Standardized testing is an integral part of the English and American education systems. However, the use of high-stakes testing has unintended consequences, one of which is test anxiety. Over the last 50 years, increased attention has been directed to developing tools to identify students experiencing test anxiety. However, many test anxiety…

Empirical analysis of variation in demographic events within the population is facilitated by using longitudinal survey data because of the richness of covariate measures in such data, but there is wave-on-wave dropout. When attrition is related to the event, it precludes consistent estimation of the impacts of covariates on the event and on event…

This study demonstrates how to evaluate a university-wide online course designed to support student transition into university by using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Doubly Robust Estimation (DRE). Using data from seven academic years, from 2016/17 to 2022/23, with more than 28,000 students, we examine whether enrolment in this optional…

We study the external validity of instrumental variable estimation. The key assumption we impose for external validity is conditional external unconfoundedness among compliers, which means that the treatment effect and target selection are independent among compliers conditional on covariates. We study this assumption with a case study about the…

Well-chosen covariates boost the design sensitivity of individually and cluster-randomized trials. We provide guidance on covariate selection generating an extensive compilation of single- and multilevel design parameters on student achievement. Embedded in psychometric heuristics, we analyzed (a) covariate "types" of varying…

Mortality disparities among persons with intellectual disability are important to guide health-care practices. The objective was to evaluate mortality patterns of persons with intellectual disability in a nationwide study from 1976 to 2020. This study establishes a Danish nationwide cohort of persons with intellectual disability and age- and…

This paper emphasizes the divergences in quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches when exploring trust relationships in school units. We focus on how participants responded and how the results were interpreted. This study, based on such design, questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews to understand trust among teachers and…

Causal asymmetry is a situation where the causal factors under study are more suitable for explaining the outcome than its absence (or vice versa); they do not explain both equally well. In such a situation, presence of a cause leads to presence of the effect, but absence of the cause may not lead to absence of the effect. A conceptual discussion…

Processes that unfold over individuals' life courses are often associated with inequalities later in life. The literature lacks methodological approaches to analyze inequalities in outcomes between groups, for example, between women and men, in a life-course-sensitive manner. We propose a combination of methods--of sequence analysis, which enables…

Economic efficiency demands accurate assessment of individual ability for selection purposes. This study investigates Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT) for estimating true ability and ranking individuals. Two Monte Carlo simulations and real data analyses were conducted. Results suggest a slight advantage for IRT, but…

The definition of what constitutes a conflict, in terms of both time and events, has been consistently debated in the historical study of social phenomena. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the methods used to define it are generally biased as they are highly dependent on the perceptions of the researchers who establish them.…

Despite the increasing use of the statistical programming language R in statistics and data analysis (SDA), its implementation in communication science education is limited. Experiences, recommendations, and a critical exchange are therefore scarce. The following contribution addresses this very gap. At the Department of Journalism and…

This article examines how rigour is achieved in the Abductive Research Strategy (ARS). It begins with a review of some of the arguments about objectivity and rigour in social sciences, which shows that quantitative and qualitative researchers hold different meanings of objectivity and therefore different ways of achieving rigour in their research.…

The study investigated the structural equation modelling of nine variables consisting of research undertaking, digi-tech construct (digital nativity, category of adoption of digital technologies, digital literacy, digital citizenship, statistical software anxiety, self-efficacy and knowledge) and researcher statistical software skills in the…

Careless responding is a bias in survey responses that disregards the actual item content, constituting a threat to the factor structure, reliability, and validity of psychological measurements. Different approaches have been proposed to detect aberrant responses such as probing questions that directly assess test-taking behavior (e.g., bogus…