Educational fun items can be readily found and used to increase student motivation and learning. We illustrate resources and strategies for a specific piece of content: Simpson's paradox.

Generalization is a fundamental problem solved by every cognitive system in essentially every domain. Although it is known that how people generalize varies in complex ways depending on the context or domain, it is an open question how people "learn" the appropriate way to generalize for a new context. To understand this capability, we…

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effects of various factors on the performance of the methods used in the determination of differential item functioning (DIF) in the DINA model included in the Cognitive Diagnosis Models. The current study is limited with Logistic Regression and Wald test methods which were used to determine the…

Methods to generate random correlation matrices have been proposed in the literature, but very few instances exist where these correlation matrices are structured or where the statistical properties of the algorithms are known. By relying on the tetrad relation discovered by Spearman and the properties of the beta distribution, an algorithm is…

Item Response Theory (IRT) models traditionally assume a normal distribution for ability. Although normality is often a reasonable assumption for ability, it is rarely met for observed scores in educational and psychological measurement. Assumptions regarding ability distribution were previously shown to have an effect on IRT parameter estimation.…

Online platforms offer new opportunities to study human behavior. However, while social scientists are often interested in using behavioral trace data--data created by a user over the course of their everyday life--to draw inferences about users, many online platforms only allow data to be sampled based on user activities (leading to data sets…

A formula is derived for a 'two-dice horse race', in which two ordinary dice are thrown repeatedly and each time the sum of the scores determines which horse (numbered 2 to 12) moves forward one space. This paper answers a question posed in a former "Teaching Statistics" article, and demonstrates the value of simulation.

The content validity ratio (CVR), which is suggested by Lawshe (1975), is a widely used index to quantify content validity. In this study, the Bayesian approach is used to determine the minimum number of experts required to agree an item is essential, and then the CVR is calculated.

Our objective is the estimation of voter transitions between two consecutive parliamentary elections. Usually, such analyses have been based either on individual survey data or on aggregated data. To move beyond these methods and their respective problems, we propose the application of so-called hybrid models, which combine aggregate and…

A conceptual distinction is drawn between indicators, which serve to define latent variables, and outcomes, which do not. However, commonly used frequentist and Bayesian estimation procedures do not honor this distinction. They allow the outcomes to influence the latent variables and the measurement model parameters for the indicators, rendering…

Instructors are increasingly using interactive student response systems (SRS) to foster active learning and deepen student understanding in statistics education. Yet most studies focus on either the benefits of SRS or on how "students" can receive and use feedback, rather than on how "instructors" can use formative assessment…

The current research aimed to examine the relationships among three key aspects of the language learning process, namely, foreign language boredom (FLB), English language engagement (ELE), and academic buoyancy (AB), utilizing data collected from 2,992 Chinese language learners. In order to strengthen the accuracy and robustness of the results, we…

The aim of this research is intended to examine the effect of mathematics and statistics perception towards students' statistical literacy. The research utilized a survey method with quantitative approach. The research population was undergraduate students from major informatics in one of university in Jakarta. The sample consisted of 80 students,…

Today, 35 states use performance-based funding models tying appropriations directly to educational outcomes. Financial incentives should induce colleges to improve performance, but there are several well-documented reasons why this is unlikely to occur. We examine how two of the most robust performance funding states--Tennessee and Ohio--responded…

Whether supervision of doctoral students is best pursued individually or collectively is a recurring but unresolved question in debates on higher education. The rarity of longitudinal data and the common usage of qualitative methods to analyse a limited number of cases have left the effectiveness of either model largely untested. To assist with…