Search Results

open access

Construct Validation and Measurement Invariance of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory for Educational Settings

Description: The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the revised version of the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28), following adjustment of the wording of items such that they were appropriate to assess Coping Skills in an educational setting. A sample of middle school students (n = 1,037) completed the revised inventory. An initial confirmatory factor analysis led to the hypothesis of a better fitting model with two items removed. Reliability of the subscales a… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Sanguras, Laila Y., 1977-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

How Attitudes towards Statistics Courses and the Field of Statistics Predicts Statistics Anxiety among Undergraduate Social Science Majors: A Validation of the Statistical Anxiety Scale

Description: The aim of this study was to validate an instrument that can be used by instructors or social scientist who are interested in evaluating statistics anxiety. The psychometric properties of the English version of the Statistical Anxiety Scale (SAS) was examined through a confirmatory factor analysis of scores from a sample of 323 undergraduate social science majors enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. In previous studies, the psychometric properties of the Spanish and Itali… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Obryant, Monique J
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Spatial Ability, Motivation, and Attitude of Students as Related to Science Achievement

Description: Understanding student achievement in science is important as there is an increasing reliance of the U.S. economy on math, science, and technology-related fields despite the declining number of youth seeking college degrees and careers in math and science. A series of structural equation models were tested using the scores from a statewide science exam for 276 students from a suburban north Texas public school district at the end of their 5th grade year and the latent variables of spatial abilit… more
Date: May 2011
Creator: Bolen, Judy Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Quantitative Modeling Approach to Examining High School, Pre-Admission, Program, Certification and Career Choice Variables in Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Programs

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine if there is an association between effective supervision and communication competence in divisions of student affairs at Christian higher education institutions. The investigation examined chief student affairs officers (CSAOs) and their direct reports at 45 institutions across the United States using the Synergistic Supervision Scale and the Communication Competence Questionnaire. A positive significant association was found between the direct report's … more
Date: December 2007
Creator: Williams, Cynthia Savage
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Parent Involvement and Science Achievement: A Latent Growth Curve Analysis

Description: This study examined science achievement growth across elementary and middle school and parent school involvement using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class of 1998 – 1999 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K is a nationally representative kindergarten cohort of students from public and private schools who attended full-day or half-day kindergarten class in 1998 – 1999. The present study’s sample (N = 8,070) was based on students that had a sampling weight available from the public-use da… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Johnson, Ursula Yvette
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Comparison of Two Criterion-Referenced Item-Selection Techniques Utilizing Simulated Data with Item Pools that Vary in Degrees of Item Difficulty

Description: The problem of this study was to examine the equivalency of two different types of criterion-referenced item-selection techniques on simulated data as item pools varied in degrees of item difficulty. A pretest-posttest design was employed in which pass-fail scores were randomly generated for item pools of twenty-five items. From the item pools, the two techniques determined which items were to be used to make up twelve-item criterion-referenced tests. The twenty-five items also were rank ordere… more
Date: May 1974
Creator: Davis, Robbie G.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Effect of Rater Training and Scale Type on Leniency and Halo Error in Student Ratings of Faculty

Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if leniency and halo error in student ratings could be reduced by training the student raters and by using a Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) rather than a Likert scale. Two hypotheses were proposed. First, the ratings collected from the trained raters would contain less halo and leniency error than those collected from the untrained raters. Second, within the group of trained raters the BARS would contain less halo and leniency error than the… more
Date: May 1987
Creator: Cook, Stuart S. (Stuart Sheldon)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Cross Categorical Scoring: An Approach to Treating Sociometric Data

Description: The purpose of this study was to use a cross categorical scoring method for sociometric data focusing upon those individuals who have made the selections. A cross category selection was defined as choosing an individual on a sociometric instrument who was not within one's own classification. The classifications used for this study were sex, race, and perceived achievement level. A cross category score was obtained by summing the number of cross category selections. The conclusions below are the… more
Date: December 1977
Creator: Ernst, Nora Wilford
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Comparison of Methods for Computation and Cumulation of Effect Sizes in Meta-Analysis

