THIS REPORT, WHICH CONSISTS OF A SERIES OF STATISTICAL TABLES, IS THE SEVENTH IN A SERIES THAT HAS BEEN PUBLISHED ANNUALLY BY THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION SINCE PASSAGE OF THE NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT OF 1958. TAKEN COLLECTIVELY, THE REPORTS CHART THE COURSE TAKEN BY FOREIGN-LANGUAGE STUDY IN THE NATION'S HIGH SCHOOLS FROM 1958 TO THE…

Reports a class exercise which requires students to recalculate the Chi-squares, t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs found in published psychological research articles. Describes students' reaction to the exercise and provides data on the 13% error rate they discovered. (Author/JDH)

The statistical properties of curriculum-based time-series data were investigated for 67 learning disabled students (grades 1-7). Results suggest that reading growth over time may be described by a negatively accelerated curve and that the statistical characteristics of time-series data are not necessarily independent in naturally occurring data.…

Demonstrates that some commonly used indices can be misleading in their quantification of reliability. The effects are most pronounced on gain or difference scores. Proposals are made to avoid sources of invalidity by using a procedure to assess reliability in terms of upper and lower limits for the true scores of each examinee. (Author/JDH)

The properties of nonmetric multidimensional scaling one explored by specifying statistical models, proving statistical consistency, and devloping hypothesis testing procedures. Statistical models with errors in the dependent and independent variables are described for quantitative and qualitative data. (Author/LMO)

An empirical method (PRESS) for examining and contrasting the cross-validated prediction accuracies of some popular algorithms for weighting predictor variables was advanced and examined. The sample specific PRESS method was suggested as most appropriate when selecting among several alternative weighting algorithms to achieve maximum…

The present study compares the performance of phi coefficients and tetrachorics along two dimensions of factor recovery in binary data. These dimensions are (1) accuracy of nontrivial factor identifications; and (2) factor structure recovery given a priori knowledge of the correct number of factors to rotate. (Author/LMO)

Describes how a combination of mapping and techniques can be used as a basis for measuring and analyzing student locational awareness of California. The case study analysis reveals that there was considerable variation in students' accuracy and precision in locating places. Includes tables and maps. (TRS)

Item response curves for a set of binary responses are studied from a Bayesian viewpoint of estimating the item parameters. For the two-parameter logistic model with normally distributed ability, restricted bivariate beta priors are used to illustrate the computation of the posterior mode via the EM algorithm. (Author/LMO)

The author shows that correlation studies can be affected by self-selection bias when questionnaire response is poor, contrary to the common supposition that only loss of degrees of freedom or precision result. Tests are suggested for the ensuing self-selection bias. (Author/LMO)

This study was designed to examine the level of dependence within multiple true-false test-item clusters by computing sets of item correlations with data from a test composed of both multiple true-false and multiple-choice items. (Author/LMO)

Multiple regression analysis is frequently being employed in experimental and non-experimental research. However, when data include predictor variables that are correlated, some regression results can become difficult to interpret. This paper presents a study to provide a demonstration that structure coefficients may be useful in these cases.…

The authors previously discussed the importance of effect size and Type II errors as factors in determining sample size. Tables were developed and presented for one-factor designs with k levels. As these tables could not be used for the one sample case, comparable tables were developed and are presented. (Author/DWH)

An experiment is conducted showing that an attention shift to a stream of numerals presented in rapid serial visual presentation mode produces not a total loss, but a systematic distortion of order. An attention gating model (AGM) is developed from a more general attention model. (Author/LMO)