The purpose of this article is to illustrate the dynamic process involved in developing and utilizing a theoretical model in a mixed methods study. Specifically, I illustrate how the theoretical model can serve as the starting point in framing the study, as a lens for guiding the data collection and analysis, and as the end point in explaining the…

Research questions regarding how, for whom, and where a treatment achieves its effect on an outcome have become increasingly valued in substantive research. Such questions can be answered by causal moderated mediation analysis, which assesses the heterogeneity of the mediation mechanism underlying the treatment effect across individual and…

Statistical association is a key facet of statistical literacy: claims based on relationships between variables or ideas rooted in data are found everywhere in media and discourse. A key development in introductory statistics curricula is the use of simulation-based inference, which has shown positive outcomes for students, especially in regards…

The study reported in this article investigated the appropriateness of Mathematical Knowledge in Teaching of three pre-service primary school teachers (PSTs), teaching an informal statistical inference (ISI) lesson to primary school students. Using an ISI framework and the Knowledge Quartet framework, the presence and appropriateness of the PSTs'…

Multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) has increasingly been a topic of discussion within the learning analytics community. The Society of Learning Analytics Research is home to the CrossMMLA Special Interest Group and regularly hosts workshops on MMLA during the Learning Analytics Summer Institute (LASI). In this paper, we articulate a set of 12…

Interpreting statistical graphs and making inferences based on the graphs are a precursor for formal statistical inferences. To support student inferences, both teachers and future teachers should have adequate knowledge regarding students' thinking on graphs as well as their potential misinterpretations and difficulties in interpreting graphs. In…

It is common to include multiple dependent variables (DVs) in single-case experimental design (SCED) meta-analyses. However, statistical issues associated with multiple DVs in the multilevel modeling approach (i.e., possible dependency of error, heterogeneous treatment effects, and heterogeneous error structures) have not been fully investigated.…

Building on previous work on the civic returns of adult learning, this article examines the association between adult education, personality traits, and demands for civic participation or volunteering. Based on National Education Panel Study data, the study finds openness to be a crucial personality trait for participating in further training, as…

The natural experiment proposed in this article extracts three stories from boxes of "100 paper clips". The activity requires students to apply three lessons from inferential statistics, starting with a hypothesis test and including confidence intervals as well as tolerance intervals.

The study presented in this article examined the impact of two simulation-based inference activities on students' understanding of p-values in a second undergraduate statistics course. In the study, students familiar with traditional inference methods used physical and computer simulations to estimate p-values. To examine students' conceptions…

Research has indicated that undergraduate students struggle with conceptual understanding of confidence intervals, negatively impacting statistical literacy skills, and advocates have suggested the flipped classroom pedagogy as a potential solution. The purpose of this nonequivalent control group quasi-experimental study was to determine if a…

Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT) is widely used in assessment and evaluation of educational and psychological tests. It models the individual response patterns by specifying functional relationship between individuals' multiple latent traits and their responses to test items. One major challenge in parameter estimation in MIRT is that…

This article reviews important statistical methods for estimating the impact of interventions on outcomes in education settings, particularly programs that are implemented in field, rather than laboratory, settings. We begin by describing the causal inference challenge for evaluating program effects. Then four research designs are discussed that…

It is now widely accepted that the standard inferential toolkit used by the scientific research community--null-hypothesis significance testing (NHST)--is not fit for purpose. Yet despite the threat posed to the scientific enterprise, there is no agreement concerning alternative approaches for evidence assessment. This lack of consensus reflects…

Evaluating blocked randomized experiments from a potential outcomes perspective has two primary branches of work. The first focuses on larger blocks, with multiple treatment and control units in each block. The second focuses on matched pairs, with a single treatment and control unit in each block. These literatures not only provide different…