Derives a set of linear conditions of item-response functions that guarantees identical observed-score distributions on two test forms. The conditions can be added as constraints to a linear programming model for test assembly. An example illustrates the use of the model for an item pool from the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). (SLD)

A Monte Carlo study was conducted using simulated dichotomous data to determine the effects of guessing on Rasch item fit statistics and the Logit Residual Index. Results indicate that no significant differences were found between the mean Rasch item fit statistics for each distribution type as the probability of guessing the correct answer…

Presents abstracts of papers for a planned session dealing with the historiography and history of information science. Highlights include probability distributions underlying the use of library materials, particularly scientific journals; the temporal and historical orientation of the rhetoric of information science; and concepts of information…

An objective method is presented to group discrete self-injurious behavior (SIB) events into bouts. Survival analysis was used to determine how long after an SIB the probability of observing a subsequent SIB remained elevated. This estimated bout length criterion time point was determined individually for 19 subjects with developmental disorders…

In contrast with statements by institutions and science organizations about why science should be studied, nonscience majors at two-and four-year institutions said they were enrolled in a science course because it was required rather than because it would help them get the job they desired or would enrich them personally. (Contains 2 tables and 5…

This paper is a draft of Chapter 8 of a planned book, "Preschool and Jobs: Human Development as Economic Development, and Vice Versa". This book analyzes early childhood programs' effects on regional economic development. Four early childhood programs are considered: (1) universally accessible preschool for four-year-olds of similar…

The study investigated the views and perception of school leavers about the democratic government in Nigeria. A self-designed questionnaire was used for collection of their views. The participants of the study comprised 500 school leavers selected across different working places in the six states of Southwest Nigeria. Results clearly revealed that…

In October 2005, 68.6 percent of high school graduates from the class of 2005 were enrolled in colleges or universities, according to data released on March 24, 2006 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. The college enrollment rate for recent high school graduates was a historical high for the series dating back to 1959.…

Objective and methods: To explore association between prevalence of ADHD and levels of risk for gestational alcohol exposure, the authors reviewed the charts of 2,231 youth referred for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Participants were categorized into four groups by different levels of risk for gestational alcohol exposure. For each group, the…

This note is concerned with presenting some simple indices of group-wise relative disadvantage in the distribution of income, in terms of the distance between the group's share in total population and its share in total income. The group-wise indices are then aggregated into society-wide indices of inter-group disparity. Empirical illustrations of…

Background: Children who have reached the age of 2 years without having acquired a 50-word vocabulary and/or who use no word combinations are referred to in the literature as "Late Talkers". Research has not yet identified the factors that cause slow development of expressive language; in particular, relatively little research has been carried out…

The main goal of this study was to assess how sensitive unidimensional parameter estimates derived from BILOG were when the unidimensionality assumption was violated and the underlying ability distribution was not multivariate normal. A multidimensional three-parameter logistic distribution that was a straightforward generalization of the…

The Mantel-Haenszel (MH) statistic for identifying differential item functioning (DIF) commonly conditions on the observed test score as a surrogate for conditioning on latent ability. When the comparison group distributions are not completely overlapping (i.e., are incongruent), the observed score represents different levels of latent ability…

The accuracy of estimation procedures in item response theory was studied using Monte Carlo methods and varying sample size, number of subjects, and distribution of ability parameters for: (1) joint maximum likelihood as implemented in the computer program LOGIST; (2) marginal maximum likelihood; and (3) marginal Bayesian procedures as implemented…

Despite the increasing criticism of statistical significance testing by researchers, particularly in the publication of the 1994 American Psychological Association's style manual, statistical significance test results are still popular in journal articles. For this reason, it remains important to understand the logic of inferential statistics. A…