The use of unidimensional scales that contain both positively and negatively worded items is common in both the educational and psychological fields. However, dimensionality investigations of these instruments often lead to a rejection of the theorized unidimensional model in favor of multidimensional structures, leaving researchers at odds for…

A research question that is of interest across many disciplines is whether and how relationships in a network are related to the attributes of the nodes of the network. In this dissertation, we propose two joint frameworks for modeling the relationship between the network and attributes. In the joint latent space model in Chapter 2, shared latent…

Moving Beyond the Ordinal Methodological Controversy: A Systematic Review (Manuscript 1): Ordinal outcome data is a common byproduct of education research. Yet more than seventy-five years after the development of Stevens' original measurement framework, the permissibility of select analytic techniques to ordinal outcome data remains a topic of…

Considered normative from the second half of the 20th century (Danziger, 1990), null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) has received consistent, largely unheeded criticism. Critiques have received more attention in recent years with the recognition of the replication crisis in the social sciences and the American Statistical Society's statement…

In today's era of large-scale data, academic institutions, businesses, and government agencies are increasingly faced with heterogeneous datasets. Consequently, there is a growing need to develop effective methods for extracting meaningful insights from this type of data. Quantile, expectile, and expected shortfall regression methods offer useful…

Applied researchers faced with limited resources can utilize planned missing designs by incorporating missing data into their research design to collect more and higher quality data compared to a conventional experimental design. Two-method measurement planned missing designs (TMM-PMD) are a type of planned missing design whereby researchers…

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop principles and strategies for and identify limitations of multisite cluster randomized trials in the context of partially and fully nested designs. In the first study, I develop principles of estimation, sampling variability, and inference for studies that leverage multisite designs within the context…

Assessing student achievement over multiple years is complicated by students' annual matriculation through different classrooms. The process of matriculation, or annual classroom change, threatens the validity of statistical inferences because it violates the independence of observations necessary in a regression context. The current study…

Queering' questions, unlearns, disrupts, and transforms approaches, expectations, and realities. Futures are time and change. The approach I have designed to operationalize Queering and futures, or Queering futures, is the Queering Futures Framework (QFF). The Queering Futures Framework (QFF) is a brand-new transdisciplinary research framework…

Missing data is a common challenge to any researcher in almost any field of research. In particular, human participants in research do not always respond or return for assessments leaving the researcher to rely on missing data methods. The most common methods (i.e., Multiple Imputation and Full Information Maximum Likelihood) assume that the…

Measurement of latent constructs is one of the most challenging tasks in psychological research. Unlike physical variables, latent constructs are not directly observable but are inferred through individuals' responses to a set of items often referred to as measurement instruments, tests, surveys, or assessments. For decades, exploratory factor…

The nonequivalent-groups anchor-test (NEAT) data-collection design is commonly used in large-scale assessments. Under this design, different test groups take different test forms. Each test form has its own unique items and all test forms share a set of common items. If item response theory (IRT) models are applied to analyze the test data, the…

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between teacher self-efficacy, maximizing decision-making tendencies, and utilization of educational technology resources. The study utilized the Teacher Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES), the Maximizing Tendency Scale (MTS-7), and teacher use of educational technology surveys to determine if…

This study looked to determine if being classified as a Cinderella Story team in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, led to a statistically significant change in NCAA Division I men's basketball spending for that team's respective institution one, two, and three years after being labeled. The purpose of…

Lean Six Sigma (LSS), which is a strategy that effectively solve problems in the manufacturing and services sectors, is claimed to be a vital strategy that could improve business, solve problems, and upgrade the quality level for education setting. Antony (2014) argues that "higher education institutes (HEI) can deploy both Lean and Six Sigma…