It has been argued that item variance and test variance are not necessary characteristics for criterion-referenced tests, although they are necessary for norm-referenced tests. This position is in error because it considers sample statistics as the criteria for evaluating items and tests. Within a particular sample, an item or test may have no…

Some of the requirements and consequences of rigorous and valid educational evaluation research are explored in terms of problems in achieving two types of external validity, population and ecological. The former refers to the generalizability of inferences to subjects not included in a study, while the latter is concerned with the…

Bayesian statistical methodology and its possible uses in the behavioral sciences are discussed in relation to the solution of problems in both the use and teaching of fundamental statistical methods, including confidence intervals, significance tests, and sampling. The Bayesian model explains these statistical methods and offers a consistent…

Three techniques for assessing the adequacy of correlation matrices for factor analysis were applied to four examples from the literature. The methods compared were: (1) inspection of the off diagonal elements of the anti-image covariance matrix S(to the 2nd) R(to the -1) and S(to the 2nd); (2) the Measure of Sampling Adequacy (M.S.A.), and (3)…

Multiple matrix sampling (MMS) procedures were utilized to determine the necessary parameters of a Pearson Type I curve. Empirical norms distributions were approximated by both the Type I model and the negative hypergeometric model. Four existing ITED norms distributions, two subtests and two grades, were approximated by the MMS procedures. Two…

Using second grade children, this study was designed to investigate the differences (or lack of differences) among the Interview, the Picture Stimulus Interview, and the Free Play Situation techniques in the categories of productivity, thought groups, compound structures, complex structures, and words per thought group as a means of gaining a…

This report on pupil, staff, and parent attitudes toward career education presents data obtained from a January 1972 inventory of sample populations in the six participating Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in the Comprehensive Career Education Model (CCEM) project. These data serve as a baseline for the CCEM installation efforts, and this initial…

The jackknife is a general inferential technique intended to ameliorate the problems associated with inadequate sampling theory. The research reported herein is directed at investigating the utility of the jackknife for establishing confidence intervals on and testing hypotheses about the disattenuated correlation coefficient for small samples. A…

Pennsylvania's Educational Quality Assessment Program provides each participating school with a building level report in which state percentiles are a prominent part. Multiple matrix sampling was being considered as a technique to reduce testing time. However, there was great concern that the error associated with estimating the school mean might…

This is one of a series of eight short monographs intended to aid practicing educators in planning and conducting accountability programs in schools. This booklet discusses how to determine a sampling method that is appropriate to the objectives of a particular research or evaluation effort. Short sections focus in turn on why and when to sample,…

Populations of factorially simple and complex data were generated with first the oblique and orthogonal factor models, and then solutions based on special cases of the general orthomax criterion were compared on the basis of these characteristics. The results are discussed and implications noted. (DEP)

This study, based on a survey of rural families in several provinces in Indonesia, is an attempt to search for variables, and combinations of variables, that predict the actual utilization of schooling by individual families. Suggests these useful predictors: family characteristics, family economic status, family orientation toward education.…

Cross-cultural validity studies for psychological instruments may result in overestimation of structure invariance due to some items being scored on more than one scale. This problem, called the common-item effect, is investigated with some data from the literature. (JKS)

Examines the similarity between the coordinates which resulted when correlations were used as similarity measures and the factor loadings obtained by factor analyzing the same correlation matrix. Real data, a set of error free data, and some computer generated data containing deliberately introduced sampling error are analyzed. (RC)