EDSTAT subscribers who are interested in such issues might benefit from scanning the AERA-D posts (Kramer 2003, Hake 2003) that preceded Don's post.
For more on the half-century-old "normalized gain," [Hovland et al. (1949), Gery (1972), Hake (1998) - unknown to most psychometricians) see Hake (2002), Kramer (2002), and visit the splendid AERA-D search engine <http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?S1=aera-d>; then type "Hake" (without the quotes) into the author slot, and "normalized" (without the quotes) into the "Search for" slot to obtain 27 hits as of 16 Jun 2003 11:05:00-0700.
As an aside, I think it's unfortunate that NCSU's EDSTAT uses the antediluvian Majordomo software featuring archives
<http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/archives/edstat/showfolder.phtml> that, as far as I know, are NOT as easily searchable as those of AERA-D and other discussion lists using LISTSERV software, e.g., ASSESS, EvalTalk, PhysLrnR, Phys-L, POD, and STLHE-L.
Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University 24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake> <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
REFERENCES
Burrill, D.F. 2003. "Re: Mathematica's Report on After-School Learning Programs; also Multiple Imputation," AERA-D post of
14 Jun 2003 06:22:11-0400; online at <http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306&L=aera-d&O=D&P=3001>.
Gery, F.W. 1972. "Does mathematics matter?" in A. Welch, ed., "Research papers in economic education." Joint Council on Economic Education. pp. 142-157.
Hake, R.R. 1998a. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses," Am. J. Phys. 66: 64-74; online as ref. 24 at
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>.
Hake, R.R. 1998b. "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory mechanics courses," online as ref. 25 at <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>, a crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a).
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Normalized Gain scores: pluses and minuses," post to AERA-D, ASSESS, EvalTalk, PhysLrnR, and POD of 9 Nov 2002 15:13:06-0800; online at <http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0211&L=aera-d&P=R12469>.
Hake, R.R. 2003. "Mathematica's Report on After-School Learning Programs," AERA-D post of 9 Jun 2003 17:36:24-0700; online at <http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306&L=aera-d&O=D&P=2023>.
Hovland, C. I., A. A. Lumsdaine, and F. D. Sheffield. 1949. "A baseline for measurement of percentage change." In C. I. Hovland, A. A. Lumsdaine, and F. D. Sheffield, eds. 1965. Experiments on mass communication. Wiley (first published in 1949).) Reprinted as pages 77-82 in P. F. Lazarsfeld and M. Rosenberg, eds. 1955. The language of social research: a reader in the methodology of social Research." Free Press.
Kramer, S. 2002. "Normalized" Gain scores: pluses and minuses," AERA-D post of 8 Nov 2002 11:31:38-0800; online at
<http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0211&L=aera-d&P=R10111>. See the response by Hake (2002).
Kramer, S. 2003. "Re: Mathematica's Report on After-School Learning Programs; also Multiple Imputation," AERA-D post of 14 Jun 2003 00:12:40-0700; online at <http://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0306&L=aera-d&O=D&P=2640>. See also Kramer (2002).
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