Commonly used machine learning applications seem to relate to big data. This article provides a gentle review of machine learning and shows why machine learning can be applied to small data too. An example of applying machine learning to screen irregularity reports is presented. In the example, the support vector machine and multinomial naïve…

In his detailed response to our paper on sample size in qualitative research, Norman Blaikie raises important issues concerning conceptual definitions and taxonomy. In particular, he points out the problems associated with a loose, generic application of adjectives such as 'qualitative' or 'inductive'. We endorse this concern, though we suggest…

This rejoinder keeps the original focus on statistical computing pertaining to the correlation of student achievement between mathematics and science from the Trend in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Albeit the availability of student performance data in TIMSS and the emphasis of the inter-subject connection in the Next Generation Science…

Higher-order factor analysis is a widely used approach for analyzing the structure of a multidimensional test. Whenever first-order factors are correlated researchers are tempted to apply a higher-order factor model. But is this reasonable? What do the higher-order factors measure? What is their meaning? Willoughby, Holochwost, Blanton, and Blair…

Gonzalez and Dutt (2011) recently reported that trends during sampling, prior to a consequential risky decision, reveal a gradual movement from exploration to exploitation. That is, even when search imposes no immediate costs, people adopt the same pattern manifest in costly search: early exploration followed by later exploitation. From this…

In this technical comment, we argue that Morgan et al.'s claim that there is no minority overrepresentation in special education is in error due to (a) sampling considerations, (b) inadequate support from previous and current analyses, and (c) their failure to consider the complexities of special education disproportionality. [For Morgan et al.'s…

Hills and Hertwig (2012) challenge the proposed similarity of the exploration-exploitation transitions found in Gonzalez and Dutt (2011) between the 2 experimental paradigms of decisions from experience (sampling and repeated-choice), which was predicted by an instance-based learning (IBL) model. The heart of their argument is that in the sampling…

Osborne and Waters (2002) focused on checking some of the assumptions of multiple linear regression. In a critique of that paper, Williams, Grajales, and Kurkiewicz correctly clarify that regression models estimated using ordinary least squares require the assumption of normally distributed errors, but not the assumption of normally distributed…

Birnbaum raised important challenges to testing transitivity. We summarize why an approach based on counting response patterns does not solve these challenges. Foremost, we show why parsimonious tests of transitivity require at least 5 choice alternatives. While the approach of Regenwetter, Dana, and Davis-Stober achieves high power with modest…

In this rejoinder, the authors address several issues raised by R. L. Worthington and F. R. Dillon (2011) and C. R. Ridley and M. Shaw-Ridley (2011) regarding (a) the measurement of multicultural competencies (MCCs), (b) sampling considerations in multicultural research, and (c) the conceptual frame of multicultural psychotherapy research. The…

This exchange represents a follow-up to an article on the effects of state high school exit examinations that previously appeared in this journal (Warren, Grodsky, & Kalogrides 2009). That 2009 article was featured prominently in a report by the National Research Council (NRC) that evaluated the efficacy of test-based accountability systems.…

In the UK, dissatisfaction with the research process as experienced by people with physical disability was articulated by Paul Hunt in 1981 when he referred to the researchers who were invited to examine the institutionalised living he inhabited as "parasites." They adopted a detached approach that ignored the lived experiences of the…

Longitudinal research has demonstrated a link between exposure to sexual content in media and subsequent changes in adolescent sexual behavior, including initiation of intercourse and various noncoital sexual activities. Based on a reanalysis of one of the data sets involved, Steinberg and Monahan (2011) have challenged these findings. However,…

In this rejoinder, we criticize Lynn and Meisenberg's (this issue) methods to estimate the average IQ (in terms of British norms after correction of the Flynn Effect) of the Black population of sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that their review of the literature is unsystematic, as it involves the inconsistent use of rules to determine the…

This paper presents the author's comments on James G. Bohn's article "Development and Exploratory Validation of an Organizational Efficacy Scale". In his article, Bohn has captured a deficiency, as he quotes, of "over two decades" in the human resource development (HRD) field. Since no scale has been designed specifically to measure efficacy at…