Simulations concerning the distributional assumptions of coefficient alpha are contradictory. To provide a more principled theoretical framework, this article relies on the Fréchet-Hoeffding bounds, in order to showcase that the distribution of the items play a role on the estimation of correlations and covariances. More specifically, these bounds…

The present study aimed at clarifying the various shortcomings of the Cohen's criteria for the interpretation of the values of the practical significance indicators. The hypothetical data were used for two experimental and control groups and calculating the paired-samples t-test. To clarify the inadequacy of Cohen's criteria in interpreting…

The aim of the current study is to estimate the graduation grade point average (GPA) at the Arab International University (AIU). The importance of this study is that it is the first of its kind in Syria, particularly under the conditions of the bitter war, which has not yet come to its end. The sample of the study consists of data collected from…

Among all, Cronbach's Alpha and McDonald's Omega are commonly used for reliability estimations. The alpha uses inter-item correlations while omega is based on a factor analysis result. This study uses simulated ordinal data sets to test whether the alpha and omega produce different estimates. Their performances were compared according to the…

When designing a study for causal mediation analysis, it is crucial to conduct a power analysis to determine the sample size required to detect the causal mediation effects with sufficient power. However, the development of power analysis methods for causal mediation analysis has lagged far behind. To fill the knowledge gap, I proposed a…

Despite the centrality of data analysis to the discipline, sociology departments are currently falling short of teaching both undergraduate and graduate students crucial computing and statistical software skills. We argue that sociology instructors must intentionally and explicitly teach computing skills alongside statistical concepts to prepare…

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a multicycle survey of adult skills and competencies sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The survey examines a range of basic skills in the information age and assesses these adult skills consistently across participating…

Introduction: The replication crisis in the behavioral and social sciences spawned a credibility revolution, calling for new open science research practices that ensure greater transparency, including preregistrations, open data and code, and open access. Statement of the Problem: Replications of published research are an important element in this…

Estimating and accounting for statistical uncertainty have become essential in today's information age, and crucial for cultivating a sound decision making citizenry. Engaging with statistical uncertainty early on can support the gradual development of uncertainty-related considerations that are often challenging to foster at any age. Statistical…

The Mantel-Haenszel estimator is one of the most popular techniques for measuring differential item functioning (DIF). A generalization of this estimator is applied to the context of DIF to compare items by taking the covariance of odds ratio estimators between dependent items into account. Unlike the Item Response Theory, the method does not rely…

Published research in scientific journals are critical resources for researchers as primary sources about: what is important in the field, the direction the field is headed, how the field relates to other sciences, and as a historical record for each of these. In this exploratory study, we analyzed the articles of five behavior analytic journals…

In multisite trials, learning about treatment effect variation across sites is critical for understanding where and for whom a program works. Unadjusted comparisons, however, capture "compositional" differences in the distributions of unit-level features as well as "contextual" differences in site-level features, including…

In applications of item response theory (IRT) models, it is known that empirical violations of the local independence (LI) assumption can significantly bias parameter estimates. To address this issue, we propose a threshold-autoregressive item response theory (TAR-IRT) model that additionally accounts for order dependence among the item responses…

Mixed-effects models can be used to examine the association between a categorical moderator and the magnitude of the effect size. Two approaches are available to estimate the residual between-studies variance, t[superscript 2][subscript res] --namely, separate estimation within each category of the moderator versus pooled estimation across all…

Intelligence tests produce composite scores that are interpreted as indexes of psychometric g. Like all measures, general intelligence composites are not pure representations of their intended construct, so it is important to evaluate the score characteristics that affect accuracy in measurement. In this study, we identified three characteristics…