Behavioral scientists often wish to determine if a sample has been taken from a symmetric population. Similarly, classroom teachers are interested in symmetry if they wish to grade on a "curve." Previously, the sign test, the Wilcoxon test and the t-test have been used to test a hypothesis concerning the symmetry of a distribution of…

Thirty-four papers on educational statistics which were presented at the 1971 AERA Conference are summarized. Six major interest areas are covered: (a) general information; (b) non-parametric methods; (c) errors of measurement and correlation techniques; (d) regression theory; (e) univariate and multivariate analysis; (f) factor analysis. (MS)

Three nonparametric alternatives to the parametric Bartlett test are presented for handling the K-sample equality of variance problem. The two-sample Siegel-Tukey test, Mood test, and Klotz test are extended to the multisample situation by Puri's methods. These K-sample scale tests are illustrated and compared. (Author/GDC)

Type I error rate and power for the t test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, van der Waerden Normal Scores, and Welch-Aspin-Satterthwaite (W) test are compared for two simulated independent random samples from nonnormal distributions. Conditions under which the t test and W test are best to use are discussed. (SLD)