Evaluators widely agree that the involvement of key actors is a central aspect of quality practice. However, a scoping review of to what extent and how youth are included has not been explored. This is an important omission because many evaluations are done on programs that directly serve youth. We examined 159 evaluation reports in a publicly…

Tests of statistical significance often play a decisive role in establishing the empirical warrant of evidence-based research in education. The results from pattern-based assessment items, as introduced in this paper, are categorical and multimodal and do not immediately support the use of measures of central tendency as typically related to…

These next two lectures succinctly discuss the necessary preparation and methods for observation. Using the naturalist Fabre as an example of scientific training of the faculties for sharp observation, Montessori compares the observer to a researcher and gives many suggestions for conducting thorough yet unobtrusive observation. Self-awareness of…

Data-driven methods have been a successful approach to generating hints for programming problems. However, the majority of previous studies are focused on procedural hints that aim at moving students to the next closest state to the solution. In this paper, I propose a data-driven method to generate remedy hints for BOTS, a game that teaches…

This paper discusses the process of analysing online discussion and argues for the merits of mixed methods. Much research of online participation and e-learning has been either message focused or person focused analysis. The former covers methodologies such as content and discourse analysis, the latter interviewing and surveys. The paper discusses…

Qualitative researchers have for some time followed recommendations to analyze both "how" interview data are generated in addition to "what" is discussed. Yet little has been written about the challenges of representing these sorts of analyses. This paper discusses the challenges of presenting methodological analyses of…

A group of researchers, graduate students, and classroom teachers convened a working group on "Queering, Trans-forming, and En-gendering Mathematics and Mathematics Education" at the Psychology of Mathematics Education-North America conference in November 2013. Arguing that the "time has come to queer mathematics and mathematics…

When conducting an exploratory factor analysis, the decision regarding the number of factors to retain following factor extraction is one that the researcher should consider very carefully, as the decision can have a dramatic effect on results. Although there are numerous strategies that can and should be utilized when making this decision,…

The proportional odds (PO) model, which is also called cumulative odds model (Agresti, 1996, 2002 ; Armstrong & Sloan, 1989; Long, 1997, Long & Freese, 2006; McCullagh, 1980; McCullagh & Nelder, 1989; Powers & Xie, 2000; O'Connell, 2006), is one of the most commonly used models for the analysis of ordinal categorical data and comes from the class…

This article presents the author's address at the 2007 "Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods" ("JAQM") prize awarding festivity. The festivity was included in the opening of the 4th International Conference on Applied Statistics, November 22, 2008, Bucharest, Romania. In the address, the author reflects on three theses that…

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has endorsed a "Closing the Gap" agenda designed to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians. The agenda is distilled in a series of targets, one of which is the goal of halving the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 attainment or equivalent (Certificate II or above) attainment rates by…

The GED (General Educational Development) Tests are widely used to certify a high school level of academic knowledge and skills. The popularity and profound influence of the GED Tests have solicited numerous studies on the outcomes of obtaining a GED credential. Most studies on labor market outcomes for GED credential recipients have targeted…

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a versatile technique for understanding the structure of multivariate data. Recent studies have applied MDS to the problem of evaluating content validity. This paper describes the importance of evaluating test content and the logic of using MDS to analyze data gathered from subject matter experts employed in…

The popularity of sample surveys in evaluation and research makes it necessary for consumers to tell a good survey from a poor one. Several sources were identified that gave advice on how to evaluate a sample design used in a survey study. The sources are either too limited or too extensive to be useful practically. The purpose of this paper is to…

An innovative approach to planning, managing, and reporting evaluations was created by a need for conducting an effective evaluation in a bureaucratic setting where credibility was important. A more comprehensive and all-inclusive evaluation results when one person's evaluation perspective is expanded to include other approaches and viewpoints. An…