As reporting of effect sizes in evaluation studies has proliferated, researchers and consumers of research need tools for interpreting or benchmarking the magnitude of those effect sizes that are relevant to the intervention, target population, and outcome measure being considered. Similarly, researchers planning education studies with social and…

BASIE is a framework for interpreting impact estimates from evaluations. It is an alternative to null hypothesis significance testing. This guide walks researchers through the key steps of applying BASIE, including selecting prior evidence, reporting impact estimates, interpreting impact estimates, and conducting sensitivity analyses. The guide…

This report presents selected findings from the second follow-up of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09). HSLS:09 follows a nationally representative sample of students who were ninth-graders in fall 2009 from the beginning of high school into higher education and the workforce. Key research topics for HSLS:09 include secondary to…

This analysis of Zipf's law uses an index for the sequence of observed values of the variables in a Zipf-type relationship. Three important properties relating rank, count, and frequency are identified, shapes of Zipf-type curves are described, and parameters of the Mandelbrot-Zipf law are discussed. (Author/LRW)

Discusses flaws in the Apple IIe Applesoft random number generator, RND, and reports results of frequency and serial correlation tests of the generator. Suggestions of seeds that yield sequences of numbers which pass fundamental screening tests for randomness are presented. (Author/LRW)

Meehl's taxometric method was developed to distinguish categorical and continuous constructs. However, taxometric output can be difficult to interpret because expected results for realistic data conditions and differing procedural implementations have not been derived analytically or studied through rigorous simulations. By applying bootstrap…

Four empirical laws of bibliometrics--anomalous number, Lotka's, Zipf's, and Bradford's--together with Laplace's "law of succession" and de Solla Price's cumulative advantage distribution are shown to be almost identical. A simple model shows that the frequency forms conform with inverse square law over appropriate interval. (Fifteen…

A rudimentary description of Markov Chains is presented in order to introduce its use to describe and to predict authors' movements among subareas of the discipline of ethnomusicology. Other possible applications are suggested. (Author)

Analysis of works in American literature from the Modern Language Association International Bibliography (1981) in regard to form, class of materials, language, subject, and age found more references to books than journal articles, and age dispersion was broad. Comparisons are made to other similar studies in sciences and humanities. (Author/EM)

This study is an attempt to answer the following research question: can the reliability of a criterion-referenced test be accurately determined according to a multiple classification of the student's performance? Specifically, the study pursues the beta-multinomial model, which postulates the probability distribution of an examinee's degree of…

A study comparing citations received by patents in given year to number received in subsequent years found that, even though influential patents remain influential, both highly and infrequently cited patents age at same rate. Distribution of patents by number of citations received is stable over time. (17 references) (EJS)

The random variable p and its functions figure in several "tests of combined significance," meta-analysis summaries based on sample significance values, and ps have been used singly, as well as in other tests for evaluating the outcomes of individual research studies. In this work, asymptotic distributions of the sample one-sided…

The present investigation developed power curves for two parametric and two nonparametric procedures for testing the equality of population variances. Both normal and non-normal distributions were considered for the two group design with equal and unequal sample frequencies. The results indicated that when population distributions differed only in…

Examines relationships among the parameters of the Zipf size-frequency distribution as well as its sampling properties. Highlights include its importance in bibliometrics, tables for the sampling distribution of the maximal value of a finite Zipf distribution, and an approximation formula for confidence intervals. (Author/LRW)

After discussion of the equivalency of the information laws of Bradford, Leimkuhler, Lotka, and Mandelbrot, aberrations from Leimkuhler's law (including "Groos droop" as encountered in practice) are studied. Other aberrations of Leimkuhler's law are explained, starting from generalization of verbal formulation of Bradford's Law. (18…