In this note, we discuss a coin tossing experiment with a new stopping rule. The two random variables involved in the experiment have some interesting properties.

The ability to identify schematic knowledge is an important goal for both assessment and instruction. In the current paper, schematic knowledge of statistical probability theory is explored from the declarative-procedural framework using multiple methods of assessment. A sample of 90 undergraduate introductory statistics students was required to…

A clinical trial needs a carefully structured, written plan in order not only to ensure its smooth running and successful conclusion but also to gain the compulsory agreement of an ethical committee. Such a plan is called a protocol. It consists of several stages. These are: (1) An introduction; (2) A statement of aims, objectives, hypotheses and…

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) is an agenda-based theory that offers a theoretical foundation for large budget shifts. PET emphasizes that the static, incremental nature of agendas is occasionally interrupted by punctuations. These punctuations indicate shifts in priority among the agenda items, and with those agenda shifts come trade-offs.…

Instructors may use the gambling game of craps to illustrate the use of a number of fundamental probability identities. For the "pass-line" bet we focus on the chance of winning and the expected game length. To compute these, probabilities of unions of disjoint events, probabilities of intersections of independent events, conditional probabilities…

This research examined the role the two constituents of joint control, the tact and the echoic, play in producing accurate selections of novel stimuli in response to their spoken descriptions. Experiment 1 examined the role of tacts. In response to unfamiliar spoken descriptions, children learned to select from among six successively presented…

In 6 task-cuing experiments, with 2 cues per task, the authors varied cue-stimulus interval to investigate G. D. Logan and C. Bundesen's (2003) claim that when cue repetition is controlled for, task-switch cost and its reduction with preparation are largely eliminated and hence cannot index an endogenous control process. Experiment 1 replicates…

The study focused on the interaction between two secondary school students while they were working on computerized mathematical investigation tasks related to probability theory. The aim was to establish how such interaction helped the students to learn from one another, and how it may have hindered their learning process. The assumption was that…

Of thirty-eight states with lotteries, sixteen earmark lottery profits for primary and secondary education. In this article, we use a panel data set of states with lotteries to examine the impact of earmarking lottery revenues on state educational spending. We can reject the hypothesis that spending increases dollar for dollar with earmarked…

Shaffer and Hall (1997) have estimated college student gambling to be three times as high as their adult counterparts. Despite a considerable amount of research on gambling, researchers have struggled to develop a universal theory that explains gambling behavior. This study explored the potential of Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) Theory of Reasoned…

This article provides a profile of a range of important variables for assessing diversity among different Latino groups from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). The NLAAS is a nationally representative study of the mental health needs and mental health services use of the Latino population of the United States. The NLAAS employs…

This study is part of the German Language Development Study's prospective longitudinal research programme on infants from birth until the age of 3 years. Thirty-four infants were retrospectively classified into two groups (normal/delayed) by their language skills at 2.5 years of age. Frequency spectrograms and melodies of about 11,000 cries from…

This article describes the history, evidence warrants, and evolution of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing's (CRESST) model-based assessments. It considers alternative interpretations of scientific or practical models and illustrates how model-based assessment addresses both definitions. The components of the…

Two conditional versions of the exposure-control method with item-ineligibility constraints for adaptive testing in van der Linden and Veldkamp (2004) are presented. The first version is for unconstrained item selection, the second for item selection with content constraints imposed by the shadow-test approach. In both versions, the exposure rates…

Probability is an important idea with a remarkably wide range of applications. However, psychological and instructional studies conducted in the last two decades have consistently documented poor understanding of probability among different populations across different settings. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for…