Across all sciences, the quality of measurements is important. Survey measurements are only appropriate for use when researchers have validity evidence within their particular context. Yet, this step is frequently skipped or is not reported in educational research. This article briefly reviews the aspects of validity that researchers should…

Aggregate survey responses collected from students are commonly used by universities to compare effective educational practices across program majors, and to make high-stakes decisions about the effectiveness of programs. Yet if there is too much heterogeneity among student responses within programs, the program-level averages may not…

Forty-nine percent of the 706 articles published in the "Journal of Agricultural Education" from 1995 to 2012 reported quantitative research with at least one variable measured by a Likert-type scale. Grounded in the classical test theory definition of reliability and the tenets basic to Likert-scale measurement methodology, for the…

In this article, we argue that big data can offer new opportunities and roles for educational researchers. In the traditional model of evidence-gathering and interpretation in education, researchers are independent observers, who pre-emptively create instruments of measurement, and insert these into the educational process in specialized times and…

Experimental data are analysed statistically to allow researchers to draw conclusions from a limited set of measurements. The hard fact is that researchers can never be certain that measurements from a sample will exactly reflect the properties of the entire group of possible candidates available to be studied (although using a sample is often the…

This dissertation comprises three papers that propose, discuss, and illustrate models to make improved inferences about research questions regarding student achievement in education. Addressing the types of questions common in educational research today requires three different "extensions" to traditional educational assessment: (1)…

Statistical significance reporting and use in educational and psychological research is reviewed. An assessment of the use of statistical significance in articles published in MECD from 1990-1996 is presented. The elements of statistical significance (including sample size, effect size, and power), interpretation of results, common erroneous…