This dissertation examined classification outcome differences among four popular individual supervised machine learning (ISML) models (logistic regression, decision tree, support vector machine, and multilayer perceptron) when predicting minor class membership within imbalanced datasets. The study context and the theoretical population sampled…

Using data from multiple informants has long been considered best practice in education. However, multiple informants often disagree on similar constructs, complicating decision-making. Polynomial regression and response-surface analysis (PRA) is often used to test the congruence effect between multiple informants on an outcome. However, PRA…

This paper presents the importance of the visual expression of factor decomposition in regression analysis, which is particularly worthwhile for undergraduate students whose majors are not mathematics but social science. The conventional purpose of regression analysis is to examine specific hypotheses empirically. In particular, the statistical…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) seeks to provide practitioners information about "what works in education." One challenge in understanding "what works" to practitioners is that effect sizes--the degree to which an intervention produces positive (or negative) outcomes--are not comparable across different interventions, in…

With an educational issue that has caught the attention of many countries in the world (study load), a population of 8th graders from a typical Chinese metropolitan city (40,536 from 118 schools), and an advanced statistical strategy (multilevel piecewise regression), we examined whether there was a turning point in terms of the effects of study…

This study reviews the international literature of empirical educational research to examine the application of logistic regression. The aim is to examine common practices of the report and interpretation of logistic regression results, and to discuss the implications for educational research. A review of 130 studies suggests that: (a) the…

Purpose: Clinicians depend on the accuracy of research in the speech, language, and hearing sciences to improve assessment and treatment of patients with communication disorders. Although this work has contributed to great advances in clinical care, common statistical misconceptions remain, which deserve closer inspection in the field. Challenges…

There is a growing concern that much of the published research literature is distorted by the pursuit of statistically significant results. In a seminal article, Ioannidis and Trikalinos (2007, "Clinical Trials") proposed an omnibus (I&T) test for significance chasing (SC) biases. This test compares the observed number of studies…

The theoretical reason for the presence of differential item functioning (DIF) is that data are multidimensional and two groups of examinees differ in their underlying ability distribution for the secondary dimension(s). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine how much the secondary ability distributions must differ before DIF is…

There is a gap in the literature regarding the association between critical thinking (CT) skills and student success in chemistry. This study sought to fill this gap by evaluating the association between CT skills and student success in chemistry. The purpose of this study was (a) to determine whether there is a positive correlation between CT…

The need to understand how prospective students decide which higher education institution to attend is becoming of paramount importance as the policy context for higher education moves towards market-based systems in many countries. This paper provides a novel methodology by which student preferences between institutions can be assessed, using the…

The existence of a race-based stigma has been well documented among adolescents and young adults within higher educational settings; however, similar studies among students at historically Black universities are rare. Specifically, the 'acting white' accusation is a common, and yet seldom openly discussed phenomenon that exist within the African…

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which was established under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002. It is an important part of IES's strategy to use rigorous and relevant research, evaluation, and statistics to improve the nation's education system.…

Quantitative studies on international-school teacher retention are few, especially studies that differentiate between Gen Y and non-Gen Y teachers. This article reports on the findings of a study that examined the relationship of job satisfaction factors to the likelihood of contract renewal by international-school teachers. Results from the study…

This paper illustrates the use of a quality assessment tool for regression analysis. It is designed for non-specialist "consumers" of evidence, such as policy makers. The tool provides a series of questions such consumers of evidence can ask to interrogate regression analysis, and is illustrated with reference to a recent study published…