Active learning, which entails any class activity that "involves students doing things and thinking about the things that they are doing," stands as an important pedagogical practice. Discussion, the types of questions faculty ask students in class, role playing, cooperative learning, debates, and the types of questions faculty ask on examinations…

Correlational methods are compared to an alternative method based on decision theory and logistic regression for providing validity evidence for college admissions and course placement criteria. The advantages and limitations of both methods are examined. The correlation coefficient measures the strength of the linear statistical relationship…

Often, all of the variables in a model are latent, random, or subject to measurement error, or there is not an obvious dependent variable. When any of these conditions exist, an appropriate method for estimating the linear relationships among the variables is Least Principal Components Analysis. Least Principal Components are robust, consistent,…

By using a competing risks model, survival analysis methods can be extended to predict which of several mutually exclusive outcomes students will choose based on predictor variables, thereby ascertaining if the profile of risk differs across groups. The paper begins with a brief introduction to logistic regression and some of the basic concepts of…

A study was conducted to identify factors affecting student performance on the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), a state-mandated measure designed to assess students' basic skills and competencies. TASP and Assessment of Student Skills for Entry Transfer (ASSET) scores were analyzed for 328 academic track students from 6 community colleges in…

Based on the comparison of a regular-sized (n=25) and an oversized (n=54) class of college students taught by the same instructor, significant superior performance was found in favor of the large class. This disparity persisted even when a switching regression model (with endogenous switching) was performed. Only 39% of the learning disparity can…

Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) scores and final course grades from over 8,000 high school students at 50 schools were gathered to determine the validity of ASVAB Form 14 for the prediction of high school course grades. Grades were collected for courses taken during the academic year in which students were tested on the ASVAB…

This study compared the effectiveness of the BASIC programming language and the HyperCard authoring language on promoting problem-solving skills and the reduction of computer anxiety. Two groups of students participated in the study. One group (N=13) received instruction on BASIC and the other (N=8) on HyperCard. Students in both groups responded…

Educational research on the factors of student achievement has been limited by its failure to consider the multilevel or hierarchical nature of most data. This study used a nonexperimental regression-based procedure, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), to empirically develop a predictive model of fifth-grade achievement in reading and mathematics…

A limitation of the principal components method is its scale dependence. This note shows that the method is scale invariant if the normalization is modified in an obvious way. Then the effect of a change in units is as transparent as in linear regression, and principal components can be used without apology. Most researchers who use multivariate…

A population data set was randomly generated from which a random sample was drawn. This sample was randomly divided into two data sets, one of which was used to generate parameter estimates, which were then used in the second data set for cross-validation purposes. The best variable subset models were compared between the two data sets on the…

Findings from a multiphase project to develop a standard assessment battery for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are reported. In the first study, validity of a delayed-recall administration of the Benton Revised Visual Retention Test (Benton, 1974) was examined with 30 children individually given 3 administrations of the Benton…

Few reliable data exist to provide an accurate estimate of the money invested in staff development or inservice programs in the United States for elementary and secondary school personnel. There are, however, some indicators by which costs of staff development programs at the federal level can be inferred. The problem of accurately gauging staff…

The predictive and incremental validity of the New Medical College Admission Test (New MCAT) Science Problems Subtest was examined with a sample of over 165 medical students. Criterion measures were National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Part I (basic science) and Part II (clinical science) performance. The Science Problems subscore is derived…

Singers appear to experience health benefits from singing, but their art makes physical demands that may leave them prone to health problems. The study sought to measure singers' immunocompetence under practice and performance conditions. Salivary IgA and cortisol measurements were assayed from multiple pre-post saliva samples obtained from 10…