Given the American Psychological Association's strong recommendation to always report effect sizes in research, scholars have a responsibility to provide complete information regarding their findings. The purposes of this study were to (a) determine the frequencies with which different effect sizes were reported in published, peer-reviewed…

The present article provides a primer on using effect sizes in research. A small heuristic data set is used in order to make the discussion concrete. Additionally, various admonitions for best practice in reporting and interpreting effect sizes are presented. Among these is the admonition to not use Cohen's benchmarks for "small," "medium," and…

Correlation matrices and standard deviations are the building blocks of many of the commonly conducted analyses in published research, and AERA and APA reporting standards recommend their inclusion when reporting research results. The authors argue that the inclusion of correlation/covariance matrices, standard deviations, and means can enhance…

The present article provides a primer on (a) effect sizes, (b) confidence intervals, and (c) confidence intervals for effect sizes. Additionally, various admonitions for reformed statistical practice are presented. For example, a very important implication of the realization that there are dozens of effect size statistics is that "authors must…

Reviews some of the criticisms of contemporary practice regarding the use of statistical tests. Presents a brief overview of effect indices. Reviews related practices within seven volumes of "School Psychology Quarterly." Results show that contemporary authors continue to use and interpret statistical significance tests inappropriately. Explores…

The use of planned, or "a priori," and unplanned, or "post hoc," comparisons to isolate differences among means in analysis of variance research is discussed. Planned comparisons typically involve weighting data by sets of "contrasts." Planned comparison offer more power against Type II errors. In addition, they force…

Investigates two aspects of research analyses in quantitative research studies reported in the 1996 issues of "Journal of Counseling & Development" (JCD). Acceptable methodological practice regarding significance testing and evaluation of score reliability has evolved considerably. Contemporary thinking on these issues is described; practice as…

Investigated the patterns of statistical usage and reporting in 756 articles published in the "American Educational Research Journal" (AERJ) and the "Journal of Counseling Psychology" (JCP) over 10 years. Evaluated the analytic practices used. Also discusses changes that may be necessary to improve statistics in behavioral…

Dissertations are the cumulative, tangible "best evidence" of interests of doctoral faculty and students in serious and incisive scholarship. Thus, dissertations are thoroughly studied by the program review teams periodically hired by boards of higher education in most states. The present paper explores seven errors in quantitative…

Too few researchers understand what statistical significance testing does and does not do, and consequently their results are misinterpreted. This Digest explains the concept of statistical significance testing and discusses the meaning of probabilities, the concept of statistical significance, arguments against significance testing,…

Hypothetical data sets are used to demonstrate how canonical correlation methods subsume other commonly utilized parametric methods. Analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, multiple analysis of variance, and multiple analysis of covariance are heavily used by educational researchers. It is concluded that researchers would do well to consider…

Although methodological integrity is not the sole determinant of the value of a program evaluation, decision-makers do have a right, at a minimum, to be able to expect competent work from evaluators. This paper explores five areas where evaluators might improve methodological practices. First, evaluation reports should reflect the limited…