The work reported here is based on the second Malta National Literacy Survey, carried out in March 2002. All Year 5 pupils in Malta were involved and their literacy attainment in both Maltese and English was tested. Two parallel multi-level analyses were carried out, one for Maltese, the other for English. The background variables were; gender,…

A prenatal intervention designed to prevent the onset of major depressive episodes (MDEs) during pregnancy and postpartum was pilot tested at a public sector women's clinic. The "Mamas y Bebes"/Mothers and Babies Course is an intervention developed in Spanish and English that uses a cognitive-behavioral mood management framework, and incorporates…

The Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is examining the characteristics of children receiving preschool special education, the services they receive, their transitions across educational levels, and their performance over time on assessments of academic and adaptive skills. PEELS…

Magnitude of effect measures (MEMs), when adequately understood and correctly used, are important aids for researchers who do not want to rely solely on tests of statistical significance in substantive result interpretation. The MEM tells how much of the dependent variable can be controlled, predicted, or explained by the independent variables.…

An important issue in educational and employment settings is the degree to which evidence of validity obtained in one situation can be generalized to another situation without further study of validity in the new situation. Theory, procedures, and applications concerning validity generalization are addressed. Meta-analytic techniques make possible…

Selected methods for evaluating the stability of research results empirically are described, especially with regard to multivariate analysis. It is critically important to evaluate the influences of sampling error on obtained results; statistical significance testing does not inform judgment regarding the probable replicability or the sampling…

The purpose of this study was to develop a single procedure for comparing population variances which could be used for distribution forms. Bootstrap methodology was used to estimate the variability of the sample variance statistic when the population distribution was normal, platykurtic and leptokurtic. The data for the study were generated and…

A national study of small and large high schools was undertaken in 1984 to collect data regarding the extent of curricular offerings and then to determine whether the differences were statistically significant. Two random samples were used: the first consisted of 475 schools with enrollments of less than 400 and the second was composed of 900…

A study was devised, using 20 undergraduate students chosen at random from an introductory psychology course, to measure the teaching effectiveness of two computer tutorials oriented to the spreadsheet portion of Appleworks. The first tutorial provided a data disk with pre-entered data for the user to manipulate, but no error correction…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) provides participating schools an Institutional Report that includes (among many documents) mean comparisons, frequency distributions, and student respondent data as part of its standard reporting package. Sifting through all this data can leave even experienced researchers wondering where to start…

A Monte Carlo Study was conducted to evaluate six models commonly used to evaluate change. The results revealed specific problems with each. Analysis of covariance and analysis of variance of residualized gain scores appeared to substantially and consistently overestimate the change effects. Multiple factor analysis of variance models utilizing…

A general procedure is presented for generating code values for a qualitative variable in multiple linear regression analyses that result in directly interpretable estimates of interest. The basic approach, in viewing ANOVA as a multiple regression problem, is to derive quantitative code values for the various levels of the qualitative ANOVA…

A UNIT ON EFFECTIVE THINKING, WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL FOCUS ON INFLUENTIAL THINKING, WAS PREPARED AND TESTED. A TEXT, "EFFECTIVE THINKING," WAS PREPARED. AN INEXPERIENCED TEACHER USED THE TEXT IN A NINE WEEK COURSE WITH SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS. ONLY A POST-TEST CONTROL GROUP DESIGN WAS USED. THE TWO FACTORS STUDIED WERE TREATMENT AND SEX.…

STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN A SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, SEQUENTIAL, CUMULATIVE CURRICULUM IN ENGLISH FOR COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS WAS COMPARED WITH THE PERFORMANCE OF SIMILAR STUDENTS TAKING TRADITIONAL COURSES OF INSTRUCTION. THE STATISTICAL STUDY SOUGHT TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS A VALID BASIS FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW CURRICULUM AND WHAT…

The statistical methods presented in this workbook focus on the display of central tendency, statistical tests, and correlation. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 consist of worksheets, each of which provides step-by-step instructions for calculating and interpreting a particular statistical method. The introduction to each worksheet explains how and when to…