Description: This study examined the statistical consequences of employing various methods of computing and cumulating effect sizes in meta-analysis. Six methods of computing effect size, and three techniques for combining study outcomes, were compared. Effect size metrics were calculated with one-group and pooled standardizing denominators, corrected for bias and for unreliability of measurement, and weighted by sample size and by sample variance. Cumulating techniques employed as units of analysis the eff… more
Date: December 1987
Creator: Ronco, Sharron L. (Sharron Lee)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Analysis of the Accumulation of Type II Error in Multiple Comparisons for Specified Levels of Power to Violation of Normality with the Dunn-Bonferroni Procedure: a Monte Carlo Study

Description: The study seeks to determine the degree of accumulation of Type II error rates, while violating the assumptions of normality, for different specified levels of power among sample means. The study employs a Monte Carlo simulation procedure with three different specified levels of power, methodologies, and population distributions. On the basis of the comparisons of actual and observed error rates, the following conclusions appear to be appropriate. 1. Under the strict criteria for evaluation of … more
Date: August 1989
Creator: Powers-Prather, Bonnie Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effectiveness of a Mediating Structure for Writing Analysis Level Test Items From Text Based Instruction

Description: This study is concerned with the effect of placing text into a mediated structure form upon the generation of test items for analysis level domain referenced test construction. The item writing methodology used is the linguistic (operationally defined) item writing technology developed by Bormuth, Finn, Roid, Haladyna and others. This item writing methodology is compared to 1) the intuitive method based on Bloom's definition of analysis level test questions and 2) the intuitive with keywords id… more
Date: August 1989
Creator: Brasel, Michael D. (Michael David)
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Use Of Effect Size Estimates To Evaluate Covariate Selection, Group Separation, And Sensitivity To Hidden Bias In Propensity Score Matching.

Description: Covariate quality has been primarily theory driven in propensity score matching with a general adversity to the interpretation of group prediction. However, effect sizes are well supported in the literature and may help to inform the method. Specifically, I index can be used as a measure of effect size in logistic regression to evaluate group prediction. As such, simulation was used to create 35 conditions of I, initial bias and sample size to examine statistical differences in (a) post-matchi… more
Date: December 2011
Creator: Lane, Forrest C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Comparison of Three Item Selection Methods in Criterion-Referenced Tests

Description: This study compared three methods of selecting the best discriminating test items and the resultant test reliability of mastery/nonmastery classifications. These three methods were (a) the agreement approach, (b) the phi coefficient approach, and (c) the random selection approach. Test responses from 1,836 students on a 50-item physical science test were used, from which 90 distinct data sets were generated for analysis. These 90 data sets contained 10 replications of the combination of three d… more
Date: August 1988
Creator: Lin, Hui-Fen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Investigating the hypothesized factor structure of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory: A study of the student satisfaction construct.

Description: College student satisfaction is a concept that has become more prevalent in higher education research journals. Little attention has been given to the psychometric properties of previous instrumentation, and few studies have investigated the structure of current satisfaction instrumentation. This dissertation: (a) investigated the tenability of the theoretical dimensional structure of the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory™ (SSI), (b) investigated an alternative factor structure using e… more
Date: December 2008
Creator: Odom, Leslie R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A comparison of the Effects of Different Sizes of Ceiling Rules on the Estimates of Reliability of a Mathematics Achievement Test

Description: This study compared the estimates of reliability made using one, two, three, four, five, and unlimited consecutive failures as ceiling rules in scoring a mathematics achievement test which is part of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skill (ITBS), Form 8. There were 700 students randomly selected from a population (N=2640) of students enrolled in the eight grades in a large urban school district in the southwestern United States. These 700 students were randomly divided into seven subgroups so that each … more
Date: May 1987
Creator: Somboon Suriyawongse
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effects of the Ratio of Utilized Predictors to Original Predictors on the Shrinkage of Multiple Correlation Coefficients

Description: This study dealt with shrinkage in multiple correlation coefficients computed for sample data when these coefficients are compared to the multiple correlation coefficients for populations and the effect of the ratio of utilized predictors to original predictors on the shrinkage in R square. The study sought to provide the rationale for selection of the shrinkage formula when the correlations between the predictors and the criterion are known and determine which of the three shrinkage formulas (… more
Date: August 1983
Creator: Petcharat, Prataung Parn
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Effect of Psychometric Parallelism among Predictors on the Efficiency of Equal Weights and Least Squares Weights in Multiple Regression

