A reverse engineering approach to automatic item generation (AIG) was applied to a figure-based publicly released test item from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematical literacy cognitive instrument as part of a proof of concept. The author created an item…

The behavior of focus samples central to the multiple-look model of Trabasso and Bower is examined by three methods. First, exact probabilities of success conditional upon a certain brief history of stimulation are determined. Second, possible states of the organism during the experiment are defined and a transition matrix for those states…

The statistician has n independent estimates of a parameter he knows is positive, but, as is the case in components-of-variance problems, some of the estimates may be negative. If the n estimates are to be combined into a single number, we compare the obvious rule, that of averaging the n values and taking the positive part of the result, with…

The inadequacies in present measurement models are indicated and a description is given of how tree theory, a theory-generative model, overcomes these inadequacies. Among the weaknesses cited in many measurement models are their untested assumptions of linear order and unidimensionality and their inability to generate non-associational…

The relatively hard problem of transforming a given set of curves to curves with the same shape can sometimes be reduced to the easier problem of rendering curves parallel. In this paper a group is associated with the given curves, and it is shown that the reduction from the hard problem to the easy problem is valid whenever the group is…

This report explains the following mathematical techniques which may be used for relating search requests to documents contained in a library: (1) Boolean Algebraic Retrieval, (2) Linear Statistical Retrieval, (3) Statistical Association Techniques for expanding a query and/or for expanding the set of retrieval documents, (4) Vector Space…

Presented are the results of a study conducted to develop algorithms for ordering and organizing data that can be presented in a two-dimensional matrix form. The purpose of the work was to develop methods to extract latent data patterns, grouping, and structural relationships which are not apparent from the raw matrix data. The algorithms…

The mathematical derivation of the statistics used for inference in some linear models assumes that values of the independent variables are pre-selected such that these variables can be treated as fixed rather than random variables. This assumption is often disregarded when these models are utilized in research. This study is an investigation of…

Special cases of the factor analysis model are developed for four selection situations. Methods are suggested whereby parameters in each case can be estimated using a maximum likelihood procedure recently developed by Joreskog. (Author)

This paper describes two statistics (chi square and Kendall's S) which may be used to test hypotheses about the association between two variables when observations are cross-classified in a contingency table. (CK)

Suggests ways for using data from championship tennis as a means for exploring probabilistic models, especially binomial probability. Examples include the probability of winning a service point and the probability of winning a service game using data from tables and graphs. (AIM)

This paper proposes a general model for free-response data collected for measuring a specified unidimensional psychological process; systematizes situations which vary with respect to the scoring level of items; and finds out general conditions for the operating characteristic of an item response category to provide a unique maximum likelihood…

A scaling technique known as the Method of Reciprocal Averages has been in use since the early 1930's. This technique yields a set of item response weights for a psychological inventory which maximizes the internal consistency of the inventory for a group of subjects. Although the technique has been used for many years, its mathematical…

It is shown that empirical mental test P - P plots are approximately equal to theoretical item-item curves, at least for long tests administered to many people. This result is important because it leads to (1) a distribution free method for estimating points on item-item curves; (2) a general method for defining estimates of item parameters; and…