Test specifications dictate the kind of content that should be included on each form of an examination, and the relative weight that each content domain should contribute to the determination of examinees' test scores by specifying the proportion of items to be included in each content area. This paper addresses a step in the development of…

When one wants to set data reliability standards for a class of scientific inquiries or when one needs to compare and select among many different kinds of data with reliabilities that are crucial to a particular research undertaking, then one needs a single reliability coefficient that is adaptable to all or most situations. Work toward this goal…

The scree test and its linear regression technique are reviewed, and results of its use in factor analysis and Delphi data sets are described. The scree test was originally a visual approach for making judgments about eigenvalues, which considered the relationships of the eigenvalues to one another as well as their actual values. The graph that is…

In applied and experimental research, it has been demonstrated that the extreme groups procedure is more powerful than the standard correlational approach for some values of the correlation and extreme group size. Methods are provided for using the covariance information that is usually discarded in the classical extreme groups approach.…

In clinical trials, adaptive allocation means that the therapies assigned to the next patient or patients depend on the results obtained thus far in the trial. Although many adaptive allocation procedures have been proposed for clinical trials, few have actually used adaptive assignment, largely because classical frequentist measures of inference…

The author contends that model misspecification can occur even after researchers have selected the generally most appropriate class of methods, or general linear model techniques. It is suggested specifically that canonical correlation analysis may provide more meaningful results, as compared with regression, particularly if analysis is augmented…

Work performed persuant to grant number 1-06, 1819-2240 from the U.S. Office of Education.

This discussion of the information-processing model of learning as it relates to research in educational media traces research in conceptual organization to its beginnings in mathematical models of information-processing; addresses research hypotheses concerning structure and organization, processes and processing systems, and perceptual cues; and…

This document reviews the use of mathematical models of learning for research in the learning of science concepts. Three mathematical models for the representation of concept learning are presented. (SL)

An efficiency model and a performance function are presented in this technical report. The efficiency model has been tailored to the needs of an information retrieval system while remaining consistent with established economic procedures. The performance function allows for the comparison of several information retrieval systems. A sample…

This paper presents a mathematical methodology in treating the systems approach to the evaluation of instruction. The major aspects of the procedure and the use of sensitivity analysis as a check upon the logical validity of the system are discussed. Advantages of a systems analysis when compared to qualitative analysis are also presented.…

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…

A set of mathematical consistencies that forms conditions of inequality in a theorem is summarized, and a strategy for its application with real data is presented. The theorem and strategy are suggested for immediate use by the practitioner seeking cause-effect relationships in a system of variables to cut down guess work and time in analysis and…

Presents two models for statistically analyzing occupational mobility. The models show how the destination distribution is shifted for each shift of one or more steps on the scale of occupational origins. (Author/AV)

Argues that comparison of "effects coefficients" derived from path analysis is the preferred method of assessing the relative impact of different independent variables on a given dependent variable. Available from: American Political Science Association, 1527 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036; $10.50 single copy.…