This study explored whether infants aged 12 months already recognize the communicative function of pointing gestures. Infants participated in a task requiring them to comprehend an adult's informative pointing gesture to the location of a hidden toy. They mostly succeeded in this task, which required them to infer that the adult was attempting to…

The term "data snooping" refers to the practice of choosing which statistical analyses to apply to a set of data after having first looked at those data. Data snooping contradicts a fundamental precept of applied statistics, that the scheme of analysis is to be planned in advance. In this column, the authors shall elucidate the…

Eye-trackers suitable for use with infants are now marketed by several commercial vendors. As eye-trackers become more prevalent in infancy research, there is the potential for users to be unaware of dangers lurking "under the hood" if they assume the eye-tracker introduces no errors in measuring infants' gaze. Moreover, the influx of voluminous…

The paper proposes a composite likelihood estimation approach that uses bivariate instead of multivariate marginal probabilities for ordinal longitudinal responses using a latent variable model. The model considers time-dependent latent variables and item-specific random effects to be accountable for the interdependencies of the multivariate…

Although randomized studies have high internal validity, generalizability of the estimated causal effect from randomized clinical trials to real-world clinical or educational practice may be limited. We consider the implication of randomized assignment to treatment, as compared with choice of preferred treatment as it occurs in real-world…

This Methodological Brief introduces the reader to the regression discontinuity design (RDD), which is a method that when used correctly can yield estimates of research treatment effects that are equivalent to those obtained through randomized control trials and can therefore be used to infer causality. However, RDD does not require the random…

In this article, I examine how 6th-grade students used pop culture texts to inform their understandings about social studies texts and shape their discussions of it. Discussions showed that students used pop culture texts in three ways when talking about social studies texts. First, students applied comprehension strategies to pop culture texts to…

Model-based multiple imputation has become an indispensable method in the educational and behavioral sciences. Mean and covariance structure models are often fitted to multiply imputed data sets. However, the presence of multiple random imputations complicates model fit testing, which is an important aspect of mean and covariance structure…

We describe an approach to teaching probability that minimizes the amount of class time spent on the topic while also providing a meaningful (dice-rolling) activity to get students engaged. The activity, which has a surprising outcome, illustrates the basic ideas of informal probability and how probability is used in statistical inference.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of locus of control and anxiety level on the Jordanian educational technology students' perceived blended learning competencies and obstacles. The independent variables were the locus of control (Internal, External) and anxiety level (Low, Moderate, High). The dependent variables were the…

The last 20 years have seen significant international shifts towards greater patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research and development (R and D). In England, then first health R and D strategy in 1991 did not mention PPI. Twenty years later, PPI is deeply embedded within the National Institute for Health Research. This article…

Definite expressions may be used to introduce a referent into discourse when their familiarity between speaker and listener can be inferred, a strategy known as bridging. However, for a number of reasons, bridging may be difficult to acquire compared to the acquisition of indefinite introductions for noninferable referent types, with the native…

Nearly all quantitative analyses in higher education draw from incomplete datasets-a common problem with no universal solution. In the first part of this paper, we explain why missing data matter and outline the advantages and disadvantages of six common methods for handling missing data. Next, we analyze real-world data from 5,905 students across…

The article addresses the question of how the assessment process with large-scale data derived from online learning environments will be different from the assessment process without it. Following an explanation of big data and how it is different from previously available learner data, we describe three notable features that characterize…

Educational video games have the potential to be used as assessments of student understanding of complex concepts. However, the interpretation of the rich stream of complex data that results from the tracking of in-game actions is so difficult that it is one of the most serious blockades to the use of educational video games or simulations to…