Factor analysis is often used to model scales created to measure latent constructs, and internal structure validity evidence is commonly assessed with indices like SRMR, RMSEA, and CFI. These indices are essentially effect size measures and definitive benchmarks regarding which values connote reasonable fit have been elusive. Simulations from the…

Simulation studies are the basic tools of quantitative methodologists used to obtain empirical solutions to statistical problems that may be impossible to derive through direct mathematical computations. The successful execution of many simulation studies relies on the accurate generation of correlated multivariate data that adhere to a particular…

Learning to interpret data in context is an important educational outcome. To assess students' attainment of this outcome, it is necessary to examine the interplay between their contextual and statistical reasoning. We describe a research method designed to do so. The method draws upon Toulmin's (1958, 2003) model of argumentation for the first…

There is a need for public health undergraduates to acquire skills in data collection, statistical programming, and infectious diseases modeling. Public health officials and accreditation bodies underline the importance of a cumulative, "real-world" experience as part of a student's education. The Watermelon Meow Meow (WMM) outbreak is a…

Observable data in empirical social and behavioral science studies are often categorical (i.e., binary, ordinal, or nominal). When categorical data are outcomes, they fail to maintain the scale and distributional properties of linear regression and factor analysis. Attempting to estimate model parameters for categorical outcome data with the…

In an increasingly data-driven world, facility with statistics is more important than ever for our students. At institutions without a statistician, it often falls to the mathematics faculty to teach statistics courses. This paper presents a model that a mathematician asked to teach statistics can follow. This model entails connecting with faculty…

Despite statistical literacy being relatively new in statistics education research, it needs special attention as attempts are being made to enhance the teaching, learning and assessing of this sub-strand. It is important that teachers and researchers are aware of the challenges of teaching this literacy. In this article, the growing importance of…

Educators are being encouraged to shift their instructional paradigm from teacher-centered to learner-centered through the use of technology. For online courses, legacy learning management products originally designed to support and deliver teacher-centered instruction may represent a constraint to implementing the learner-centered paradigm. Yet,…

Finite Mathematics has become an enormously rich and productive area of contemporary mathematical biology. Fortunately, educators have developed educational modules based upon many of the models that have used Finite Mathematics in mathematical biology research. A sufficient variety of computer modules that employ graph theory (phylogenetic trees,…

Response accuracy and response time data can be analyzed with a joint model to measure ability and speed of working, while accounting for relationships between item and person characteristics. In this study, person-fit statistics are proposed for joint models to detect aberrant response accuracy and/or response time patterns. The person-fit tests…

The present study investigates the processes of how German middle school students (age 14) interpret, contrast and evaluate different (informal) statistical measures in order to summarise and compare frequency distributions. To trace the developing insights into the properties of these measures, this paper uses the 'emergent modelling'…

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the test applied at the eighth Statistics II tournament to students from the University Center for Economic and Administrative Sciences of the University of Guadalajara, for the purpose of determining whether it promotes competitive learning among students. To achieve this, Item Response Theory (IRT) is…

Teaching introductory statistics using curricula focused on modeling and simulation is becoming increasingly common in introductory statistics courses and touted as a more beneficial approach for fostering students' statistical thinking. Yet, surprisingly little research has been conducted to study the impact of modeling and simulation curricula…

This dissertation reports the results of a mixed methods study examining the perceptions of Illinois Directors of Special Education (DOSE) about concepts in Disability Studies in Education (DSE): Disability Civil Rights, Authentic Disability Voice, Inclusive Practices, and Competency/Capability/Supports-Oriented Approaches. In an online survey, 64…

Single-period inventory models with uncertain demand are very well known in the business analytics community. Typically, such models are rule-based functions, or sets of functions, of one decision variable (order quantity) and one random variable (demand). In academics, the models are taught selectively and usually not completely. Students are…