industry…