Obtaining values for latent variables in factor analysis models, also referred to as factor scores, has long been of interest to researchers. However, many treatments of factor analysis do not focus on inference about the latent variables, and even fewer do so from a Bayesian perspective. Researchers may therefore be ill-acquainted with Bayesian…

The utility of the maximum likelihood F-test was demonstrated as an alternative to the omnibus Chi-square test when evaluating model fit in confirmatory factor analysis with small samples, as it has been well documented that the likelihood ratio test (T[subscript ML]) with small samples is not Chi-square distributed.

Financial literacy is a theme that integrates public policies for the social development of a country and an element to be worked on from different aspects to improve people's living standards, providing well-being. In this context, Stima is proposed, a system capable of acquiring knowledge from experts and tutors to help students to follow the…

Statisticians and data scientists have been called upon to increase the impact they have through their collaborative projects. Statistics and data science practitioners and their educators can achieve and enable greater impact by learning how to create shared understanding with their collaborators as well as teaching this concept to their…

This paper examines coin-toss comparison questions from two recent studies involving undergraduate students and high school teachers and connects to findings from two prior studies in the literature. Considering possible sample spaces employed by participants, this is a reflection on whether one sequence could be more likely depending on the…

When comparing relations and means of latent variables, it is important to establish measurement invariance (MI). Most methods to assess MI are based on confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Recently, new methods have been developed based on exploratory factor analysis (EFA); most notably, as extensions of multi-group EFA, researchers introduced…

There is widespread evidence that children display a mutual exclusivity response upon encountering new words. Children displaying this behaviour will select a novel, name-unknown object in response to a novel label, rather than a familiar, name-known object. The mutual exclusivity response has been viewed as a means of fast-mapping…

While significant attention has been given to test equating to ensure score comparability, limited research has explored equating methods for rater-mediated assessments, where human raters inherently introduce error. If not properly addressed, these errors can undermine score interchangeability and test validity. This study proposes an equating…

Functional models of anxiety based on dispositional variables have gained scientific acceptance. Their application to investigate constructs such as statistical anxiety can facilitate understanding and intervention. This study aimed to estimate whether dispositional variables such as worry and its negative consequences mediated the relationship…

The use of discrete categorical formats to assess psychological traits has a long-standing tradition that is deeply embedded in item response theory models. The increasing prevalence and endorsement of computer- or web-based testing has led to greater focus on continuous response formats, which offer numerous advantages in both respondent…

Despite the increasing use of the statistical programming language R in statistics and data analysis (SDA), its implementation in communication science education is limited. Experiences, recommendations, and a critical exchange are therefore scarce. The following contribution addresses this very gap. At the Department of Journalism and…

The present study examined the posited structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Fifth Edition (WISC-V) ancillary index scores with normative sample participants aged 6-16 years (N = 2200) using a series of confirmatory factor analyzes (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation. CFA results supported the retention of auditory…

Complex sequences are ubiquitous in human mental life, structuring representations within many different cognitive domains--natural language, music, mathematics, and logic, to name a few. However, the representational and computational machinery used to learn abstract grammars and process complex sequences is unknown. Here, we used an artificial…

This article proposes a fully nonparametric model to investigate the dynamics of intergenerational income mobility for discrete outcomes. In our model, an individual's income class probabilities depend on parental income in a manner that accommodates nonlinearities and interactions among various individual and parental characteristics, including…

Much has been written about how to improve the fairness of AI tools for decision-making but less has been said about how to approach this new field from the perspective of philosophy of education. My goal in this paper is to bring together criteria from the general algorithmic fairness literature with prominent values of justice defended by…