This paper evaluates the logic underlying various criticisms of statistical significance testing and makes specific recommendations for scientific and editorial practice that might better increase the knowledge base. Reliance on the traditional hypothesis testing model has led to a major bias against nonsignificant results and to misinterpretation…

Data drawn from 30 journal articles and ERIC documents reporting on gender differences in natural science achievement were re-examined. Three meta-analysis methods were used: (1) vote counts and vote-counting estimation procedures; (2) tests of combined significance; and (3) analyses of effect sizes. The three methods produced seemingly…

This report provides the statistical tools necessary to measure the extent of error that exists in organizational record data and group survey data. It is felt that traditional methods of measuring error are inappropriate or incomplete when applied to organizational groups, especially in studies of organizational change when the same variables are…

Some examinees' test-taking behavior may be so idiosyncratic that their scores are not comparable to the scores of more typical examinees. Appropriateness indices, which provide quantitative measures of response-pattern atypicality, can be viewed as statistics for testing a null hypothesis of normal test-taking behavior against an alternative…

Defining practical significance in program evaluations is a difficult measurement problem which can only be solved by an intimate familiarity with the measures on which effects are estimated and their content relationship to the program goals. Past attempts to provide general solutions to the size of effect problem have relied on standardized…

The four main approaches to measuring treatment effects in schools; raw gain, residual gain, covariance, and true scores; were compared. A simulation study showed true score analysis produced a large number of Type-I errors. When corrected for this error, this method showed the least power of the four. This outcome was clearly the result of the…

Regression formulations and related concerns involved in dealing with wage discrimination suits involving college faculty are considered. Several models based in hypothesis testing "policy capturing" uses of multiple linear regression are presented, and problems related to the court's view of statistical significance are examined.…

This study used the restricted access database of the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty to examine faculty workload by academic discipline for full-time regularly appointed teaching and research faculty in public Carnegie research I and II and Doctoral I and II institutions (n=2,056). Data are reported for 14 disciplinary areas…

Examines attitudes of Israeli adolescents and midlife adults about significant adults in their past. Results indicate that most choose a parent as the most significant relative in their adolescence, and females choose mothers more than males do. Adults attribute more negative characteristics to their parents and are more likely to mention teachers…

This study is based on a 1996 survey of PhD economists working in the academic and nonacademic sectors since 1989. Despite a raw gender difference in all types of research output, the male dummy variable proves statistically significant in predicting only one publication measure. In a full sample and faculty subsample, number of years since…

Few issues on the educational scene have proven as vexatious as the achievement gap between the "haves" and "have nots" in society. The achievement gap has proved both substantial and persistent, despite the good intentions and considerable efforts of thousands of educators and notwithstanding the "No Child Left Behind" Act and other reform…

In the March 2003 issue of "Psychological Science", the flagship journal of the American Psychological Society, Goodman et al. (2003) reported on a prospective study that examined memory for childhood sexual abuse. The authors interviewed adolescents and young adults who had been victims of documented childhood sexual abuse that led to criminal…

Breast cancer incidence in Pakistan is the highest reported in any South-Central Asian country. It is the most frequent malignancy in women, where it accounts for 38.5% of all female cancers. About half (43.7%) of all breast cancers are locally advanced. We recruited 183 primary care physicians in Pakistan and invited them to attend educational…

Universities have recognized student attrition as a problem for some years, and measures to improve this critical issue are being sought. One such effort used at Lamar University is the Monitored Probation (MP) program. The MP program is a comprehensive early intervention academic retention program intended to assist with the academic success of…

The authors developed and evaluated an online foster parent training system designed specifically for low-bandwidth Internet connections and individuals with limited Internet/computer experience. After preliminary onsite evaluations, a 2-week field test was conducted to evaluate the following dimensions: foster parents' pre- to post-test scores on…