This discussion constructs a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research and then introduces the…

To find out whether the education community shares a collective understanding about how students should be evaluated, we surveyed 202 educators (from all grade levels) and scientists attending assessment workshops (Pennsylvania, California, and Massachusetts) or judging a national student competition (Washington, DC). The educators and scientists…

This paper intends to construct a survey data quality strategy for institutional researchers in higher education in light of total survey error theory. It starts with describing the characteristics of institutional research and identifying the gaps in literature regarding survey data quality issues in institutional research. Then it is followed by…

Two factors, language difficulty and option set convergence, were experimentally manipulated and their effects on item difficulty assessed. Option convergence was found to have a significant effect on item difficulty while the effect of language difficulty was not significant. (Author/BW)

Several extended caution indices (ECIs) have been introduced earlier as a link between two distinctly different approaches: one based on standard statistics and the other, a model-based approach, utilizing item response theory (IRT). Expected values and variance of some ECIs are derived and their statistical properties are compared and discussed.…

There are two types of errors made in feeling-of-knowing (FOK) studies: a commission error occurs when a subject answers a question incorrectly, and an omission error occurs when a subject fails to provide an answer for a given question. A subject makes a commission error if he or she responds to the following question, "In which city does…

College students from colleges and universities throughout the United States were surveyed about the location of the world's 50 most populous countries. Over 3,300 responses were examined to determine the perceived geographic range of given countries, the regional degree of accuracy among students, and the overall significance of response errors.…