Many times in both educational and social science research it is impossible to collect data that is complete. When administering a survey, for example, people may answer some questions and not others. This missing data causes a problem for researchers using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques for data analyses. Because SEM and…

This paper seeks to extend the application of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods in item response theory (IRT) to include the estimation of equating relationships along with the estimation of test item parameters. A method is proposed that incorporates estimation of the equating relationship in the item calibration phase. Item parameters from…

Racial differences in the reporting accuracy of parental status characteristics by White and Black high school seniors were investigated using Joreskog's general framework for simultaneous covariance structure analyses of multiple populations. Reliability estimates for Whites were significantly higher than for Blacks due to differences in true…

The self-report Educational Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) was constructed, and its construct validity was studied with 610 elementary school and secondary school teachers. The instrument assesses beliefs about five specific educational concepts. Further research will determine whether the 3-factor model still applies to a 20-item version of the EBQ.…

International Lending Institutions (ILIs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) continuously design and implement Educational System Typologies (ESTs) in order to evaluate a nation's educational performance in terms of quality of life improvements; Traditional ESTs are therefore constantly put at odds by the advent of new ESTs. This study aims…

Purpose: The goal of this study was to evaluate the practice-oriented model of service use (Yeatts, Crow, & Folts, 1992) relative to the more widely used behavioral model (Andersen, 1968) in its ability to explain the use of respite services by caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. Unlike the behavioral model, which focuses primarily on…

By means of more than a dozen user friendly packages, structural equation models (SEMs) are widely used in behavioral, education, social, and psychological research. As the underlying theory and methods in these packages are vulnerable to outliers and distributions with longer-than-normal tails, a fundamental problem in the field is the…

Two studies in Scotland used similar questionnaires to examine relationships between approaches to studying and students' preferences for different types of learning environments. The first study also examined the relationship with students' evaluations of their courses, while the second included reasons for choosing that course (educational…

Dichotomous search strategies (DSSs) for computerized adaptive testing are similar to golden section search strategies (GSSSs). Each middle point of successive search regions is a testing point. After each item is administered, the subject's obtained score is compared with the expected score at successive testing points. If the subject's obtained…

This study investigated the construct validity of the revised Special Education-Mental Handicaps Georgia Teacher Certification Test (MH-TCT) using hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis and LISREL VI. The primary objective was to determine whether first-order and second-order factors correspond to item/objective/test relationships defined by…

This paper reports on a project which has developed the general latent class model as a framework for representation of item responses. This framework can be used to represent data in applications such as mastery tests and other kinds of achievement tests, where there is reason to believe that current foundations are deficient. Methods of…

Hierarchical linear modeling allowed the indentification of specific school characteristics and policies which help explain the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics achievement, the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics course enrollment, and school means for achievement and for…

A three-level multivariate statistical modeling strategy is presented that resolves the question of whether the unit of analysis should be the teacher or the student. A reanalysis of U.S. high school data (51 Catholic and 59 public schools from the High School and Beyond survey) illustrates the model. (SLD)

This study investigates the extent to which the higher order factors of symbolic and semantic content are differentiated. The main concern is an expository description of the use of confirmatory factor analysis in establishing factorial validity. Reanalyzed data originally collected in 1968 involved a sample of 197 tenth, eleventh and twelfth…

As part of the military recruiting effort, the Department of Defense sponsors surveys of the national youth population to help design recruiting and advertising strategies. This report develops and applies a method of using the information contained in national youth surveys to estimate the probability that respondents taking the Armed Forces…