Presents an activity to analyze the data from the Challenger explosion to help students understand the critical role of statistics in decision making and the importance of considering all available data. (MKR)

A two-parameter logistic regression model for personnel selection is proposed. The model was tested with a database of 84,808 military enlistees. The probability of job success was related directly to trait levels, addressing such topics as selection, validity generalization, employee classification, selection bias, and utility-based fair…

The monograph by D. Rogosa and G. Ghandour represents a body of cohesive and comprehensive research that can be the basis of a new measurement theory combining features of generalizability theory and strong true-score theory. Principles, approaches, arguments, and conclusions are reviewed; and critical comments are offered. (SLD)

Issues raised with the statistical models developed are discussed point by point, restating the emphasis on finite observation time, and reiterating the criticism of traditional psychometric methods. It is noted that the language and technical formulation of psychometrics can be extremely awkward in dealing with biased estimates. (SLD)

Several methods for determining a passing score on an examination from individual raters' estimates of minimal pass levels were compared through simulation. The methods used differed in the weighting estimates for each item received in the aggregation process. Reasons why the simplest procedure is most preferred are discussed. (SLD)

Hierarchical (adaptive) and linear methods of testlet construction were compared. The performance of 2,080 ninth and tenth graders on a 4-item testlet was used to predict performance on the entire test. The adaptive test was slightly superior as a predictor, but the cost of obtaining that superiority was considerable. (SLD)

The degree to which reliability affects the power of analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests involving one factor with two and three samples was quantified and tabulated by taking into account sample size, level of significance, and true score effect size. Results confirm a substantial effect on power. (SLD)

Presents a motion problem that students in a college physics class are asked to solve and later asked to continue to analyze until they have stopped learning from the problem or the problem itself is finished. (MDH)

Structural equation models of the same construct collected on different occasions are evaluated in 2 studies involving the evaluation of 157 college instructors over 8 years and data for over 2,200 high school students over 4 years for the Youth in Transition Study. Results challenge overreliance on simplex models. (SLD)

A computerized adaptive test (CAT) based on the nominal response model (NR CAT) was implemented, and the performance of the NR CAT and a CAT based on the three-parameter logistic model was compared. The NR CAT produced trait estimates comparable to those of the three-parameter test. (SLD)

Inferential conditions in the statistical detection of measurement bias are discussed in the contexts of differential item functioning and predictive bias in educational and employment settings. It is concluded that bias measures that rely strictly on observed measures are not generally diagnostic of measurement bias or lack of bias. (SLD)

The way in which trait and rater variance combine in multitrait-multirater (MTMR) performance appraisal data is explored. Implications of the confirmatory factor analytic model and the composite direct product (CDP) model for MTMR data are examined. Superior fit of the CDP model for four data sets is discussed. (SLD)

Presents an activity to investigate the dimensions of the maximum rectangular area given a fixed perimeter using mathematical modeling and manipulative materials. Students collect and compare data, find patterns, graph data, write functions, and discuss the meaning of the related mathematical model. Provides three reproducible worksheets for the…

Type I error rates for Yao's, James' first-order and second-order, and Johansen's tests of equality of mean vectors for two independent samples were estimated for various conditions defined by the degree of heteroscedasticity and nonnormality. Each procedure can be seriously nonrobust with exponential and log-normal distributions. (TJH)

Equating error was estimated using the same test with three linear equating methods in three paradigms--single-link equating; circular equating through a chain; and pseudo-circular equating, in which a test is equated to itself through equating chains. Over 31,000 Psychometric Entrance Test scores of college applicants in Israel were analyzed.…