Presents an equation to help determine risks in student loan programs at colleges and universities. Statistical tables accompany the text. (PG)

The model describes the demand and supply of low-skill labor (private household workers, other service workers, and nonfarm laborers) by State, based on the March 1970 Current Population Survey for 43 States and groups of States by a simultaneous-equations method. (Author/EA)

This paper discusses the principles underlying discriminant analysis and constructs a simulated data set to illustrate its methods. Discriminant analysis is a multivariate technique for identifying the best combination of variables to maximally discriminate between groups. Discriminant functions are established on existing groups and used to…

A plausible "s"-factor solution for many types of psychological and educational tests is one in which there is one general factor and "s - 1" group- or method-related factors. The bi-factor solution results from the constraint that each item has a non-zero loading on the primary dimension "alpha(sub j1)" and at most…

Linear programming models with 0-1 variables are useful for the construction of tests from an item bank. Most solution strategies for these models start with solving the relaxed 0-1 linear programming model, allowing the 0-1 variables to take on values between 0 and 1. Then, a 0-1 solution is found by just rounding, optimal rounding, or a…

To locate matches across pairs of lists without unique identifiers it is sometimes necessary to compare strings of letters. String comparators are used in production computer matching software during the Post Enumeration Survey for the 1990 U.S. census. A string comparator metric is described that partially accounts for: (1) typographical…

The application and utility of confirmatory second-order factor analytic methods are discussed. Factor analysis is central to concerns regarding measurement validity. Confirmatory methods are especially useful because they explicitly consider measurement error influences and because the methods are inherently theory-driven and theory-oriented.…

Numerous designs using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test ordinal hypotheses were assessed using a Monte Carlo simulation. Each statistic was computed on each of over 10,000 random samples drawn from a variety of population conditions. The number of groups, population variance, and patterns of population means were varied. In the non-null…

Test validity is a concept that has often been ignored in the context of latent trait models and in modern test theory, particularly as it relates to computerized adaptive testing. Some considerations about the validity of a test and of a single item are proposed. This paper focuses on measures that are population-free and that will provide local…

Structural equation modeling has become increasingly popular as a technique for the analysis of non-experimental data in the social sciences. This increase can be traced in part to the development of computer programs that facilitate structural equation modeling. The Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) program is the most widely used tool for…

A computer simulation was undertaken to determine the effects of using Huynh's single-administration estimates of the decision consistency indices for agreement and coefficient kappa, under conditions that violated the beta-binomial assumption. Included in the investigation were two unimodal score distributions that fit the model and two bimodal…

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed 71 actuarial, behavioral, and economic models that are used for retirement forecasting, focusing on models of federal retirement program costs, civilian retirement decisions, and retirement income. GAO wished to determine to what extent the models have been documented, to what extent the models are…

This report describes a statistically designed experiment that was carried out in an operational setting to determine the contributions of different sources of variation to the unreliability of scoring. The experiment made novel use of partially balanced incomplete block designs that facilitated the unbiased estimation of certain main effects…

The dynamic linear model or Kalman filtering model provides a useful methodology for predicting the past, present, and future states of a dynamic system, such as an object in motion or an economic or social indicator that is changing systematically with time. Recursive likelihood methods for adaptive Kalman filtering and smoothing are developed.…

A general model is described which can be used to represent the four common types of meta-analysis: (1) estimation of effect size by combining study outcomes; (2) estimation of effect size by contrasting study outcomes; (3) estimation of statistical significance by combining study outcomes; and (4) estimation of statistical significance by…