A scientific revolution began at the end of the 18th century with the creation and popularization of the graphic display of data by Scottish inventor William Playfair, who introduced the line graph, bar chart, and pie chart into statistics. His remarkable Atlas demonstrated how much could be learned if one plotted data graphically and looked for suggestive patterns to provide evidence for pursuing research. In the Statistical Breviary, Playfair invented the pie chart and expanded upon this concept to facilitate the comparison of the resources of European countries. Playfair's work has great...

This celebrated primer presents an introduction to all of the key ingredients in understanding computerized adaptive testing technology, test development, statistics, and mental test theory. Based on years of research, this accessible book educates the novice and serves as a compendium of state-of-the-art information for professionals interested in computerized testing in the areas of education, psychology, and other related social sciences. A hypothetical test taken as a prelude to employment is used as a common example throughout to highlight this book's most important features and...

Test Scoring provides a summary of traditional true score test theory and modern item response theory related to scoring tests, as well as novel developments resulting from the integration of these approaches. The background material introduced in the first four chapters builds a foundation for the new developments covered in later chapters. These new methods offer alternative psychometric approaches to scoring complex assessments.
Each of the book's contributors draws from the classic literature of traditional test theory, as well as psychometric developments of the past decade....

This volume contains a collection of essays and discussions which serve as an introduction and guide to current research in the area of drawing inferences from self-selected samples. This topic is of direct interest to a professional audience of survey researchers, pollsters, market researchers, policymakers, statisticians, demographers, economists, and sociologists. The essays themselves and their associated critical discussions are clear and careful; the contributors are among the foremost experts in the field.

An exploration of visual revelations, including how to display data badly, tabular presentation and trilinear plots. The essays are divided into sections covering: graphical failures; graphical triumphs; graphical forms; using graphical methods; and improving graphical presentations.

Test fairness is a moral imperative for both the makers and the users of tests. This book focuses on methods for detecting test items that function differently for different groups of examinees and on using this information to improve tests. Of interest to all testing and measurement specialists, it examines modern techniques used routinely to insure test fairness. Three of these relevant to the book's contents are: * detailed reviews of test items by subject matter experts and members of the major subgroups in society (gender, ethnic, and linguistic) that will be represented in the examinee...

First published in 1983. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This extraordinary book provides a journey through the jungle of good and bad graphical devices used to illustrate and obfuscate data. The diversity of examples is tremendous: ranging from Napoleon's retreat from Moscow to the O-rings on the space shuttle and from mortalities in hospitals to the schedules of buses. The author's aim is to illustrate how effectively a well-chosen graphic can reveal in an instant the essential truth behind some data whilst a poorly designed representation can conceal an awful truth. As well as providing numerous examples of both, the author includes plenty of...

During the course of the rhetoric surrounding the 1984 Presidential election campaign in the United States there were a variety of statements made that gave me pause. For example, I heard candidate Ferraro explain her poor showing in pre-election polls by saying. " I don't believe those polls. If you could see the enthusiasm for our candidacy 'out there' you wouldn't believe them either. " Obviously, trying to estimate one's popularity in the entire voting population from the enthusiasm of your supporters at political rallies is not likely to yield accurate results. I suspect that trying to...