Discusses one threat to statistical conclusion validity, the fishing and error rate problem (FERP), also called alpha inflation. Notes that alpha inflation increases probability of false positive findings (finding statistically significant differences in sample data when such differences do not exist in population). Enumerates suggestions to help…

A statistical analysis of multiple-choice answers is performed to identify anomalies that can be used as evidence of student cheating. The ratio of exact errors in common (EEIC: two students put the same wrong answer for a question) to differences (D: two students get different answers) was found to be a good indicator of cheating under a wide…

An attention cascade model is proposed to account for attentional blinks in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) of stimuli. Data were collected using single characters in a single RSVP stream at 10 Hz [Shih, S., & Reeves, A. (2007). "Attentional capture in rapid serial visual presentation." "Spatial Vision", 20(4), 301-315], and single words,…

All differential item functioning (DIF) methods require at least a moderate sample size for effective DIF detection. Samples that are less than 200 pose a challenge for DIF analysis. Smoothing can improve upon the estimation of the population distribution by preserving major features of an observed frequency distribution while eliminating the…

In this study we tracked the development of the "passe compose" in second-language learners of French whose first language is English. Although the "passe compose" is a highly used tense among native speakers of French and it appears to present particular difficulty for first-language English speakers, its second-language development has been…

This article is based on results of a quasi-experimental study in which the efficacy of the strategies approach for reviewing grammar and punctuation concepts was assessed in a business communication course. The control group studied rules-based review materials; the treatment group studied strategies-based review materials. On the three sets of…

The conventional approach for testing the equality of two normal mean vectors is to test first the equality of covariance matrices, and if the equality assumption is tenable, then use the two-sample Hotelling T[superscript 2] test. Otherwise one can use one of the approximate tests for the multivariate Behrens-Fisher problem. In this article, we…

The study investigated the degree to which errors of scaling and selection depress the linear relationship and whether the reduction in the magnitude of r differs with the type of error. Results indicated that various scaling errors caused considerable discrepancy in the measurement of underlying relations, but the effect of non-normality was…

Studies that examine the impacts of education interventions on key student, teacher, and school outcomes typically collect data on large samples and on many outcomes. In analyzing these data, researchers typically conduct multiple hypothesis tests to address key impact evaluation questions. Tests are conducted to assess intervention effects for…

It is one thing to be able to count and share items proficiently, but it is another thing to know how counting and sharing establish and identify quantity. The aim of the study was to identify which measures of numerical knowledge predict children's success on simple number problems, where counting and set equivalence are at issue. Seventy-two…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the use of a method of distractor analysis for diagnosing item error response patterns and determine the effect of this intervention on student achievement levels on state administered spring mathematics assessments. Distractor Pattern Functioning was the treatment provided to teachers in this…

Although it is widely acknowledged that collocations play an important part in second language learning, especially at intermediate-advanced levels, learners' difficulties with collocations have not been investigated in much detail so far. The present study examines ESL learners' use of verb-noun collocations, such as "take notes," "place an…

Evidence is given to indicate that Lawley's formulas for the standard errors of maximum likelihood loading estimates do not produce exact asymptotic results. A small modification is derived which appears to eliminate this difficulty. (Author)

Sample-size restrictions limit the contingency table approaches based on asymptotic distributions, such as the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) procedure, for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) in many practical applications. Within this framework, the present study investigated the power and Type I error performance of empirical and inferential…

Discusses three types of faults which commonly occur in statistical sampling. (JG)