Teaching quality is the lifeline of the higher education. Many universities have made some effective achievement about evaluating the teaching quality. In this paper, we establish the Students' evaluation of teaching (SET) discriminant analysis model and algorithm based on principal component clustering analysis. Additionally, we classify the SET…

The Malaysian Quality of Life Index (MQLI) released by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), has led authors to search for alternative method of expressing this index. One of the limitations in MQLI computations is the failure to recognise unequal weights for each accounted component. This paper offers a new way of expressing the quality of life index…

This paper describes and evaluates the use of decision theory as a tool for classifying examinees based on their item response patterns. Decision theory, developed by A. Wald (1947) and now widely used in engineering, agriculture, and computing, provides a simple model for the analysis of categorical data. Measurement decision theory requires only…

Multivariate methods are being used with increasing frequency in educational research because these methods control "experimentwise" error rate inflation, and because the methods best honor the nature of the reality to which the researcher wishes to generalize. This paper: explains the basic logic of canonical analysis; illustrates that…

A multidimensional model is presented for measuring learning and change based on item response theory. The model specifies a Wiener simplex pattern for involvement of initial ability and one or more modifiabilities in response potential for successive measurement occasions. Properties of the model are explored for several classical issues. (SLD)

An approximate statistical test is derived for the hypothesis that the intraclass reliability coefficients associated with two measurement procedures are equal. Control of Type 1 error is investigated by comparing empirical sampling distributions of the test statistic with its derived theoretical distribution. A numerical illustration is…

The capability of the DIMTEST statistical test in assessing essential unidimensionality of item responses to real tests was investigated for 22 real tests of at least 25 items and 700 or more examinees. DIMTEST results on real tests were able to discriminate between essentially unidimensional and multidimensional tests. (SLD)

A Monte Carlo study evaluated the effectiveness of different factor analysis extraction and rotation methods for identifying the known population multiple-indicator measurement model. Results demonstrate that exploratory factor analysis can contribute to a useful heuristic strategy for model specification prior to cross-validation with…

Problems in the measurement of latent variables (LVs) in structural equations causal models are presented, with examples from recent empirical studies. Main issues addressed are (1) two general types of increased operative variables; (2) criteria for indicators of LVs; and (3) disattenuation effects in LV models. (SLD)

Replies to Guttentag's commentary on Brainerd and others' research on forgetting. Discusses measurement of forgetting, differentiation of storage from retrieval factors, and ramifications of findings for strategic or process theories of memory development. Considers the role of research on forgetting in child development research. (BC)

A unified treatment is presented for conditions that should allow detection of measurement bias using statistical procedures involving only observed or manifest variables. Computational results demonstrate that methods for studying bias that rely exclusively on manifest variables are not generally diagnostic of the presence or absence of…

Several metanalytic studies of group variability use variance ratios as measures of effect size. Problems with this approach are discussed, including limitations of using means and medians of ratios. Mean logarithms and the geometric mean are not adversely affected by the arbitrary choice of numerator. (SLD)

Another Rasch approach to the measurement of change, the multidimensional random coefficient multinomial logit model (MRCML), is proposed. The MRCML model can be applied to polytomous items and the investigation of variations in item difficulties. Some simulation studies demonstrate good parameter recovery for the MRCML model under various testing…

Measurement is prescriptive in that the model required to produce the numbers from the phenomena is known in advance. Statistical theory is descriptive because the model required to explain the numbers is inferred from the numbers and any other information the researcher can bring to bear. There are well-known families of measurement models and…

The growth curve approach to the measurement of gain of D. Rogosa, D. Brandt, and M. Zimowski (1982) was more fully developed by J. B. Willet and D. Rogosa (1985). Willet later (1989) discussed some practical aspects of applying a linear growth model and reached the conclusion that reliability may not always be a useful index for the measurement…