Measurement of latent constructs is one of the most challenging tasks in psychological research. Unlike physical variables, latent constructs are not directly observable but are inferred through individuals' responses to a set of items often referred to as measurement instruments, tests, surveys, or assessments. For decades, exploratory factor…

There has been some research in the use of propensity scores in the context of measurement error in the confounding variables; one recommended method is to generate estimates of the mis-measured covariate using a latent variable model, and to use those estimates (i.e., factor scores) in place of the covariate. I describe a simulation study…

Principal component analysis is an important statistical technique for dimension reduction and exploratory data analysis. However, it is not robust to outliers and may obfuscate important data structure such as clustering. We propose a version of principal component analysis based on the robust L2E method. The technique seeks to find the principal…

When researchers fit statistical models to multiply imputed datasets, they have to fit the model separately for each imputed dataset. Since there are multiple datasets, there are always multiple sets of model results. It is possible for some of these sets of results not to converge while some do converge. This study examined occurrence of such a…

The landscape of higher education is changing. More diverse students are attending universities at higher numbers, yet these students are not graduating. This quantitative study uses linear regression, stepwise regression, and then exploratory factor analysis to examine three constructs--hope, academic self-efficacy, and sense of belonging--in…

Educator evaluation is of significant interest and concern for all members of the national school community. School-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs), share these sentiments with their classroom counterparts. Frequently included in such evaluation systems, it is of concern to the SLP community that research documenting how school-based…

The purposes of this study were to investigate the structural relationships among the factors that affect online learners' satisfaction with the learning experience, and to develop a structural model that explains online learners' satisfaction. For these purposes, a research model was developed based on the principles of social cognitive theory…

Self-determination is related to the desirable transition outcomes of an individual. It has gained an increasing amount of attention in numerous fields, including education, sociology, psychology, and other fields related to human behavior. However, there are no measures originally written in Arabic that accurately measure an individual's…

Language on the Internet and social media varies due to time, geography, and social factors. For example, consider an online chat forum where people from different regions across the world interact. In such scenarios, it is important to track and detect regional variation in language. A person from the UK, who is in conversation with someone from…

The goal of this study was to develop a survey instrument to measure transactional distance in secondary blended learning environments. This study resulted in a 35-item survey instrument, the Blended Learning Assessment Scale of Transactional Distance (BLASTD), which was tested using a convenience sample of secondary students (n = 222) at a…

With increasingly diverse formal education settings around the globe, teachers' ability to differentiate curriculum is essential to meet the needs of students with varied cultural, socioeconomic, racial, and linguistic backgrounds. Teachers' curricular autonomy is a prerequisite to diversify curriculum. Guided by sociocultural approaches to agency…

Practicum training is an essential part of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP) Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Master's degree program, and the cornerstone for preparing students for clinical practice. To characterize the development across clinical competency areas, the current study examined midpoint and final evaluation data…

There are over 700,000 international students currently studying in the U.S. (McMurtrie, 2011) contributing close to $12 billion yearly to the U.S. economy (Altbach, 2004). Universities cannot take for granted that international students will choose U.S. institutions. While great attention and research efforts have been given to support programs…

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine if perceived academic entitlement exists among non-traditional students in higher education. The study examined students enrolled as juniors and seniors at two of the regional campuses of a major public university and students enrolled at a regional university in the southern United…

Problem and Purpose: Much research over several decades has established the importance of ongoing professional learning for teachers and has identified what effective professional learning should look like. Little research has been done, however, on the professional learning practices of teachers in faith-based schools, and few studies have…