Description: There are several conditions for applying equal weights as an alternative to least squares weights. Psychometric parallelism, one of the conditions, has been suggested as a necessary and sufficient condition for equal-weights aggregation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of psychometric parallelism among predictors on the efficiency of equal weights and least squares weights. Target correlation matrices with 10,000 cases were simulated so that the matrices had varying degr… more
Date: May 1996
Creator: Zhang, Desheng
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Determination of the Optimal Number of Strata for Bias Reduction in Propensity Score Matching.

Description: Previous research implementing stratification on the propensity score has generally relied on using five strata, based on prior theoretical groundwork and minimal empirical evidence as to the suitability of quintiles to adequately reduce bias in all cases and across all sample sizes. This study investigates bias reduction across varying number of strata and sample sizes via a large-scale simulation to determine the adequacy of quintiles for bias reduction under all conditions. Sample sizes rang… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Akers, Allen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Hierarchical Regression Analysis of the Relationship Between Blog Reading, Online Political Activity, and Voting During the 2008 Presidential Campaign

Description: The advent of the Internet has increased access to information and impacted many aspects of life, including politics. The present study utilized Pew Internet & American Life survey data from the November 2008 presidential election time period to investigate the degree to which political blog reading predicted online political discussion, online political participation, whether or not a person voted, and voting choice, over and above the predication that could be explained by demographic measure… more
Date: December 2010
Creator: Lewis, Mitzi
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Stratified item selection and exposure control in unidimensional adaptive testing in the presence of two-dimensional data.

Description: It is not uncommon to use unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models to estimate ability in multidimensional data. Therefore it is important to understand the implications of summarizing multiple dimensions of ability into a single parameter estimate, especially if effects are confounded when applied to computerized adaptive testing (CAT). Previous studies have investigated the effects of different IRT models and ability estimators by manipulating the relationships between item and person… more
Date: August 2009
Creator: Kalinowski, Kevin E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Factors Influencing Difficult Special Education Referral Recommendations

Description: The present study is concerned with selected factors that may strongly influence classroom teachers to refer young children for possible placement in special classes when the children are functioning near the borderline for placement on the basis of intelligence test scores. Particular attention was given to the contribution of student attributes (i.e., sex, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and classroom behavior) and teacher attributes (i.e., age, sex, ethnic background and teaching ex… more
Date: August 1975
Creator: Luckey, Robert E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Convergent Validity of Variables Residualized By a Single Covariate: the Role of Correlated Error in Populations and Samples

Description: This study examined the bias and precision of four residualized variable validity estimates (C0, C1, C2, C3) across a number of study conditions. Validity estimates that considered measurement error, correlations among error scores, and correlations between error scores and true scores (C3) performed the best, yielding no estimates that were practically significantly different than their respective population parameters, across study conditions. Validity estimates that considered measurement e… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Nimon, Kim
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Missing Data Treatments at the Second Level of Hierarchical Linear Models

Description: The current study evaluated the performance of traditional versus modern MDTs in the estimation of fixed-effects and variance components for data missing at the second level of an hierarchical linear model (HLM) model across 24 different study conditions. Variables manipulated in the analysis included, (a) number of Level-2 variables with missing data, (b) percentage of missing data, and (c) Level-2 sample size. Listwise deletion outperformed all other methods across all study conditions in t… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: St. Clair, Suzanne W.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Using Posterior Predictive Checking of Item Response Theory Models to Study Invariance Violations

Description: The common practice for testing measurement invariance is to constrain parameters to be equal over groups, and then evaluate the model-data fit to reject or fail to reject the restrictive model. Posterior predictive checking (PPC) provides an alternative approach to evaluating model-data discrepancy. This paper explores the utility of PPC in estimating measurement invariance. The simulation results show that the posterior predictive p (PP p) values of item parameter estimates respond to various… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Xin, Xin
Partner: UNT Libraries
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