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Video available for Emerging Scholars keynote address

The Emerging Scholars Series began April 9 with a free keynote presentation from methodologist Bethany Bray. Her keynote is available on video.
The Emerging Scholars Series began April 9 with a free keynote presentation from methodologist Bethany Bray. Her keynote is available on video.

Bethany Bray, outreach director of Penn State University’s Methodology Center, led the MAP Academy’s inaugural Emerging Scholars Series. The April 9-10 event included a keynote presentation, statistics workshop and an early career meeting for graduate students and postdocs. Full Article

Researchers from CYFS’ MAP Academy publish rural article

Researchers from CYFS’ MAP Academy recently published findings in the Journal of Research in Rural Education. The team includes methodologists, from left, Carina McCormick, Natalie Koziol, Ann Arthur, Kirstie Bash, Leslie Hawley, Greg Welch and James Bovaird.
Researchers from CYFS’ MAP Academy recently published findings in the Journal of Research in Rural Education. The team includes methodologists, from left, Carina McCormick, Natalie Koziol, Ann Arthur, Kirstie Bash, Leslie Hawley, Greg Welch and James Bovaird.

Gretna and Chadron, Nebraska, are each home to slightly more than 5,500 residents. That’s where their similarity ends.

The city of Gretna borders a major metropolitan suburb, while—nearly 500 miles away in Nebraska’s Panhandle—Chadron is a short drive from the Badlands of South Dakota. Full Article

Watch fifth Methodology Application presentation

Leslie Hawley
Leslie Hawley, research assistant professor, MAP Academy

In the fifth presentation of the 2014-2015 Methodology Applications Series, research assistant professor Leslie Hawley discusses “Developing Better Questionnaires and Measures: Psychometric Review.”

Once data from questionnaires and other non-cognitive measures have been collected, researchers are faced with the task of providing psychometric evidence to answer questions related to internal consistency and validity. This presentation is the final installment of our three-part series integrating practical strategies and best practices in questionnaire and measurement development from the fields of psychometrics, survey research and educational psychology. It will provide a conceptual overview and applied examples of the psychometric review process. Full Article

Watch third Methodology Application presentation

Ann ArthurIn the third presentation of the Methodology Applications Series, MAP Academy Methodologist Ann Arthur discusses “Developing Better Questionnaires and Measures: Constructing and Testing the Instrument.”

The development of questionnaires and other non-cognitive measures is a challenging task in the research process. This presentation is the second of a three-part series integrating practical strategies and best practices in questionnaire and measurement development from the fields of psychometrics, survey research and educational psychology. It is designed to help researchers write and refine questions and items in a way that reflects the intended construct(s), optimizes the response process and minimizes measurement error. Full Article

Watch second Methodology Application presentation

Michelle_2nd_presentation_Methodology_Series_IMG_4952

In the second presentation of the Methodology Applications Series, research assistant professor Michelle Howell Smith discusses “Developing Better Questionnaires and Measures: Initial Considerations and Construct Operationalization.”

This presentation is the first of a three-part series integrating practical strategies and best practices in questionnaire and measurement development from the fields of psychometrics, survey research and educational psychology. Howell Smith shares strategies for developing internal consistency among concepts, constructs, indicators and items, to obtain meaningful results. Full Article

Bovaird, engineering faculty receive EPA ‘healthy schools’ grant

CYFS
Jim Bovaird (far right), founding director of the MAP Academy and associate professor of educational psychology, joins UNL architectural engineering faculty (from left) Josephine Lau, Clarence Waters and Lily Wang in an EPA-funded study to examine schools’ indoor environmental effects on students from kindergarten through 12th grade. (Photo credit: Greg Nathan / University Communications.)

Advanced methodology sets the foundation for a UNL team studying the effects of school environment on student performance.

CYFS faculty affiliate Jim Bovaird, founding director of the MAP Academy and associate professor of educational psychology, joins faculty from the Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction for a four-year study of schools’ indoor environmental effects on the academic achievement of students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Full Article

MAP Academy hosts Kline methodology workshop

Rex Kline methodology
Methodologist Rex Kline presents “New Developments in Structural Equation Modeling” at the Nov. 10 workshop. The presentation was the first in the Nebraska Methodology Workshop series, hosted by the MAP Academy.

The Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics continues its mission to promote inter-disciplinary research with the Nebraska Methodology Workshop series. Students, faculty and community members gathered Nov. 10 at the Nebraska Innovation Campus for the first workshop by methodologist Rex Kline. Full Article