A meta-analysis encompassing all studies evaluating the impact of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program on parent and child outcome measures was conducted in an effort to identify variables that moderate the program's effectiveness. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) with three levels of data were employed to analyze effect sizes. The results (N =…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of student and course characteristics on student satisfaction in courses by using a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM). Based on literature reviews, 13 research variables ((1) student gender, (2) student academic year, (3) student major, (4) student reason for taking the course, (5)…

The causal relationships among the three presences in the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework are explored and tested in this paper. The CoI framework has been used extensively in the research and practice of online and blended learning contexts. With the development of a survey instrument based on the CoI framework, it is possible to test the…

This paper examines the estimation of two-stage clustered RCT designs in education research using the Neyman causal inference framework that underlies experiments. The key distinction between the considered causal models is whether potential treatment and control group outcomes are considered to be fixed for the study population (the…

Empirical evidence has shown that several factors influence whether a compound is represented as several independent components or as a configuration. However, most of the previous research focused on data-driven factors (e.g., modality of the stimuli presented in the experimental task). In one experiment, I analyzed the influence of people's…

A structural model of the drivers of online education is proposed and tested. The findings help to identify the interrelated nature of the lectures delivered via technology outside of the traditional classroom, the importance of mentoring, the need to develop course structure, the changing roles for instructors and students, and the importance of…

The focus of this paper is causal inference in social and educational research. A concern with causality has had a profound impact on the kinds of questions that may be addressed in research, on how they must be formulated, and on the methodology that must be applied. In the social sciences the prevailing experimental paradigm is used to address…

This article examines some of the difficulties frequently encountered by students when analyzing bivariate data and suggests how they might be overcome. (Author)

To predict suicide, explicit causal models of suicide outcome are needed in which predictors are temporally ordered and then tested statistically. Because suicide is a dichotomous, nominal scale outcome, only certain statistics for prediction are appropriate. Logistic regression, which utilizes the likelihood ratio test of statistical inference,…

Researchers interested in linear causal models discovered that a genetic biologist, Sewall Wright, had laid the groundwork for these models over nearly 50 years. This annotated bibliography covers Wright's development of the method of path coefficients. (Author/SLD)

Discusses the role that causal models play in program theory evaluation. Considers several types of causal relationships and discusses three causal models derived from systems theory, the theories of virtuous or vicious cycles, symptomatic solutions, and feedback delays. (SLD)

Discusses qualitative methods of impact analysis and provides an introductory treatment of one such approach. Combines an awareness of an alternative causal epistemology with current knowledge of qualitative methods of data collection and measurement to produce an approach to the analysis of impacts. (SLD)

In this article I draw on 3 incidents to investigate how teachers and students purposefully negotiate to manage incipient conflict when race is a confounding factor. I do so to propose a methodology and theoretical framework for researching multiracial classroom teaching and learning that could inform White literacy teachers' pedagogy with…

A normative framework for modeling causal and counterfactual reasoning has been proposed by Spirtes, Glymour, and Scheines (1993; cf. Pearl, 2000). The framework takes as fundamental that reasoning from observation and intervention differ. Intervention includes actual manipulation as well as counterfactual manipulation of a model via thought. To…

The authors examined the relationships among life role salience, role strain, coping efficacy, and life satisfaction for adults (N = 125) who combine multiple life roles. Causal modeling procedures were used to test hypotheses based on D. E. Super's (1980, 1990) life-span, life-space theory and the social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D.…