Grant's AEA Experience

At AEA’s Evaluation 2010 conference in San Antonio, TX, I presented or co-presented three studies: 1) Coding Open-Ended Survey Items: A Discussion of Codebook Development and Coding Procedures, 2) Estimating Rater Consistency: Which Method Is Appropriate, and 3) Understanding Student Mastery of Higher Education Curriculum Standards. Each presentation was accompanied by a series of thought-provoking questions that resulted in rich dialogue between the audience and me (and co-presenters where applicable). In addition, I attended sessions on the use of multiple comparisons, Rasch modeling, and latent class analysis. The multiple comparison session was presented by Roger Kirk, who authored Experimental Design: Procedures for Behavioral Sciences ( http://www.amazon.com/Experimental-Design-Procedures-Behavioral-Psychology/dp/0534250920/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291062847&sr=1-6), and the Rasch session was presented by Christine Fox, who authored Applying the Rasch Model: Fundamental Measurement in the Human Sciences (http://www.amazon.com/Applying-Rasch-Model-Fundamental-Measurement/dp/0805854622/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291063163&sr=1-1). I have used both texts and was therefore pleased to have gotten the opportunity to meet them. My interaction with other audience members following these sessions resulted in ideas for future study regarding reliability estimation and latent class clustering. In fact, Dr. Robert Johnson, Min Zhu, and I are currently preparing a manuscript based on the rater reliability study that was presented at AEA. I was also able to touch base with my editor in order to provide her with a brief update on the progress of the book I am currently co-authoring. Overall, I feel the Evaluation 2010 conference was a success.