The commenter's proposal may be a reasonable method for addressing uncertainty in predictive modeling, where the goal is to predict "y." In a treatment effects framework, where the goal is causal inference by conditioning-on-observables, the commenter's proposal is deeply flawed. The proposal (1) ignores the definition of…

In this commentary, the author argues that there is a considerable degree of similarity between research in the hard sciences and education and that this provides a useful lens for thinking about what constitutes "rigorous" and "scientific" education research. He suggests that the fundamental property of hard science research…

Latent variable structural equation modeling has become the analytic method of choice in many domains of research in psychology and allied social sciences. One important aspect of a latent variable model concerns the relations hypothesized to hold between latent variables and their indicators. The most common specification of structural equation…

Hom, Mitchell, Lee, and Griffeth (2012) presented an extensive review of employee turnover research, reconceptualized the turnover criterion to include multiple destinations, and proposed to expand the predictor domain. They illuminated the multiple destinations employees pursue following turnover. By crossing desire to remain and volitional…

In "Writing and Reviewing Manuscripts in the Multidimensional World of Qualitative Research" (LaRossa, 2012), the author expressed the hope that, by sketching a cognitive map of the writing and reviewing process, authors and reviewers for the "Journal of Marriage and Family" ("JMF") would be better able to communicate with each other about the…

In this article, the author talks about "Developing Early Literacy," the report of the National Early Literacy Panel. The panel, which consisted of nine experts, was convened by the National Institute for Literacy to synthesize the research on the development of literacy from birth through age 5. Over the eight years of their work, only 190…

In this article, the authors clarify and provide additional tests of the key elements of their age-period-cohort analysis of non-marital birth rates in this March 2009 issue of "Social Forces." Where Steve Martin, in his commentary, has suggested specific alternative specifications or interpretations of their findings, the authors have…

This paper identifies specific problems with stepwise regression, notes criticisms of stepwise methods by statisticians, suggests appropriate ways in which stepwise procedures can be used, and gives examples of how this can be done. Although the stepwise method has been routinely criticized by statisticians, it is still frequently used in the…

Semipartial correlation is one of several ways of determining the relative importance of independent variables in a multiple regression analysis. A veteran teacher of statistics and related topics explains his reasons for avoiding semipartial correlations. (SV)

Concludes from review of the empirical literature and theories regarding retirement issues that industrial/organizational psychologists have the opportunity to contribute to knowledge about retirement because of their dual interests in both individuals and organizations and because of their tradition of scientific rigor. (Author/BL)

Notes the inconsistent findings that characterize research on marital instability and proposes several potential methodological sources of these inconsistencies. Presents an illustrative application to data from two recent national representative probability samples. (JAC)

This paper considers methodological issues related to the independent variable in early intervention research. Three standards are proposed: (1) use theory to guide research; (2) provide operational definitions of independent variables, quantify them, and describe how they relate to theory; and (3) measure treatment fidelity. Three levels of…

Examines two independent data sets to support argument that although onset-rime sensitivity typically predicts school entrants' later word reading skills, phoneme sensitivity predicts more variation. Maintains that multiple regression analyses do not reveal level of phonological sensitivity needed to understand alphabetic reading instruction and…

This paper reviews evidence that characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutterers change as a function of a number of variables and that, because these variables are difficult to fully control, comparison of the characteristics of the perceptually fluent speech of stutterers and nonstutterers as a method of studying stuttering…

Until experimenters can achieve some measure of control over access to information associated with their writing stimuli and outcome measures, research in composition will have a difficult time providing meaningful information on the unique effects on writing of such things as training programs, ethnicity, previous education, and sex. (HOD)