Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore teenagers' and young adults' use of social networking sites (SNS), in light of certain personal, social and educational outcomes and attitudes. Design/methodology/approach: Data were gathered on the basis of surveys, and were analyzed through a series of multivariate models. Findings: It was found…

Although the "K"-means algorithm for minimizing the within-cluster sums of squared deviations from cluster centroids is perhaps the most common method for applied cluster analyses, a variety of other criteria are available. The "p"-median model is an especially well-studied clustering problem that requires the selection of "p" objects to serve as…

Multiple-set canonical correlation analysis (Generalized CANO or GCANO for short) is an important technique because it subsumes a number of interesting multivariate data analysis techniques as special cases. More recently, it has also been recognized as an important technique for integrating information from multiple sources. In this paper, we…

Simulating multivariate nonnormal data with specified correlation matrices is difficult. One especially popular method is Vale and Maurelli's (1983) extension of Fleishman's (1978) polynomial transformation technique to multivariate applications. This requires the specification of distributional moments and the calculation of an intermediate…

The currently available meta-analytic methods for correlations have restrictive assumptions. The fixed-effects methods assume equal population correlations and exhibit poor performance under correlation heterogeneity. The random-effects methods do not assume correlation homogeneity but are based on an equally unrealistic assumption that the…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a greater number of years of participation in the Professional Learning Communities Project positively impacts professional staff perceptions of job satisfaction, professional collaboration, and implementation of best practices as defined by the "Critical Issues for Team Consideration" (DuFour et…

A fundamental goal of educational research is identifying students' current stage of skill mastery (complete/partial/none). In recent years a number of cognitive diagnosis models have become a popular means of estimating student skill knowledge. However, these models become difficult to estimate as the number of students, items, and skills grows.…

Recursive partitioning methods have become popular and widely used tools for nonparametric regression and classification in many scientific fields. Especially random forests, which can deal with large numbers of predictor variables even in the presence of complex interactions, have been applied successfully in genetics, clinical medicine, and…

This research examined readers' knowledge of popular genres. Participants wrote short essays on fantasy, science fiction, or romance. The similarities among the essays were measured using latent semantic analysis (LSA) and were then analyzed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. The clusters and scales were interpreted by searching…

Fieldwork is considered central to an education as a physical geographer. However, there are doubts whether all students benefit from it equally. A preferred way of learning may have an influence upon its perceived value. Attitude surveys were administered to 1191 2nd- and 3rd-year physical geography undergraduates across 16 British universities.…

Background: Self-injurious behaviour (SIB) is among the most serious problems faced by intellectual disability services. It is very difficult to treat and can become a chronic problem. Method: Information on a number of variables was collected through a survey of service-users identified as displaying SIBs. Clinical opinion and a literature review…

Methamphetamine use was historically a problem facing Western states; however, in recent years it has methodically spread throughout the nation. Methamphetamine use impacts communities, families, and the criminal justice system in a variety of ways. As such, many jurisdictions are developing policies to reduce the sale and consumption of this drug…

The use of storytelling allows lecturers to engage students in a dynamic and enthusiastic way while encouraging students to develop a higher order of thinking and recollection. Storytelling allows the lecturer to show their interest in the material and in the students. Lectures can utilize the art of storytelling to communicate expertise and…

In this study I examine the noticing of verbs with stem vowel changes by beginning adult learners of L2 German who have not been formally introduced to this linguistic feature. Two research questions (RQs) guided the experimental design and the empirical analyses in this study: (1) Do adult beginning learners of German who are unfamiliar with…

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether peer involvement, family involvement, media within the school campus, and cultural beliefs about college life were related to student involvement in risky behaviors, such as binge drinking, illicit drug use, risky sexual behavior, and problem gambling. Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model was…