While the use of inferential statistics is a nearly universal practice in the social sciences, there are instances where its application is unnecessary and potentially misleading. This is true for a portion of research using administrative data in educational research in the United States. Surveying all research articles using administrative data…

"Big data" prompts a whole lexicon of terms--data flow; analytics; data mining; data science; smart you name it (cars, houses, cities, wearables, etc.); algorithms; learning analytics; predictive analytics; data aggregation; data dashboards; digital tracks; and big data brokers. New terms are being coined frequently. Are we paying…

Even before Florence Nightingale diagrammed soldiers' changing mortality rates to save lives, we have seen clever design used to convey statistics and other complex concepts. In the field of education, student data is used extensively, and those who share such data need to ensure this communication is effective. This article is based on education…

Provides information regarding the National Educational Longitudinal Study database that was used for many of the studies in this volume. Provides relevant background and instructions so that others may use this resource from the National Center for Education Statistics. (Author/EV)