This article describes the development of the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA). The VIVA statistics-processing system remains a work in progress. Member libraries will benefit from the ability to obtain the actual data from the VIVA site, rather than just the summaries, so a project to make these data available is currently being planned. The…

Usage statistics are an important metric for making decisions on serials. Although the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries have been collecting usage statistics, the statistics had not frequently been used to make decisions and had not been included in collection development policy. After undergoing a collection assessment, the…

A multidimensional item response theory model that accounts for response style factors is presented. The model, a multidimensional extension of Bock's nominal response model, is shown to allow for the study and control of response style effects in ordered rating scale data so as to reduce bias in measurement of the intended trait. In the current…

There has been a continued interest in the numbers and characteristics of those who make up the vocational education and training (VET) sector's own workforce. To address this, the Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) commissioned the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) to undertake three…

This project built upon the AchieveAbility initiative, which develops materials and training for teaching specific learning difference learners in schools and colleges. AchieveAbility devised the concept for the "InCurriculum" Project and brought together a consortium of United Kingdom higher education institutions to deliver the…

Quality measurement is essential in every form of research, including institutional research and assessment. Unfortunately, most survey research today (both published and unpublished) is lacking with regards to quality measurement. Reporting means and standard deviations based on ordinal measures is an inappropriate, yet widespread practice in the…

Digital resources play an increasingly important role in academic libraries, which must demonstrate their value to the institution and their impact on student learning outcomes in new and more compelling ways. This study examines 5 years of vendor-supplied e-resource usage data in conjunction with other library and institution measures. Results…

This paper presents information on re-developing an outcome evaluation for a state-funded program providing service coordination utilizing wraparound to youth with severe emotional disturbance (SED) and their families. Originally funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kentucky IMPACT program has existed statewide since 1990. Changing…

In this article, the authors clarify and provide additional tests of the key elements of their age-period-cohort analysis of non-marital birth rates in this March 2009 issue of "Social Forces." Where Steve Martin, in his commentary, has suggested specific alternative specifications or interpretations of their findings, the authors have…

Instability in the school population between school entrance and school leaving is not "just a problem of missing data" but often the visible result of the educational problems in some schools and is, therefore, not merely to be treated as missing data but as indicator for the quality of educational processes. Even the most superior…

Good quality data is paramount for applied economic research. If the data are distorted, corresponding conclusions may be incorrect. We demonstrate how Benford's law, the distribution that first digits of numbers in certain data sets should follow, can be used to test for data abnormalities. We conduct an analysis of nine commonly used data sets…

Secondary data analysis as a methodological approach is not without its critics. Indeed, three main objections to the use of secondary data analysis in social research stand out: first that because of the socially constructed nature of social data, the act of reducing it to a simple numeric form cannot fully encapsulate its complexity. Secondly,…

This article presents the author's address at the 2007 "Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods" ("JAQM") prize awarding festivity. The festivity was included in the opening of the 4th International Conference on Applied Statistics, November 22, 2008, Bucharest, Romania. In the address, the author reflects on three theses that…

As teachers and leaders are well aware, schools and districts across the country have invested enormous amounts of money and energy in creating data management systems so that teachers can access information about their students' performance. With these systems in place, the focus now needs to move to the structures and allocation of time that…

Extreme-value statistics is often used to estimate so-called return values (actually related to quantiles) for environmental quantities like wind speed or wave height. A basic method for estimation is the method of block maxima which consists in partitioning observations in blocks, where maxima from each block could be considered independent.…