The internal validity of observational study is often subject to debate. In this study, we define the counterfactuals as the unobserved sample and intend to quantify its relationship with the null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST). We propose the probability of a robust inference for internal validity, that is, the PIV, as a robustness index…

This literature-based, classroom-tested novel innovation of educational song (with pedagogical scaffolding) may help engage students explore and address common resistant misconceptions in probability (e.g. all outcomes are equally likely) and in statistics (e.g. correlation must imply either causation or coincidence).

This study analyzes data of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 to examine the association between parental provision of task-extrinsic rewards for academic performance, parent involvement in students' learning, and students' choice of study field in college. Results show that frequent receipt of task-extrinsic rewards for good grades from…

This dissertation studies the effects of foreign presence on the performance of domestic institutions and economic agents. We identify three types of foreign presence: international students, inward foreign investment, and exporting activities. The first chapter investigates the impacts of international students on the graduation performance of…

Clinical decision-making is challenging mainly because of two factors: (1) patient conditions are often complicated with partial and changing information; (2) people have cognitive biases in their decision-making and information-seeking. Consequentially, misdiagnoses and ineffective use of resources may happen. To better support clinical…

Correlation-based approaches to causal analysis contain too much irrelevant information that masks and modulates the true nature of causal processes in the world. Both causal modeling and path analysis/structural equations give the wrong answers for certain conceptions of causation, given certain assumptions about the "error" variables.…