Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly presented as a potential substitute for humans, including as research subjects. However, there is no scientific consensus on how closely these in silico clones can emulate survey respondents. While some defend the use of these "synthetic users," others point toward social biases in…

Researchers concerned about intergenerational inequalities study "absolute" and "relative" mobility (e.g., whether people's adult incomes exceed their parents' incomes in "dollars" or "ranks"). Absolute and relative mobility are connected, by definition. Yet, they are not equivalent. Indeed, they often…

In exploring how ritualized activities can help to nurture children's spiritual growth, this article encourages a re-thinking of what ritual involves. The link between ritual and routine is explored. Distinctions are drawn between personal and collective and between 'everyday' and 'special occasion' rituals, with neither the sole preserve of…

This study extends prior work on power analysis in two-level meta-analysis and provides methods on power analysis for univariate three-level meta-analysis. In a three-level hierarchical structure effect sizes are nested within studies, which in turn are nested within research groups of investigators. Consequently, the three-level model takes into…

Instruction often spans multiple phases (e.g., phases of discovery learning, instructional explanations, practice) with different learning goals and different pedagogies. For any combination of multiple phases, we use the term composite instructional design (CID). To understand the mechanisms underlying composite instructional designs, we propose…

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems and applications have become ubiquitous across daily life. While AI offers numerous positive opportunities, it also presents numerous challenges. Information literacy (IL) advocates are concerned about the risks that accompany AI systems. Given the universal reach of AI with its potential pitfalls and perils,…

Previous research explicates ordinal and disordinal interactions through the concept of the "crossover point." This point is determined via simple regression models of a focal predictor at specific moderator values and signifies the intersection of these models. An interaction effect is labeled as disordinal (or ordinal) when the…

We review common situations in Bayesian latent variable models where the prior distribution that a researcher specifies differs from the prior distribution used during estimation. These situations can arise from the positive definite requirement on correlation matrices, from sign indeterminacy of factor loadings, and from order constraints on…

The historic total global human population dataset is available on Wikipedia and provides an opportunity for modelling with simple models such as the exponential and logistic differential equations for population. Using the per-capita population growth rate (PPGR) predicted by these two models and estimated PPGR from the data, we are able to…

An individual competence is one of the main human resources, which enables a person to operate in everyday life. A competence profile, formally captured and described as a structured model, may enable various operations, e.g., a more precise evaluation and closure of a training gap. Such application scenarios supported by information systems are…

Pearson's correlation is widely used to test for an association between two variables and also forms the basis of several multivariate statistical procedures including many latent variable models. Spearman's [rho] is a popular alternative. These procedures are compared with ranking the data and then applying the inverse normal transformation, or…

With the goal of moving toward an alternative rate model for child care subsidies, the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) partnered with the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) to conduct a study to estimate the true cost of high-quality child care and to recommend three new rate models for the state to…

This paper proposes a conceptual framework enabling the development and adoption of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and recommendatory data analytics in teacher professional learning by harnessing some of the affordances of digital technologies to convert data into actionable insights. The paper argues for a technology-enhanced approach that…

This article links the connection between music and leadership, exploring ways to connect musical icons to teaching leadership theory and concepts. The authors utilize the relationship leadership model (RLM) and the leadership identity development (LID) model through case studies of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Taylor Swift. We provide questions to…

Learning is a multimodal process, and learning analytics (LA) researchers can readily access rich learning process data from multiple modalities, including audio-video recordings or transcripts of in-person interactions; logfiles and messages from online activities; and biometric measurements such as eye-tracking, movement, and galvanic skin…