THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Edgeworth Laboratory for Quantitative Educational & Behavioural Science
Coordinator:
Professor Bruno D. Zumbo, Ph.D.
University of British Columbia
Department of ECPS
(Program Area: Measurement, Evaluation, & Research Methodology)
Please scroll down for information about:
Professor Zumbo's research program and publications
The Edgeworth Laboratory
Edited and authored books
The Edgeworth Series in Quantitative Behavioral Sciences
For Professor Zumbo's abridged CV & research interests please click
What is the Edgeworth Laboratory about?
Scholarly roots of the Edgeworth Lab. Click
here
The primary focus of the laboratory is statistical science, measurement
theory and practice, and methodology for research and program evaluation.
The idea for the Edgeworth Laboratory came to me in 1989 while I was a
professor in the Measurement & Evaluation Program at the University
of Ottawa. In reading the history of our discipline it struck me that there
is a long and important history of establishing 'laboratories' in the
behavioral and educational sciences. An earlier form of this laboratory
existed at the University of Ottawa under the title Edumetrics Research
Group . The laboratory moved with me to the University of Northern
British Columbia in December of 1994 where I was a Professsor of Mathematics
and Psychology and then again with me in the summer of 2000 to The University
of British Columbia. The laboratory primarily exists in cyberspace
although it presently occupies most of my office and a laboratory at The
University of British Columbia.
The laboratory has an active group of current and former graduate students
as well as post-doctoral fellows.
The laboratory has three inter-related purposes: (a) to promote and highlight
quantitative science to prospective students and colleagues in education,
psychology, sociology, health and other fields of study, (b) to stimulate
scholarly activity amoung research collaborators, post-doctoral fellows,
and graduate students, and (c) to act as a clearing house for a working
paper and WWW publications series entitled The Edgeworth Series in Quantitative
Behavioural Science.
The laboratory is named in honor of Professor F. Y. Edgeworth for his
foundational work and scholarship in the application of mathematics and mathematical
principles to the behavioural sciences. As noted by the historian of science
and statistician, Professor S. Stigler, Professor Edgeworth "... was one
of the foremost economic theorists of his time, is also a possible claimant
to the title the father of Educational Statistics (Stigler, 1992,
p. 66). Educational & behavioral statistics are very much aligned and
many of us work in both fields -- in fact, one of the leading journals is
entitled the Journal of Educational
and Behavioral Statistics
which is jointly published by the
American Statistical Association
and the American Educational Research
Association
. In this laboratory we try, in our own humble way, to continue Professor
Edgeworth's legacy.
Reference Stigler, S. M. (1992). A historical view of statistical concepts
in Psychology and Educational Research. American Journal of Education,
101, 60-70.
Biographical Sketch of Edgeworth
Click here for a brief biographical sketch of Professor
Edgeworth
from the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive in St. Andrews Scotland.
List of Books and Edited Volumes.
Zumbo, B. D. (1999). A Handbook on the Theory and Methods of Differential
Item Functioning (DIF): Logistic Regression Modeling as a Unitary Framework
for Binary and Likert-type (Ordinal) Item ScoresOttawa ON: Directorate
of Human Resources Research and Evaluation, Department of National Defense.
Click here
for information
Book entitled Modern Theories of Measurement: Problems and Issues
. For more information click
Zumbo, B. D. (Ed.) (1998). Validity Theory and the Methods Used
in Validation: Perspectives from the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Kluwer
Academic Press. This volume devoted to validity theory and the process
of validation. For information on volume 45 of Social Indicators Research
click here
.
Zumbo, B. D. (Ed.) (2002). Advances in Quality of Life Research
2001, Kluwer Academic Press. For more information click here (reprinted
from a special issue of the journal Social Indicators Research volume
60 also published by Kluwer Press. Click
here).
Mailing
Address