A correlational study was conducted using ACT (American College Test) sub-test scores and actual grades earned in corresponding subject areas in order to determine if the ACT was an effective predictor for student's grades at Southern West Virginia Community College (SWVCC). Study subjects were all students (n= 241) who had ACT test scores on file…

Nine methods of smoothing double-entry expectancy tables (tables that relate two predictor variables to probability of attaining success on a criterion) were compared using data for entering students at 85 colleges and universities. The smoothed tables were more accurate than those based on observed relative frequencies. (Author/CTM)

The Eysenck Junior P.I. questionnaire was administered to groups of institutionalized and non-institutionalized delinquents and to non-delinquents. Items were analyzed to determine their effectiveness in predicting group membership. Comments by H.J. Eysenck are also presented. (Author/BP)

A study examined whether information about student approaches to making their course choices could have been used to identify those who subsequently changed or withdrew from their courses. Multivariate analysis indicated that combinations of the information could discriminate between students who persisted and those who withdrew. (Author/MLW)

Presents a method to improve client classification. Reviews clinical prediction models and statistical prediction issues. In classifying clients for remedial services, utility of the prediction scheme depends on gains accrued by its use over program base rates and relative cost. This assumes that differential treatments parallel diagnostic…

Survey data concerning teacher education program graduates were used to demonstrate the advantages of a stratified random sampling approach, with followup, relative to a one-shot mailing to an entire population. Sampling issues involved in such an approach are addressed, particularly with regard to quantifying the effects of nonresponse on the…

Actual data sets were used to illustrate how substantially different conclusions and implications can be drawn from alternate multiple regressions predicting academic achievement from the same set of variables measuring student background. Variables assessing students' socioeconomic status and geographic mobility, used to predict reading and math…

This overview of both quantitative and qualitative methods of educational forecasting is introduced by a discussion of a general typology of forecasting methods. In each of the following sections, discussion follows the same general format: a number of basic approaches are identified (e.g. extrapolation, correlation, systems modelling), and each…

Several advantages to the use of factor scores as independent variables in a multiple regression equation were found. To help select the most desirable type of factor score on which to calculate a regression equation, computer-based Monte Carlo methods were used to compare the predictive accuracy upon replication of regression of five…

In a rapidly changing technological society, appropriate choice of occupation becomes increasingly important to the individual as well as to the employer. In this study, the effectiveness of a set of weights, established by the chi-square technique, for distinguishing among similar and dissimilar occupations was compared with the weighting scheme…

This study sought to ascertain the effect on student behavior of two approaches to visual information transmission. These approaches involved varying the sequence of messages transmitted through the visual communications channel and varying the redundancy of messages presented through this channel. The investigation was conducted as a four-group…

There are so many methods and approaches to teaching that it is sometimes difficult to choose the approach best suited to the needs of the students. This study sought to ascertain the relative effectiveness and efficiency of selected approaches to the demonstration of complex manipulative sequences, and to test the theory that students of high…

This paper presents a discussion of the use of educational tests in guidance services as seen in the light of modern developments in statistical theory and computer technology, and of the increasing demands for such services. A focus and vocabulary for this discussion is found in Turnbull's recent article on "Relevance in Testing." Following an…

To justify the use of a particular teaching method it should be followed up with a measurement of student achievement. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to determine whether the project method of instruction is accomplishing its task of training young men and women to enter the world of work without the benefit of first hand experience…

This paper presents a new multivariate index for use in educational planning. This new index, is called a propinquity index. An individual's propinquity index with respect to a given occupational group is his geometric distance in n-dimensional space from the group centroid, where each dimension is the standard score on one of the original…