Other Statistics and Probability Commons^™

A New Approach To Generate Combinatorial Patterns In Logical Analysis Of Data And Its Application To Predict College Retention, Salihah Ahmed E. Jaafari

Theses and Dissertations

Student retention and degree completion remain central challenges for higher-education institutions, with significant implications for student success, institutional effectiveness, and public accountability. While advances in predictive analytics have enabled earlier identification of students at risk of withdrawal, many commonly used machine learning approaches suffer from limited interpretability, constraining their practical usefulness for advising, intervention, and policy decision making. This dissertation addresses the problem of predicting student persistence by developing and evaluating optimization based, interpretable classification models within the Logical Analysis of Data (LAD) framework. Building on existing LAD formulations, this research introduces two novel pattern generation models, the Best Term …

Exploring The Impact Of Statistics Course Modality On Student Learning: A Mixed Methods Approach, Becky Kelleman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The importance of statistical literacy has become increasingly evident, as individuals grapple with interpreting statistics to inform critical decisions. Despite the recognized significance of statistical literacy, challenges persist in both educators’ and students’ efforts to navigate the complexities of statistics education. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of different course modalities on undergraduate students’ academic performance in introductory statistics courses. Using Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) as a theoretical framework, this research aims to shed light on the complex dynamics influencing statistical literacy attainment. By addressing gaps and inconsistencies in the current literature, this study seeks to …

Human Capital At Home: Evidence From A Randomized Evaluation In The Philippines, Noam Angrist, Sarah Kabay, Dean S. Karlan, Lincoln Lau, Kevin M. Wong

Education Division Scholarship

Children spend most of their time at home in their early years, yet efforts to promote human capital at home in many low- and middle-income settings remain limited. We conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate an intervention which encourages parents and caregivers to foster human capital accumulation among their children between ages 3 and 5, with a focus on math and phonics skills. Children gain 0.52 and 0.51 standard deviations relative to the control group on math and phonics tests, respectively (p<0.001). A year later effects persist, but math gains dissipate to 0.15 (p=0.06) and phonics to 0.13 (p=0.12). Effects appear to be mediated largely through instructional support by parents and not other parent investment mechanisms, such as more positive parent-child interactions or additional time spent on education at home beyond the intervention. Our results show that parents can be effective conduits of educational instruction even in low-resource settings.

The Naked Truth Of My Voice: Surveying The Soul Of An Aspiring Educator From Dusk To Dawn: An Arts-Based Auto-Criticism Inquiry, Siddharth Maan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is based on auto-criticism, a new qualitative inquiry that combines educational criticism and arts-based research. It focuses on my own experiences as an aspiring educator who struggles with stuttering and public speaking anxiety. The study aims to describe, interpret, evaluate, and thematize my experiences of dealing with public speaking anxiety and stuttering before, during, and after classroom teaching. In addition, this dissertation highlights the potential contributions of auto-criticism as a methodology to qualitative research and higher education. I utilized journaling to document data. Photos and music were also used to enhance the understanding of my lived experiences and …

Comparing The Preparation Of Youth Services Librarians To Their On-The-Ground Experiences: A Grounded Theory Study Incorporating Criticism And Connoisseurship, Anne Holland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to better understand the on-the-ground preparation of youth services librarians, in contrast to their professional training in Master’s of Library Science (MLIS) programs. Classic Grounded Theory was the predominant methodology for this qualitative study, and elements of Criticism and Connoisseurship were also utilized. Document review, interviews, and journaling activities with ten participants were the primary methods of data collection. Key findings from this dissertation include a grounded theory explaining the current state of preparation for youth services librarianship, and multiple avenues for further study.

Extending The Utility Of Ant Colony Optimization Through The Incorporation Of An Intraclass Correlation Coefficient To Assess For Rater Consistency, Mark Leveling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a flexible algorithm designed to solve complex combinatorial problems. While the method was derived from the behavior of ants by researchers in the field of computer science, its application to solving complex combinatorial problems is widespread in a growing number of fields in behavioral science, including psychometrics. Over the last two decades, psychometricians have adapted ACO to measurement model specification problems with the intention of generating measurement models that express measurement model fit and reliability within the standards of what is considered acceptable. Additionally, psychometricians have used ACO to generate shortened versions of existing measures …

