Item difficulty and dimensionality often correlate, implying that unidimensional IRT approximations to multidimensional data (i.e., reference composites) can take a curvilinear form in the multidimensional space. Although this issue has been previously discussed in the context of vertical scaling applications, we illustrate how such a phenomenon…

Two studies involving a total of 185 college freshmen illustrate the ways in which family maps--defined through role playing and multidimensional scaling analysis--offer a diagnostic means of understanding current and hypothetical familial interactions, including how children perceive their places in the family. (SLD)

Three approaches to the graphic representation of similarity and dissimilarity matrices are compared and contrasted. Specifically, Kruskal's multidimensional scaling, Johnson's hierarchical clustering, and Waern's graphing techniques are employed to depict, in two dimensions, data representing the structure of a set of botanical concepts. Each of…

A method of two-stage clustering of literature based on citation frequency is applied to 5,065 articles from 57 journals in environmental and civil engineering. Results of related methods of citation analysis (hierarchical graph, clustering of journals, multidimensional scaling) applied to same set of articles are compared. Ten references are…

A model of graph comprehension is proposed including perceptual and memory processes. Multidimensional scaling (MDS), cluster analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine how college students with different mathematical experience read different types of bar graphs. Data were collected at the University of Oklahoma (Norman)…

This paper discribes the analysis of data in the Management Implications of Team Teaching Project (MITT). It touches on the interviews conducted with teachers and principals, presents the breadth of information obtained in the questionnaire, and explains how the data were aggregated and how issues were grouped. Information collected in the…

Coordinate graphs of time-series data have been significant in the history of statistical graphing and in recent school mathematics curricula. A survey task to construct a graph to represent data about temperature change over time was administered to 133 students in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. Four response levels described the degree to which students…

This article's goals are to validate the Computer and Information Technology Attitude Inventory (Weinsier and Leutner, 1988), a nontraditional approach to attitude measurement; and to report on a study designed to search for intercultural differences or cross-cultural consistency of attitudes toward computers and information technology. (46…