This column provides a brief synopsis and reference information for select recent journal publications. Note that this is only a short sampling of publications and is not intended as a comprehensive listing.
The Measurement of the Mediator and Its Influence on Statistical Mediation Conclusions
This article addresses how several measurement challenges affect the conclusions of statistical mediation analysis, and describes how different psychometric models can be used to study different theoretical causal processes. The authors demonstrate how sound statistical mediation models that show good fit to the data can significantly detect the indirect effect or miss it entirely depending on how the mediator is represented in the model. Further, the power to detect the indirect effect varied by the amount of true mediator variance that the psychometric model of the mediator was able to isolate.
Gonzalez, O., & MacKinnon, D.P. (2021). The Measurement of the Mediator and Its Influence on Statistical Mediation Conclusions. Psychological Methods, 26, 1-17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/met0000263
NCME Presidential Address 2020: Valuing Educational Measurement
This author describes the reasons for observed lack of trust in educational testing. These reasons include hypocritical practices that conflict with professional standards, a biased and selected presentation of the history of testing, and inattention to social problems associated with educational measurement. Five core values are proposed to help educational measurement serve education: everyone is capable of learning; there are no differences in the capacity to learn across groups defined by race, ethnicity, or sex; all educational tests are fallible to some degree; educational tests can provide valuable information to improve student learning and competence; and all uses of educational test scores must be sufficiently justified by validity evidence.
Sereci, S. G. (2021). NCME Presidential Address 2020: Valuing Educational Measurement. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 40, 7-16.
Admissions Holistic Review of Socioeconomic Factors Fosters Diversity in a Doctor of Physical Therapy Program
The purpose of this study was to strengthen the evidence-based inclusion practices in the program’s admissions processes and to offer a model to Doctor of Physical Therapy programs that are seeking to assess an utilize admission practices to increase the racial, ethnic, an socio-economic diversity of the physical therapy profession.
Coleman-Salgado, B. (2021, April). Admissions Holistic Review of Socioeconomic Factors Fosters Diversity in a Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 259-270. Volume Published Online First. Doi: 10.1097/JTE.0000000000000187
Do Simple Slopes Follow-Up Tests Lead Us Astray? Advancements in the Visualization and Reporting of Interactions
This article emphasizes the utility of the Johnson-Neyman technique in conjunction with a regression plane to depict an interaction in three-dimensional space. This approach does not involve picking points (as other methods do) but rather shows the slopes at all possible values of the predictor variables and gives both predictors equal weight instead of selecting a de facto moderator. Because this approach is complex and mechanisms to generate it are lacking overall, the authors present a tutorial explaining the technique and how to visualize interactions in 3-D space via a new open-source tool.
Finsaas, M. C., & Goldstein, B. L. (2021). Do Simple Slopes Follow-Up Tests Lead Us Astray? Advancements in the Visualization and Reporting of Interactions. Psychological Methods, 26, 38-60. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/met0000266
Guidelines for the “Publication Corner” Column
Have you seen a recent publication that you think would be of great interest to Division 5 membership? Please feel free to share suggestions for publications to include in this column. Please send your ideas to The Score Editor, Gill Sitarenios. Please be sure to include full reference details and a short synopsis (2-3 sentences) of the publication. Use “Publication Corner” in the subject line of the email.