This review of the procedures involved in using path analysis provides guidelines for more effective future utilization of recursive path analysis in the field of family studies. (Author)

Methods of assessing effect size and the flows that limit their usefulness are discussed. The various statistical procedures for estimating variance accounted for are based on different statistical models producing sharply differing results. The methods reflect too greatly the particular study characteristics and hence have limited…

Arguing that reliable and valid dropout rate estimates are prerequisite to establishment of causal factors and intervention programs, this article examines differences in definitions of dropouts, computational methods, and the complexities in defining cohorts, as well as the importance of sample attrition. Several sources of error are discussed.…

Presentation of quantitative research on the family often suffers from a tendency to interpret findings on a statistical rather than substantive basis. Advocates the use of data analysis that lends itself to an intuitive understanding of the nature of the findings, the strength of the association, and the import of the result. (JPS)

Reports on a review of empirical research reports submitted over the past several years to the "American Journal of Distance Education" that identified common analytic problems and errors often overlooked by distance education researchers. Topics discussed include significance testing; assessment issues, including reliability and…

The use of stepwise regression has been criticized for both interpretive misunderstandings and statistical aberrations. A major statistical problem with stepwise regression and other procedures that involve multiple significance tests is the inflation of the Type I error rate. General approaches to control the family-wise error rate such as the…

Discusses five common myths about statistical significance testing (SST), the possible erroneous and harmful contributions of SST to educational research, and suggested alternatives to SST for mathematics education research. (Contains 61 references.) (MKR)

Abuses and misuses of statistics are frequent. This digest attempts to warn against these in three broad classes of pitfalls: sources of bias, errors of methodology, and misinterpretation of results. Sources of bias are conditions or circumstances that affect the external validity of statistical results. In order for a researcher to make…

Statistical significance is misused in educational and psychological research when it is applied as a method to establish the reliability of research results. Other techniques have been developed which can be correctly utilized to establish the generalizability of findings. Methods that do provide such estimates are known as invariance or…

The orientation of this report is that of identifying educational projects which can be considered clearly exemplary. The largest section consists of a 22-step procedure for validating the effectiveness of educational projects using existing evaluation data. It is not intended as a guide for conducting evaluations but rather for interpreting data…