Proactive preliminary minimum sample size determination can be useful for the early planning stages of a latent variable modeling study to set a realistic scope, long before the model and population are finalized. This study examined existing methods and proposed a new method for proactive preliminary minimum sample size determination.

Many univariate statistical methods assume that dependent variable data have a univariate distribution. Some statistical methods assume that the error scores are normally distributed. It is clear that the concept of data normality is an important one in statistics. This paper explains that, notwithstanding common misconceptions to the contrary,…

This paper illustrates how canonical correlation analysis can be employed to implement all the parametric tests that canonical methods subsume as special cases. The point is heuristic: all analyses are correlational, all apply weights to measured variables to create synthetic variables, and all yield effect sizes analogous to "r"…

Two heuristic and three rigorous arguments are given for the fact that functions of the form Ce[kx], with C an arbitrary constant, are the only solutions of the equation dy/dx=ky where k is constant. Various of the proofs in this self-contained note could find classroom use in a first-year calculus course, an introductory course on differential…

The use of repeated measures research designs is explored. Repeated measures designs are often advantageous and can be implemented in a variety of research settings. One of the main advantages in repeated measures designs is the control of subject variability. Other advantages are the reduction of error variance and economy in subject recruitment.…

Bootstrap analysis, both for nonparametric statistical inference and for describing sample results stability and replicability, has been gaining prominence among quantitative researchers in educational and psychological research. Procedurally, however, it is often quite a challenge for quantitative researchers to implement bootstrap analysis in…

Science laboratory activities within secondary science have traditionally followed prescriptive outlines both in the structure and reporting of the activity. Building on current understandings of writing to learn science strategies, a Science Writing Heuristic has been developed that encourages students to examine laboratory activities much more…

This study sought to determine: (1) what children understand about "chance" when they begin secondary school?; and (2) how common and how influential the use of informal heuristics, approaches, and biases is in their thinking about probability in the school context. Children's understanding of chance, attributions of events to…