The main purpose of the study is to evaluate the qualities of human essay ratings for a large-scale assessment using Rasch measurement theory. Specifically, Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) was utilized to examine the rating scale category structure and provide important information about interpretations of ratings in the large-scale…

Propensity score weighting is one of the techniques used in controlling for selection biases in nonexperimental studies. Propensity scores can be used as weights to account for selection assignment differences between treatment and comparison groups. One of the advantages of this approach is that all the individuals in the study can be used for…

Pseudocontingencies are inferences about correlations in the environment that are formed on the basis of statistical regularities like skewed base rates or varying base rates across environmental contexts. Previous research has demonstrated that pseudocontingencies provide a pervasive mechanism of inductive inference in numerous social judgment…

Despite the wide spread awareness regarding the need to improve maternal health, maternal mortality remains a great concern in Nigeria. Consequently, the importance of medical attention required in the care of pregnant women cannot be over emphasised. This study investigates the influence of barriers to attending antenatal care among pregnant…

The coastal waters of East Yapen is one of the spawning sites and areas of care for marine biota in Papua. Because of its very open location, it is widely used by human activities such as fishing, residential, industrial and cruise lines. This indirectly affects the balance of coastal waters condition of East Yapen that impact on the existence of…

This study was designed to identify a continuum of orthographic features that characterize Spanish spelling development in Grades 1-3. Two research questions guided this work: (1) Is there a hierarchy of orthographic features that affect students' spelling accuracy in Spanish over and above other school-level, student-level, and word-level…

As the need for engineers continues to increase, a growing focus has been placed on recruiting students into the field of engineering and retaining the students who select engineering as their field of study. As a result of this concentration on student retention, numerous studies have been conducted to identify, understand, and confirm…

Using data from two freshmen cohorts at a public research university (N = 3730), this study examines the relationship between loan aid and second-year enrollment persistence. Applying a counterfactual analytical framework that relies on propensity score (PS) weighting and matching to address selection bias associated with treatment status, the…

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) both have multifactorial pathogenesis with an increasing number of studies demonstrating gut-brain associations. We aim to examine the association between ASD and IBD using strict classification criteria for IBD. We conducted a retrospective case-cohort study using records from…

Knowledge of why parents use complementary health approaches (CHA) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited. We conducted a mixed methods study to better understand factors influencing parents' decision to use CHA for ASD. Parent-reported data about CHA use were collected on a probability sample of 352 young children with ASD in…

Everyday encounters with graphical representations include a variety of graphs that superficially appear similar due to their use of bars. This article examines students' conceptions and misconceptions regarding the interpretation of variability in histograms, bar graphs, and value bar charts. A multiple choice assessment with brief written…

In this article we analyze the effects of student work on academic performance for college students. In order to reduce the endogeneity bias due to selection into treatment, we use propensity score matching technique. This approach allows us to estimate the effects of student work separately for different years of study, which is not possible when…

To demonstrate the sequential nature of the college application process, in this paper I analyze the evolution of applications among high-achieving low-income students through data on the exact timing of SAT score sends. I describe at what point students send scores to colleges and which score sends ultimately become applications, resulting in…

Check In Check Out (CICO) is one of the most empirically supported Tier 2 behavior interventions for students who require additional supports to experience success. CICO incorporates regular performance feedback and adult interaction throughout the day in alignment with school-wide expectations. Performance feedback includes both reinforcing and…

This article focuses on a family of restricted latent structure models with wide applications in psychological and educational assessment, where the model parameters are restricted via a latent structure matrix to reflect prespecified assumptions on the latent attributes. Such a latent matrix is often provided by experts and assumed to be correct…