We propose a new method for analyzing and visualizing information on a large collection of personal networks to uncover the socio-centric structure of relationships among aggregated actors that we clustered into categories. The network of categories identifies the links between groups of sampled ego actors sharing a given attribute (e.g.,…

Quantitative evidence synthesis methods aim to combine data from multiple medical trials to infer relative effects of different interventions. A challenge arises when trials report continuous outcomes on different measurement scales. To include all evidence in one coherent analysis, we require methods to "map" the outcomes onto a single…

It is meaningful to create a comprehensive score to extract information from mass continuous data when they measure the same latent concept. Therefore, this study adopts the logic of psychometrics to conduct scales on continuous data under the Rasch models. This study also explores the effect of different data discretization methods on scale…

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs and their funders rely on sound data to make decisions about everything from professional development and student recruitment to the selection of activities to offer students. Programs operate at a range of times (before and after school, weekends, summer) and in a variety of locations (e.g., schools,…

Students' emotions in the classroom are highly dynamic and thus typically strongly vary from one moment to the next. Methodologies like experience sampling and daily diaries have been increasingly used to capture these momentary emotional states and its fluctuations. A recurring question is to what extent aggregated state ratings of emotions over…

Researchers who use measurement models for evaluation purposes often select models with stringent requirements, such as Rasch models, which are parametric. Mokken Scale Analysis (MSA) offers a theory-driven nonparametric modeling approach that may be more appropriate for some measurement applications. Researchers have discussed using MSA as a…

Dynamic structural equation models (DSEM) are designed for time series analysis of latent structures. Inherent to the application of DSEM is model parameter estimation, which has to be addressed in many applications by a single time series. In this context, however, the methods currently available either lack estimation quality or are…

It is common to find mixed-format data results from the use of both multiple-choice (MC) and constructed-response (CR) questions on assessments. Dealing with these mixed response types involves understanding what the assessment is measuring, and the use of suitable measurement models to estimate latent abilities. Past research in educational…

Measuring opportunities to learn (OTL) is crucial for evaluating education quality and equity, but obtaining accurate and comprehensive OTL data at a large scale remains challenging. We attempt to address this issue by investigating measurement concerns in data collection and sampling. With the primary goal of estimating group-level OTLs for large…

Systematic reviews (SRs) of preclinical studies are marked with poor methodological quality. In vitro studies lack assessment tools to improve the quality of preclinical research. This methodological study aimed to identify, collect, and analyze SRs based on cell culture studies to highlight the current appraisal tools utilized to support the…

Single-case designs (SCDs) are a class of research methods for evaluating the effects of academic and behavioral interventions in educational and clinical settings. Although visual analysis is typically the first and main method for primary analysis of data from SCDs, quantitative methods are useful for synthesizing results and drawing systematic…

Event history calendars (EHCs) are frequently used in social measurement to capture important information about the time ordering of events in people's lives and enable inference about the relationships of the events with other outcomes of interest. To date, EHCs have primarily been designed for face-to-face or telephone survey interviewing, and…

Human ratings are ubiquitous in creativity research. Yet, the process of rating responses to creativity tasks -- typically several hundred or thousands of responses, per rater -- is often time-consuming and expensive. Planned missing data designs, where raters only rate a subset of the total number of responses, have been recently proposed as one…

This study employs advanced data mining techniques to investigate the DASS-42 questionnaire, a widely used psychological assessment tool. Administered to 680 students at Necmettin Erbakan University's Ahmet Kelesoglu Faculty of Education, the DASS-42 comprises three distinct subscales--depression, anxiety and stress--each consisting of 14 items.…

A measure of similarity of educational items has many applications in adaptive learning systems and can be useful also for teachers and content creators. We provide a thorough overview of approaches for measuring item similarity. We document the computation pipeline, explicitly highlighting many choices that have to be made in order to quantify…