Phenomenological Inquiry Into Middle School Teachers’ Perception Of Creativity, Katalin Grajzel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers do agree that creativity is an ability that can be developed and should be fostered (Guilford, 1958; Parnes, 1961). Teachers play an important role in creativity development and often serve as gatekeepers to identify gifted and talented students (Bianco et al., 2011; Novak & Jones, 2021; Schack & Starko, 1990). However, teachers’ judgment of their students’ creativity often only correlates weakly with the results of creativity measures (Kettler et al., 2018; Torrance, 1963). Therefore, in this study I explored teachers’ perception of creativity and creative students as well as factors that support or hinder creativity. The findings revealed that …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Is The Declining Birthrate Really An Issue For The Economy?, Harsh Ramesh Pednekar, Theodore Lee, Darrion Chin

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

This study aims to explore the complex implications of declining birth rates on the economy, focusing on GDP per capita as a crucial metric, and aims to uncover both potential opportunities and challenges stemming from this demographic transformation using regression analysis. Using a quantitative methodology and secondary data from OECD.stat, World Population Review, and World Bank, the study explores the relationship between declining birth rates and economic impacts. GDP per capita serves as an essential dependent variable, and it accounts for control variables such as labour force participation, literacy, and education levels, child dependence ratio, and physical capital. Past studies …

A Multivariate Investigation Of The Motivational, Academic, And Well-Being Characteristics Of First-Generation And Continuing-Generation College Students, Christopher L. Thomas, Staci Zolkoski

Journal of Research Initiatives

Prior research has noted differences in motivational, academic, and well-being factors between first-generation and continuing-education students. However, past investigations have primarily overlooked the interactive influence of protective and risk factors when comparing the characteristics of first-generation and continuing-education students. Thus, the current study adopted a multivariate approach to gain a more nuanced understanding of the influence of generational status on students' self-regulated learning capabilities, academic anxiety, sense of belonging, academic barriers, mental health concerns, and satisfaction with life. University students (N = 432, 67.46% Caucasian, 87.55% female, _Age = 28.10 ± 9.46) completed the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale-2^{nd …}

Utilizing New Technologies To Measure Therapy Effectiveness For Mental And Physical Health, Jonathan Ossie

Dissertations

Mental health is quickly becoming a major policy concern, with recent data reporting increasing and disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, increased substance abuse, and elevated suicidal ideation. One specific population that is especially high risk for these issues is the military community because military conflict, deployment stressors, and combat exposure contribute to the risk of mental health problems.

Although several pharmacological approaches have been employed to combat this epidemic, their efficacy is mixed at best, which has led to novel nonpharmacological approaches. One such approach is Operation Surf, a nonprofit that provides nature-based programs advocating the restorative …

Establishing The Validity And Reliability Of The Locus Assessments, Tim Jacobbe, Bob Delmas, Brad Hartlaub, Jeff Haberstroh, Catherine Case, Steven Foti, Douglas Whitaker

Numeracy

The development of assessments as part of the funded LOCUS project is described. The assessments measure students’ conceptual understanding of statistics as outlined in the GAISE PreK–12 Framework. Results are reported from a large-scale administration to 3,430 students in grades 6 through 12 in the United States. Items were designed to assess levels of understanding as well as components of the statistical problem solving process as articulated in the GAISE framework. We discuss details of how the model used to develop the LOCUS assessments guided the gathering of evidence for validity and reliability arguments. Three types of validity evidence are …

Adventuring Into Complexity By Exploring Data: From Complicity To Sustainability, Tim Lutz

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

Problems of sustainability are typically represented by major present-day challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental and social injustice. Framed this way, sustainable lives and societies depend on finding solutions to each problem. From another perspective, there is only one problem behind them all, stated by Gregory Bateson as: “…the difference between how nature works and the way people think,” and complexity provides a way to define and approach this problem. I extend Edgar Morin’s conceptions of restricted and general complexity into pedagogy to address problems of simplicity and reductionist teaching. The proposed pedagogy is based on long …

Moving Past ‘One Size Fits All’: Developing A Trajectory Deviance Index For Dynamic Measurement Modeling, Yixiao Dong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic Measurement Modeling (DMM) is a recently developed measurement framework for gauging developing constructs (e.g., learning capacity) that conventional single-timepoint tests cannot assess. Like most measurement models, overall model fit indices of DMM do not indicate the measurement appropriateness for each included student. For this reason, other measurement modeling paradigms (e.g., Item-Response Theory; IRT) utilize person-fit or model appropriateness statistics to indicate whether a measurement model appropriately describes the data from each individual student. However, within the extant DMM framework, no statistical index has yet been developed for this purpose. Thus, the current project advanced a person-specific DMM Trajectory Deviance …

