Sample representativeness is an important piece to consider when evaluating the quality of a screening assessment. If you are trying to determine whether or not the screening tool accurately measures children's skills, you want to ensure that the sample that is used to validate the tool is representative of your population of interest.

We present considerations for validity when a population outside of a normed sample is assessed and those data are interpreted. Using a career group counseling example exploring life satisfaction changes as evidenced by the Quality of Life Inventory (Frisch, 1994), we showcase qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore how normative data…

Based on analyses of Maclean's ranking data pertaining to Canadian universities published over the last 24 years, we present a summary of statistical findings of annual ranking exercises, as well as discussion about their current status and the effects upon student welfare. Some illustrative tables are also presented. Using correlational and…

The main aim of this study is to determine whether a significant difference exits among data collection with printed materials and with smart phones. The research was conducted with 282 teacher candidates who take pedagogical formation training. Three data collection tools were used throughout the study. As the results of the current research, no…

In this commentary, we offer a set of visual tools that can assist education researchers, especially those in the field of mathematics, in developing cohesiveness from a mixed methods perspective, commencing at a study's research questions and literature review, through its data collection and analysis, and finally to its results. This expounds…

Professional ethics includes the principles set forth by professional associations and accepted as correct by discussions over time, and which has become the sine qua non of a profession today. Professional ethics are established to increase the quality of professional practices and ensure correct and honest conduct. Not having professional…

The use and validity of the Graduate Record Examination General Test (GRE) to predict the success of graduate school applicants is heavily debated, especially for its possible impact on the selection of underrepresented minorities into science, technology, engineering, and math fields. To better identify candidates who would succeed in our program…

This is a keynote presentation given at AERA on developing a validity agenda for growth models in a large scale (e.g., state) setting. The emphasis of this presentation was to indicate that growth models and the validity agenda designed to provide evidence in supporting the claims to be made need to be personalized to meet the local or…

The first step in the Validity and Reliability Study summarizes the history and purpose of California's quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), reviews findings from other QRIS evaluation studies, and describes the approach to validating the system in California. The majority of this report focuses on providing context for the California…

A jack knife is a pocket knife that is put to many tasks, because it's ready to hand. Often there could be a better tool for the job, such as a screwdriver, a scraper, or a can-opener, but these are not usually pocket items. In statistical terms, the expression implies making do with what's available. Another simile, of an extreme situation, is…

School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

The aim of this study was to develop the scale to assess irrational beliefs of parents and test its psychometric properties. The research sample was comprised of parents whose children were attending primary schools. The results from the factor analysis were used to determine two factors in the scale: Expectations and Perfectionism. To examine the…

In this paper, the writer discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the two dominant research methods in social sciences; quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The natures of two paradigms are quite different so this leads many researchers to discuss these issues in a comparative way. This paper tackles the knowledge and understanding of…

Increased demands for colleges and universities to engage in outcomes assessment for accountability purposes have accelerated the need to bridge the gap between higher education practice and the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation. The "Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education" provides higher…

In the late 1970s, the Department of Defense requested that the reference population for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) be changed and updated to reflect the current youth population. Analyses of new data collected in 1980 indicated that speeded subtest scores of the new sample were atypically low and that the sample might…