Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is an influential methodological approach motivated by set theory and boolean logic. QCA proponents have developed algorithms to analyze quantitative data, in a bid to uncover necessary and sufficient conditions where causal relationships are complex, conditional, or asymmetric. This article uses computer…

A simulation study was conducted to explore the impact of differential item functioning (DIF) on general factor difference estimation for bifactor, ordinal data. Common analysis misspecifications in which the generated bifactor data with DIF were fitted using models with equality constraints on noninvariant item parameters were compared under data…

This dissertation consists of three essays that use and develop econometric methods to causally investigate topics in education and development economics. In the first chapter, I develop an econometric framework to correctly and efficiently draw inference in models where estimated value-added (VA) is an explanatory variable (and models where it…

The present simulation study indicates that a method where the regression effect of a predictor (X) on an outcome at follow-up (Y1) is calculated while adjusting for the outcome at baseline (Y0) can give spurious findings, especially when there is a strong correlation between X and Y0 and when the test-retest correlation between Y0 and Y1 is…

Parameter linking in item response theory is generally necessary to adjust for differences between the true values for the same item and ability parameters due to the use of different identifiability restrictions in different calibrations. The research reported in this article explores a precision-weighted (PW) approach to the problem of…

With technology integration efforts expanding to early childhood education globally, assessing preschool teachers' technological competence beliefs is imperative. However, most existing tools measuring teachers' information and communication technology (ICT) competence beliefs focused on primary through secondary grades. This study examined the…

Background: The Alouette-R (2005) by Lefavrais is one of the most widely used tools to assess reading skills in French. However, this instrument does not have normative data specific to the French-speaking population of Quebec, Canada. Aims: The validity of an assessment being strongly compromised when using inappropriate norms, the first…

Given the need for a swift, systematic way to identify students with internalizing and externalizing behavior patterns to connect these students with appropriate supports, we present new findings of the Student Risk Screening Scale--Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE). In this article, we examined (a) factor structure of the SRSS-IE and (b)…

Response style, one common aberrancy in non-cognitive assessments in psychological fields, is problematic in terms of inaccurate estimation of item and person parameters, which leads to serious reliability, validity, and fairness issues (Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 2001; Bolt & Johnson, 2009; Bolt & Newton, 2011). Response style refers to…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) prepares students for life beyond high school by providing practical labor skills, workforce credentials, and early post-secondary credits. States are required to report the number of CTE concentrators to receive federal Perkins funding, but systems of identifying students as concentrators vary among states. We…

In educational and psychological measurement, a person-fit statistic (PFS) is designed to identify aberrant response patterns. For parametric PFSs, valid inference depends on several assumptions, one of which is that the item response theory (IRT) model is correctly specified. Previous studies have used empirical data sets to explore the effects…

This supplement concerns Appendix E of the "What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Procedures Handbook, Version 4.1." The supplement extends the range of designs and analyses that can generate effect size and standard error estimates for the WWC. This supplement presents several new standard error formulas for cluster-level assignment studies,…

The certainty of response index (CRI) measures respondents' confidence level when answering an item. In conjunction with the answers to the items, previous studies have used descriptive statistics and arbitrary thresholds to identify student knowledge profiles with the CRIs. Whereas this approach overlooked the measurement error of the observed…

The aim of this paper was to evaluate gender differences in the language used in United Nations (UN) General Assembly debates by one male and one female representative each from India, China, the USA, and Indonesia. The critical discourse analysis (CDA) framework of van Dijk (2015) was used along with the 25 discursive devices in this framework.…

We consider two-level models where a continuous response R and continuous covariates C are assumed missing at random. Inferences based on maximum likelihood or Bayes are routinely made by estimating their joint normal distribution from observed data R[subscript obs] and C[subscript obs]. However, if the model for R given C includes random…