Statistical Modeling Of Positive Peer Support On Longitudinal Adolescent Substance Use, Kady Rost

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To evaluate this study’s research question of ”Does the latent construct of Positive Peer Support (PPS) relate to the construct of Adolescent Substance Use (ASU) over time, controlling for neighborhood safety, race, and sex?”, Structural Equation (SEM) and Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) were used to investigate trajectories. Secondary longitudinal data from Zimmerman (2014) of 604 students enrolled for four consecutive years in public schools located in Flint, Michigan. In the secondary data resource, students who participated were declared “at risk” by GPA. Significant relationships were found in SEM: Positive Peer Support to Adolescent Substance Use, All Control Variables to …

A Grounded Theory Inquiry Into The Pedagogical Socialization Of Graduate Students Within Graduate Quantitative Methods Courses, Amanda Kay Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantitative methods are one of the most highly technical fields of study within social sciences graduate programs. Although classroom pedagogy is an important factor connected to student success within graduate quantitative methods courses little is known on the pedagogical socialization experiences of masters and doctoral students. The purpose of this grounded theory inquiry was to discover graduate students perspectives on their pedagogical socialization experiences and the norms, values and role expectations transmitted during the teaching and learning of quantitative methods. Narrative data was collected from in-depth interviews among a theoretical sample of 31 masters and doctoral students enrolled in introductory, …

Streamlining Time Spent In Alternative Developmental Mathematics Pathways: Increasing Access To College-Level Mathematics Courses By Altering Placement Procedures, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Developmental mathematics, which is designed to prepare students for college-level mathematics courses, can be a barrier to students’ success. In the United States, the majority of students placed into developmental mathematics courses fail to complete the developmental sequence. Alternative mathematics pathways offer some benefits when integrated with “just-in- time support” or expedited instruction on specific prerequisite concepts needed solely for the current lesson. This study compares two statistics courses taught at a public community college: a complete course taught in one semester and a two-semester version with just-in-time developmental content integrated into the course. The study found that students placed …

Effects Of Quantitative Literacy On Healthcare Decision-Making: An Aural Context, Robert G. Root, Sonia Bhala

Numeracy

We propose a relationship between sensory modality, numerical formatting, and performance on a survey simulating healthcare decision-making. We examine the current literature on aural health literacy, and specifically aural literacy coupled with health numeracy. We then create a survey instrument called the Bhala test for this purpose and demonstrate that it is moderately internally consistent and provides results that correlate with the NUMi assessment, a widely accepted measure of health numeracy. The quantitative information provided in the Bhala test has two treatments, percentage and natural frequency formats, in an effort to determine which format is easier for subjects to use …

Is Corequisite Developmental Math Effective At East Tennessee State University?, Christine Padden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the corequisite developmental math program at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and compares the effectiveness to the previous developmental math program by comparing the student outcomes in MATH 1530. MATH 1530 is a non-calculus based statistic and probability course that satisfies most majors’ general education math requirements. ETSU sees approximately 1,000 students a year pass through MATH 1530 which is around 6.7% of the total enrollment at ETSU[9]. We are interested in the last five years of the developmental math program before it was changed to corequisite developmental math and the first five years of corequisite …

Development Of A School Boredom Proneness Scale For Children, Taylor Carrington

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

One common phrase heard from students is, “I’m bored.” However, there is no real understanding of what this actually means. In this study, elementary-age students were asked to respond to a newly developed School Boredom Proneness Scale (SBPS) including questions relating to a five-factor model of boredom. Students were also asked to rate how often they become bored at school and how bored they seem compared to classmates. In addition to student responses, parents and teachers were asked to rate how bored they thought the student was, and teachers were additionally asked to rate students’ level of work completion. The …

Secondary Data Analysis Project, Jonathan M. Gallimore

SF 420 PR - Gallimore - Fall 2018

This activity is designed to give students an opportunity to apply what they have learned in statistics to a real dataset.

This activity will help students apply what they have learned in statistics to real world data and answer their own research questions. Students will also practice reporting their results in a paper using APA format.

Quantitative Jeopardy Feud, Jonathan M. Gallimore

MSF 600 PR - Gallimore - Fall 2018

This activity - Quantitative Jeopardy Feud - is a method for using a game as a final exam.

