Causal mediation analysis has gained increasing attention in recent years. This article guides empirical researchers through the concepts and challenges of causal mediation analysis. I first clarify the difference between traditional and causal mediation analysis and highlight the importance of adjusting for the treatment-by-mediator interaction…

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) offers an efficient and highly accurate method for estimating examinees' abilities. In this article, the free version of Concerto Software for CAT was reviewed, dividing our evaluation into three sections: software implementation, the Item Response Theory (IRT) features of CAT, and user experience. Overall,…

The exponential growth of scholarly publications in recent years has presented a daunting challenge for researchers to keep track of relevant articles within their research field. To address this issue, we examined the capabilities of InfraNodus, an AI-Powered text network analysis platform. InfraNodus promises to provide insights into any…

Progress made in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has resulted in these tools becoming more accessible for individuals who lack professional training. Of particular note are large language models, such as OpenAI's GPT-3.5. Discussions of utilizing AI for language education usually focus on the…

The field of education is increasingly committed to adopting evidence-based practices. Although randomized experimental designs provide strong evidence of the causal effects of interventions, they are not always feasible. For example, depending upon the research question, it may be difficult for researchers to find the number of children necessary…

The increasingly widespread use of social software (e.g., Wikis, Google Docs) in second language (L2) settings has brought a renewed attention to collaborative writing. Although the current methodological approaches to examining collaborative writing are valuable to understand L2 students' interactional patterns or perceived experiences, they can…

The Utah state legislature established the Early Intervention Software Program ("EISP") to aid in the development of Utah students' literacy skills through computer-based, adaptive reading software programs designed to meet students' unique learning needs. The Evaluation and Training Institute (ETI) conducts an annual evaluation of how…

In this article, a Bayesian model selection approach is introduced that can select the best of a set of inequality and equality constrained hypotheses for contingency tables. The hypotheses are presented in terms of cell probabilities allowing researchers to test (in)equality constrained hypotheses in a format that is directly related to the data.…

To support and promote secondary analyses, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is making the SITES 2006 international database and accompanying User Guide available to researchers, analysts, and public users. The database comprises national contexts and school- and teacher-level data from 23 education…

This report provides a detailed description and evaluation of the SYSTAT 2.1 microcomputer statistics system for professional statisticians. Information provided includes the producer, versions available and compatibility, and a description of each of the 11 modules that make up the SYSTAT package. Discussion of the usability of the software…

The discipline of software engineering can be extended in a natural way to deal with the issues raised by a systematic approach to the design of human-machine interfaces. The user should be treated as part of the system being designed and projects should be organized to take into account the current lack of a priori knowledge of user interface…

A brief, practical overview of "design effects" (DEFFs) is presented for users of the results of sample surveys. The overview is intended to help such users to determine how and when to use DEFFs and to compute them correctly. DEFFs are needed only for inferential statistics, not for descriptive statistics. When the selections for…

Use of "special" orthonormal mean contrasts and mean contrast variances can help educational researchers interpret a wide variety of repeated measures data. Most statistical packages allow educational researchers to test for differences across repeated measures using both the univariate mixed model F test and a multivariate test.…

This book is meant as a basic and fairly nontechnical introduction to multilevel analysis for applied researchers in the social sciences. The term "multilevel" refers to a hierarchical or nested data structure, usually people within organizational groups, although the nesting may also consist of repeated measures with people or…

L. A. Marascuilo and R. C. Serlin (1988) note that stepwise regression is a method used frequently in social science research. C. Huberty (1989) characterizes such applications as being "common". In support of this latter statement, a review of dissertations by B. Thompson (1988) demonstrated that dissertation students frequently use…