Metabolomics applies multivariate statistical analysis to sets of high-resolution spectra taken over a population of biologically derived samples. The objective is to distinguish subpopulations within the overall sample population, and possibly also to identify biomarkers. While metabolomics has become part of the standard analytical toolbox in…

Researchers continue to be interested in efficient, accurate methods of estimating coefficients of covariates in mixture modeling. Including covariates related to the latent class analysis not only may improve the ability of the mixture model to clearly differentiate between subjects but also makes interpretation of latent group membership more…

Background: The construct of self-determination has received considerable attention in the international field of intellectual disabilities (ID). Recently, there has been a rapid development of this construct in Chinese societies including Hong Kong. However, there is no locally validated instrument to measure self-determination in people with ID.…

Critical thinking is seen as a highly desirable way of thinking that needs to be encouraged in all areas of higher education. However, it is not easy to conceptualise critical thinking in ways that can help in its development and in its assessment. Recent policy documents in Pakistan have laid emphasis on the development of critical thinking…

This article examines college student disengagement from sports, presents a multidimensional concept of athletic identity, and introduces a new measure intended to assist college counselors in their work with disengaged athletes. The Multidimensional Athletic Identity and Engagement Scale (MAIES) is introduced (Cronbach alpha 0.98, with subscale…

In this study, we investigated the factor structure underlying the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement using confirmatory and exploratory factor-analytic methods and under conditions of multilevel (nested) data structures and ordinal measurement scales. We found evidence of generally poor fit with the system's posited first-order,…

This study uses the nominal response model to investigate the effects of extreme response styles. The Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) is a commonly used scale for the identification of anxiety disorders. In some cases, the response options are not extreme, ranging from "A little of the time" to "Most of the time;" in other…

Large-scale assessments are supported by a large item pool. An important task in test development is to assign items into scales that measure different characteristics of individuals, and a popular approach is cluster analysis of items. Classical methods in cluster analysis, such as the hierarchical clustering, K-means method, and latent-class…

The standardized generalized dimensionality discrepancy measure and the standardized model-based covariance are introduced as tools to critique dimensionality assumptions in multidimensional item response models. These tools are grounded in a covariance theory perspective and associated connections between dimensionality and local independence.…

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct of morphological awareness and its relations to vocabulary knowledge in Adult Basic Education (ABE) students. Morphological awareness has emerged as an important predictor of children's and ABE students' reading comprehension abilities; however, there has been a dearth of research…

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is one of the most commonly-reported quantitative methodology in the social sciences, yet much of the detail regarding what happens during an EFA remains unclear. The goal of this brief technical note is to explore what "rotation" is, what exactly is rotating, and why we use rotation when performing…

It is important to create positive attitudes and enough knowledge for preservice science teachers about renewable energy for future. The aim of this research was to show the correlation between renewable energy knowledge and subdimensions of attitude towards renewable energy with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The research was conducted by…

Linguistics and speech therapy are two directly related areas whereby the first one, with appropriate development, should follow the latter as a support in a theoretical and practical sense. In a study carried out amongst Slovene speech therapy students, the researcher was interested in their views regarding the importance of linguistic content in…

The present study with 2,273 students aimed to examine the factorial validity of the "Anxiety Questionnaire for Students" (AFS) by using the bifactor modeling framework, that is, contrasting a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model to an exploratory structural equation model (ESEM) and two bifactor models (B-CFA and B-ESEM). In…

While past research has shown the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI) to be an adequate measure of school engagement, this self-report questionnaire currently exists as a number of different versions, each comprising various subsets of the original 35 items. The first objective of this study was to use confirmatory factor analysis to assess the…