Assuming the perception of similarities as a fundamental psychological process, the applicability of a multidimensional scaling, nonmetric technique called MAPP (Mathematical Analysis of Perception and Preference) is demonstrated using three case studies. Any technique which provides paired similarity ranks can be used to collect data necessary…

The purpose of this study is to develop statistical tests for within cluster homogeneity when objects are scored on binary variables. (DEP)

Simulated test data (N=864 artificial data sets) with four different error conditions were used to study the recovery characteristics of the beta-flexible clustering method. Conditions under which the beta-flexible method provides good recovery are discussed. (SLD)

The author of this article observes that sometimes educators are so overwhelmed by the needs of struggling learners that they believe they do not have time for the gifted, talented, high achieving, and high potential students. However, those students are just as desperate as any other students for good teachers to help them progress. Middle school…

Adopting a person-centered approach, we profiled 5th and 6th grade children's (152 boys and 161 girls) school-related beliefs about perceived task difficulty and agency beliefs in ability and effort. Five clusters were compared across key learning-related dimensions encompassing underlying worldviews (means--ends beliefs, normative difficulty,…

The present paper tackles the issue of the higher education funding system in Slovenia. Its main attribute is that institutions are classified into study groups according to their fields of education, and funds granted by the state are based on their weights or study group factors (SGF). Analysis conducted using data envelopment analysis tested…

The theory and practical applications of bibliographic coupling are reviewed. The reviewer takes issue with the use of bibliographic coupling for information retrieval and automatic classification on logical grounds, and for reasons relating to uncontrolled citation practices. The usefulness of the procedure for the study of the science of science…

A clustering technique is described, the objective of which is to detect deviant subpopulations which deviate from a primary subpopulation in a well defined direction. (Author/DEP)

A strategy for reordering the hierarchical tree structure is presented. While the order of terminal nodes of Johnson's procedure is arbitrary, this procedure will rearrange every triad of nodes under a common least upper node so that the middle node is nonarbitrarily closest to the anchored node. (Author/CTM)

This pilot study proposes a set of analytical steps for comparing schools that participate in the National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program and their nonparticipating peers in the same state. This pilot is part of a larger effort to evaluate the MSP Program's role in student achievement, with two companion analyses.…

The universality of reading comprehension strategies across languages is a view generally accepted. What has not been clearly established, however, is the degree to which specific comprehension strategies are used by skilled L1 and L2 readers in the early grades. To investigate this issue, similarities and differences in the reading strategies of…