Initial Evidence Of Construct Validity Of Data From A Self-Assessment Instrument Of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (Tpack) In 2-Year Public College Faculty In Texas, Kristin C. Scott

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

Technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) has been studied in K-12 faculty in the U.S. and around the world using survey methodology. Very few studies of TPACK in post-secondary faculty have been conducted and no peer-reviewed studies in U.S. post-secondary faculty have been published to date. The present study is the first reliability and validity of data from a TPACK survey to be conducted with a large sample of U.S. post-secondary faculty. The professorate of 2-year public college faculty in Texas will help their institutions meet the goals of the state’s higher education strategic plan, 60x30TX. In order to do …

Building A Better Risk Prevention Model, Steven Hornyak

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation chronicles the work of Houston County Schools in developing a risk prevention model built on more than ten years of longitudinal student data. In its second year of implementation, Houston At-Risk Profiles (HARP), has proven effective in identifying those students most in need of support and linking them to interventions and supports that lead to improved outcomes and significantly reduces the risk of failure.

What’S Brewing? A Statistics Education Discovery Project, Marla A. Sole, Sharon L. Weinberg

Publications and Research

We believe that students learn best, are actively engaged, and are genuinely interested when working on real-world problems. This can be done by giving students the opportunity to work collaboratively on projects that investigate authentic, familiar problems. This article shares one such project that was used in an introductory statistics course. We describe the steps taken to investigate why customers are charged more for iced coffee than hot coffee, which included collecting data and using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Interspersed throughout the article, we describe strategies that can help teachers implement the project and scaffold material to assist students …

Parental Involvement, Students' Self-Engagement, And Academic Achievement: A Structural Equation Model, Cuirong Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the ever-evolving landscape of China's education system, the gap between the rural and urban was always an important issue, not only the multifaceted interplay of parental involvement, student self-engagement, and academic performance. This study utilized a comprehensive national survey dataset through a thorough understanding of cultural nuances and educational intricacies specific to the Chinese context. Its aim was not only to decipher the underlying constructs of parental involvement and student self-engagement but also to investigate how these factors impacted academic achievement among students. The research unfolded in several stages using a representative sample of 10750 students from 112 schools …

The Dirty “S” Word: Innovative Teaching Techniques For Counselor Educators Facilitating Learning In Statistics And Research, Rebecca L. Tadlock-Marlo, Megan Michalak

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Innovative pedagogy will be presented and discussed to help make research a less painful class to both teach and learn. Foci include teaching methods, potential assignments, and suggestions for activities to help facilitate a more fluid learning process for counselors. Attendees will explore aspects of helping students overcome their fear of both statistics and research.

Using The R Library Rpanel For Gui-Based Simulations In Introductory Statistics Courses, Ryan M. Allison

Statistics

As a student, I noticed that the statistical package R (http://www.r-project.org) would have several benefits of its usage in the classroom. One benefit to the package is its free and open-source nature. This would be a great benefit for instructors and students alike since it would be of no cost to use, unlike other statistical packages. Due to this, students could continue using the program after their statistical courses and into their professional careers. It would be good to expose students while they are in school to a tool that professionals use in industry. R also has powerful …

The Dirty “S” Word: Innovative Teaching Techniques For Counselor Educators Facilitating Learning In Statistics And Research, Rebecca Tadlock-Marlo, Megan Michalak

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Innovative pedagogy will be presented and discussed to help make research a less painful class to both teach and learn. Foci include teaching methods, potential assignments, and suggestions for activities to help facilitate a more fluid learning process for counselors. Attendees will explore aspects of helping students overcome their fear of both statistics and research.

Depicting Estimates Using The Intercept In Meta-Regression Models: The Moving Constant Technique, Blair T. Johnson Dr., Tania B. Huedo-Medina Dr.

CHIP Documents

In any scientific discipline, the ability to portray research patterns graphically often aids greatly in interpreting a phenomenon. In part to depict phenomena, the statistics and capabilities of meta-analytic models have grown increasingly sophisticated. Accordingly, this article details how to move the constant in weighted meta-analysis regression models (viz. “meta-regression”) to illuminate the patterns in such models across a range of complexities. Although it is commonly ignored in practice, the constant (or intercept) in such models can be indispensible when it is not relegated to its usual static role. The moving constant technique makes possible estimates and confidence intervals at …