Venn diagrams were invented by John Venn in 1880 as an aid in logical reasoning. Since then, the diagrams have been used as an aid in understanding and organization for widely diverse audiences (e.g., elementary school children, business people) and widely diverse content areas (e.g., self-improvement courses, statistics). In this dissertation, Venn diagrams are used to illustrate and explain variable relationships. There are three main foci: (a) correlation and interaction, (b) variables and Venn diagrams, and (c) reliability and Venn diagrams. Confusion between correlation and interaction is explained, and the multicollinearity problem is illustrated using a Venn diagram composed of three circles and a horse-shoe shaped figure. Venn diagrams are presented for these variables: moderator; concrete and hypothetical intervening; component; traditional, negative, and reciprocal suppressor; covariate; disturbance; and confound. Venn diagrams are also used to differentiate among within-subjects, between-subjects, and reliability designs. Last, a detailed example, which assumes basic knowledge of classical test theory and generalizability theory, is presented to help illustrate, using Venn diagrams, the role of error variance in performance assessments. Evaluation based on comments of 13 American Educational Research Association, Division D, listserve members and 7 non-members was positive, and interest in the topic was shown by over 100 visits to the website where a portion of the dissertation was posted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/289244 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Rein, Judith Ann |
| Contributors | Sabers, Darrell L. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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