Inferential conditions in the statistical detection of measurement bias are discussed in the contexts of differential item functioning and predictive bias in educational and employment settings. It is concluded that bias measures that rely strictly on observed measures are not generally diagnostic of measurement bias or lack of bias. (SLD)

Cross-national inequality trends have historically been a crucial field of inquiry across the social sciences, and new methodological techniques of statistical inference have recently improved the ability to analyze these trends over time. This paper applies Monte Carlo, bootstrap inference methods to the income surveys of the Luxembourg Income…

Putative ethnic group differences in various forms of psychopathology may have important theoretical, clinical, and policy implications. Recently, it has been argued that individuals of African descent are more likely to be psychopathic than those of European descent (R. Lynn, 2002). Preliminary evidence from the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth…

This study used data from 1994 to 1999 from one large county in Pennsylvania to estimate the Medicaid expenditures of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and to compare these expenditures with those of other Medicaid-eligible children. On average, children diagnosed with ASD had expenditures 10 times those of other children.…

School-effectiveness research is constrained by ambiguous factors of effectiveness and a lack of theory. This paper presents findings of a study that used simulation to improve school-effectiveness theory. Simulation is also used to explore the direct effects of schools on individual learning. After introducing simulation models, the paper…

The central thesis of this article is that the process of eliminating validity threats depends fundamentally on no-difference findings, a fact that has not been made explicit by researchers. The implications of this neglect are explored using examples from a number of different substantive areas such as psychology, health, and medicine.…

The focus here is on the students' uses for numbers in both school and home settings. The included activities emphasize a growth and development theme involving various aspects of data collection, data interpretation, probability, and statistics. Also included are parent-child extended activity worksheets. (JJK)

Variance formulas of H. E. Daniels and M. G. Kendall (1947) are generalized to allow for the presence of ties and variance of the sample tau correlation. Applications of these generalized formulas are discussed and illustrated using data from a 1965 study of contraceptive use in 15 developing countries. (SLD)

Discusses five common myths about statistical significance testing (SST), the possible erroneous and harmful contributions of SST to educational research, and suggested alternatives to SST for mathematics education research. (Contains 61 references.) (MKR)

We report findings from an initial empirical test of a hope-based, group therapy protocol. In this context, hope is defined as a cognitive process through which individuals pursue their goals [Snyder, C. R.: 1994, Free Press, New York]. As such, the eight-session group treatment emphasized building goal-pursuit skills. Findings from a randomized,…

Diagnostic score reports linking assessment outcomes to instructional interventions are one of the most requested features of assessment products. There is a body of interesting work done in the last 20 years including Tatsuoka's rule space method (Tatsuoka, 1983), Haertal and Wiley's binary skills model (Haertal, 1984; Haertal & Wiley, 1993),…

Three versions of a probabilistic model adapted from the theory of information retrieval--a binary version, a version using the full value of the data, and a version using principal components--were tested and applied to data available from application forms to predict graduate school performance of library school students. (EM)

This article investigates two common methods of determining the line of best fit and then expands on the techniques used in these methods to find the line of best fit by graphing, estimating and using a microcomputer. (PK)

Web-based statistical instruction, like all statistical instruction, ought to focus on teaching the essence of the research endeavor: the exercise of reflective judgment. Using the framework of the recent report of the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Statistical Inference (Wilkinson and the APA Task Force on Statistical…

Two extensions of the Mantel Haenszel procedure that may be useful in assessing differential item functioning (DIF) are explored. Simulation results showed that, for both inferential procedures, the studied item should be included in the matching variable, as in the dichotomous case. (SLD)