Conducting research can present a range of challenges for students because of the complex skills and knowledge required to have critical engagement with the entire research process. This paper looks at what was involved in shaping the research journey that I am currently undertaking at a Higher Education Institution (HEI). The focus is on research…

Predicting the success or failure of a student in a course or program is a problem that has recently been addressed using data mining techniques. In this paper we evaluate some of the most popular classification and regression algorithms on this problem. We address two problems: prediction of approval/failure and prediction of grade. The former is…

In Pakistan, 96% children with disabilities are out of school and are unreached for any educational services. According to UNESCO (2010), the unreached are those children and youth who are of school age but not attending school for some reasons. Some of these children may have never been to school; others may have attended school but eventually…

Many scholars call for more diverse data on learners' behaviour in CALL (Colpaert, 2012; Fischer, 2007, 2012; Stockwell, 2012). Student retention and the inconclusive efficacy of online language courses (Gaebel, 2013) has received increased attention with the proliferation of MOOCs (Koller, Ng, Do & Chen, 2013). In this paper we introduce…

Some universities administer standardized tests to estimate school effects on student learning. To that end, many of those institutions choose to gather cross-sectional data (freshmen and seniors in the same academic year) rather than longitudinal data. The effects of this decision on institutional assessment results are generally unknown. The…

As the availability of high-throughput data-collection technologies, such as information-sensing mobile devices, remote sensing, internet log records, and wireless sensor networks has grown, science, engineering, and business have rapidly transitioned from striving to develop information from scant data to a situation in which the challenge is now…

In the information age, one of the most influential institutions is education. The recent emergence of MOOCS [Massively Open Online Courses] is a sample of the new expectations that are offered to university students. Basing decisions on data and evidence seems obvious, and indeed, research indicates that data-driven decision-making improves…

Discusses three interlocking areas associated with effectively and accurately conveying information about school performance to the public: (1) graphical display; (2) nonrandomly gathered data; and (3) statistical adjustment. Illustrates these points with historical data, including test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress…

After the terms "qualitative research" and "quantitative research" are defined, this paper considers why it makes sense to integrate these approaches, at least under some circumstances. This discussion necessitates attention to the issue of whether quantitative and qualitative research are inextricably linked to incompatible…

Levin's (1975) sample-size determination procedure for completely randomized analysis of variance designs is extended to designs in which antecedent or blocking variables information is considered. In particular, a researcher's choice of designs is framed in terms of determining the respective sample sizes necessary to detect specified contrasts…

Explores what it would mean to "spread best practice" in educational measurement and considers lessons from the history of medicine and other scientific disciplines that are relevant to the development of educational theory and practice. Makes the case that these lessons point toward the use of less complex statistical tools and the collection and…

A generation ago, Fred N. Kerlinger proposed that there were a number of myths that pervaded educational research. An overview of three specific myths is presented, followed by a discussion of the degree to which these myths have been overcome or still exist in educational research. The first of these myths, the "methods" myth, is…

These symposium papers discuss the instructional use of computers in psychology, with emphasis on computer-produced simulations. The first, by Rich Edwards, briefly outlines LABSIM, a general purpose system of FORTRAN programs which simulate data collection in more than a dozen experimental models in psychology and are designed to train students…

Changes initiated by the United States Bureau of the Census to data collection on family relationships in the decennial census of the population, the Current Population Survey, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation are reviewed. In the last 5 years, innovations have centered on developing new approaches to identifying the array of…

Possible bias due to sampling problems or low response rates has been a troubling "nuisance" variable in empirical research since seminal and classical studies were done on these problems at the beginning of this century. Recent research suggests that: (1) earlier views of the alleged bias problem were misleading; (2) under a variety of fairly…