Since the seminal introduction of the propensity score (PS) by Rosenbaum and Rubin, PS-based methods have been widely used for drawing causal inferences in the behavioral and social sciences. However, the PS approach depends on the ignorability assumption: there are no unobserved confounders once observed covariates are taken into account. For…

With so many role-playing simulations already in the political science education literature, the recent repeated calls for new games is both timely and appropriate. This article answers and extends those calls by advocating the creation of probabilistic games using Microsoft Excel. I introduce the example of the Stag Hunt Game--a short, effective,…

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce matching in propensity score analysis (PSA) as an alternative statistical approach for researchers looking to make causal inferences using intact groups. Design/methodology/approach: An illustrative example demonstrated the varying results of analysis of variance, analysis of covariance and PSA on a heuristic…

Research shows that playing games in the classroom improves students' attitudes toward mathematics, increases motivation to practice skills inside and outside the classroom, and increases learning by encouraging students of all levels to participate. Rutherford asserts that playing games encourages strategic mathematical thinking and supports…

The climate in college admissions is more competitive than ever, making understanding the college choice factors that contribute to a student's enrollment decision increasingly important. Using admitted student data from a liberal arts institution in the northeast for fall 2008 to fall 2011, and after controlling for student preparedness,…

Rural communities are not a monolith; they have unique challenges that require unique policy solutions. One of the best ways to understand the diversity of those challenges -- and, in turn, identify the most effective solutions -- is to hear directly from rural communities. This Special Report analyzes data from a 2020 Strada Education…

The Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test (GHDT) is a non-verbal assessment designed to infer young children's levels of intellectual development and understanding via the collection of three human figure drawings (HFDs)--one each of a man, a woman and a self-portrait. This paper presents findings from a research project that applied the Rasch model for…

The cost of higher education at both public and private institutions is increasing and adversely affecting college students (College Board, 2009; Idemudia & Ferguson, 2014a, 2014b, 2015a, 2015b). Utilizing an institutional dataset called Financial Survey of Students 2006 compiled at one of the largest public universities in the southwestern…

The course withdrawal decision includes both monetary and time costs for the student. Institutional costs include the misallocation of scarce seats to noncompleting students. Understanding the course withdrawal decision process can aid advisors and administrators as they seek ways to improve retention and progression. This study uses 21,318 course…

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide educators with an abundance of data describing how students interact with the platform, but this data is highly underutilized today. This is in part due to the lack of sophisticated tools to provide interpretable and actionable summaries of huge amounts of MOOC activity present in log data. To address…

The Einstein-First project approaches the teaching of Einsteinian physics through the use of physical models and analogies. This paper presents an approach to the teaching of quantum physics which begins by emphasising the particle-nature of light through the use of toy projectiles to represent photons. This allows key concepts including the…

Taking risks and enjoying challenges are fundamental to the lives of young children from a developmental and evolutionary point of view. However, in modern societies, increasing concern about dangers and injuries has led to the escalation in regulation and provisions for the safety of young children. This intent to establish secure and risk-free…

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been proposed as a promising approach for the classification of students into different levels of a psychological attribute hierarchy. Unfortunately, because such classifications typically rely upon internally produced item response patterns that have not been externally validated, the instability of ANN…

This study investigates whether the completion of an optional sandwich work placement enhances student performance in final year examinations. Using Propensity Score Matching, our analysis departs from the literature by controlling for self-selection. Previous studies may have overestimated the impact of sandwich work placements on performance…

A majority of high school graduates aspire to earn a college degree (ACT, 2016), yet many students are graduating from high school unprepared to do college-level work. As a result, about one-third of college freshmen enroll in at least one developmental course upon entry to college (Skomsvold, 2014). Because developmental courses are often not…