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To understand and better serve the needs of the gifted, the field must produce quality research to inform practice. Far too often, recommendations in the field of gifted education are based on conventional wisdom or anecdotes instead of data-driven research. This book provides accessible introductory treatments of several modern analytic methods that can be used to advance our knowledge within the field of gifted education. It also alerts researchers about potential pitfalls of inferential statistics in general as well as analytical areas of particular concern within the field of giftedness. As someone who is passionate about both gifted education and research methodology, I am honored to be able to provide some comments about the techniques contained in this volume and to provide thoughts about future methodological directions for our field. This chapter contains three sections. First, I describe some of my own research within the field of gifted education. Then, I briefly describe studies that I am planning or contemplating that utilize some of the methodologies described in this book. Finally, I offer some thoughts on methodological issues that researchers in the field of gifted education should consider as they are planning their studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The history of hierarchical linear models generally traces its roots back to the work of Robinson (1950) in recognizing contextual effects. The discovery that Robinson made is sometimes thought of as the “frog pond” theory and is fairly simple to relate. Suppose that a researcher was conducting an analysis on environmental factors affecting the weight of frogs. And also suppose that two of the frogs being analyzed both weighed 500 grams. However, the first frog that weighed 500 grams was drawn from a pond where it was the largest frog in the pond. The second frog that weighed 500 grams was drawn from a lake where 500 grams was the weight of the average frog for that pond. In a typical ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis, the researcher would have no way of honoring the pond nesting structure for these two frogs and would then erroneously assume that the environmental factors affecting frog growth were the same regardless of which pond was home to the frog. This same problem often presents itself when researchers are analyzing data obtained from school research. For example, suppose that a researcher were to try to run a regression analysis in which student grade point average (GPA) scores were used to predict performance on the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT). It stands to reason that, within a given school, GPAs might be good predictors of SAT scores where higher GPAs correlate with higher scores on the SAT. However, across schools, the relationship between GPA and SAT may be dramatically different. Whereas in a low-performing school, a student with a 4.0 GPA might score only a 1,000 on the SAT, a student with a 4.0 GPA in an elite, high-performing private school might score a 1,600 on the SAT. This happens because GPA scores are not independent of the school from which they are drawn. This problem of independence of observations is often a factor when collecting data in schools, yet until the development of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), no methods for dealing appropriately with such data existed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Given my interest in statistics and design, I was pleased to be able to read the chapters in Parts 1 and 2 of this book and think about applying the concepts within them to my own work. I am going to respond to the earlier chapters from two different perspectives—as a former editor of two of the major journals in the field of gifted education and as a current reviewer for several others, and as a researcher in the field of gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In this chapter, I argue that researchers of giftedness should shift emphasis from null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) to confidence intervals (CIs) and other preferred techniques. I start with a brief summary of arguments put forward by statistical reformers and describe basic features of CIs. I then report a small survey of current statistical practices in giftedness research and a comparison with practices in psychology generally. The main part of the chapter is a discussion of p values and CIs in relation to replication; I focus on the Pearson’s r correlation, because r is so widely used in giftedness research. A simulation demonstrates the large variability in r, and even greater variability in p values, over replications of a simple experiment. Calculations confirm that a p value gives only very vague information about replication, and therefore any p value could easily have been very different, simply because of sampling variability (Cumming, 2008). The severe deficiencies of p values in relation to replication give an additional strong reason for giftedness researchers to turn from NHST and pursue statistical reform with vigor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The chapters in Parts 1 and 2 of this book provide considerable detail about myriad approaches to quantitative and mixed method research designs and important issues to consider when using those designs. The authors build a compelling case for the importance of using those designs in moving the research base in gifted studies toward greater sophistication. The first author’s awareness of the need to enhance the literature base by incorporating increasingly sophisticated research approaches crystallized in November 1997 at the National Association of Gifted Children conference just after a symposium on research methodology had ended, when Laurence J. Coleman, Michael Pyryt, and I stood talking about the session. I asked Michael if he thought the field of gifted studies was ready to move in a postpositivistic direction. As he was known to do, he thought about what I had asked him and carefully responded with his own question: “How can the field of gifted studies become postpositivistic when our research base is still prepositivistic?” That was Michael’s way of critiquing our field as being reliant on too many studies that were theoretically unsound and poorly conducted. The symposium had emphasized the epistemological and ontological assumptions of qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Arguments were made during the session for the utility of both approaches, but with an emphasis being placed on the limitations of each in terms of the nature of the research questions that can and cannot be addressed by either. While few academics these days still question the usefulness of either quantitative or qualitative research (see Capraro & Thompson, 2008; Larabee, 2003), what Michael did in few words was summarize the research in the field of gifted studies circa 1997. This book is intended to be both a catalyst and a primer for future research in gifted studies to help us move from prepositivistic to positivistic and postpositivistic approaches. Michael would be pleased. In this chapter, we describe the various research approaches we have utilized over the years, including both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Other chapters in this volume have provided fodder for additional discussions about our research. As a result of the ideas generated by our fellow authors in this volume, we propose an enhancement to our existing research through the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) as described by Kline in chapter 7 of this volume. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Generating accurate and reliable data is critical to strong scientific inquiry and essential to furthering giftedness research yet is often neglected by even the most attentive researchers. From a measurement standpoint, much of the focus has been on the question of score validity (i.e., do assessments accurately identify gifted and talented students?) and test fairness (e.g., do assessments provide an unfair advantage based on socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, culture, language, and other contextual factors that may affect assessment results?). Although valid and fair measurement is certainly a goal within the larger fields of both measurement and giftedness research, before score validity and test fairness can be addressed, instruments must first generate consistently repeatable and replicable scores. If a measure cannot generate reliable scores across the population for which the measure is intended, it will not be able to generate valid scores. The ability of a measure to generate repeatable, consistent scores is a psychometric concept known as reliability. This chapter’s purpose is to explain the integral role of score reliability and reliability generalization across studies in advancing both the science of giftedness and the practice of identifying and measuring the progress of students that are gifted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The family of statistical techniques that make up structural equation modeling (SEM) offers many potential advantages in education research, including studies about gifted students. These techniques are highly versatile and permit the evaluation of a wide range of hypotheses, including those about direct or indirect effects, measurement, or mean differences on either observed or latent variables. They have also become quite popular among researchers. Indeed, it is increasingly difficult to look through an issue of an education research journal and not find at least one article in which results of SEM analyses are reported. In gifted research, SEM has been used less often, but there are more and more such studies in this area, too. However, there are some potential pitfalls of using SEM in gifted research that are inherent to the study of a special population, including range restriction, regression effects, and the need for large samples. Accordingly, the goals of this chapter are to (a) review the general characteristics of SEM with special consideration of possible advantages in educational research and (b) consider specific potential pitfalls of using SEM in gifted research. Outlined next are important issues in basically all applications of SEM. Later sections deal with problems specific to the use of SEM in education research in general and in gifted research in particular. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In this chapter, our purpose is to present mixed research as an alternative approach toward addressing five challenges characterizing the field of gifted education research. First, we provide a critique of the dominant types of monomethods—quantitative and qualitative research—utilized in the field of gifted education. In so doing, we contend that mixed research, which involves the mixing or embedding of quantitative and qualitative research approaches within the same framework, offers a better potential to address the five challenges than do monomethod studies. Second, we present a formal definition of mixed research, followed by a discussion of the mixed research process. Third, we present a mixed data collection model applicable for identifying various rationales and purposes for conducting mixed data collection techniques within a single study or a gifted program of research. This discussion is followed by a presentation of mixed analytical techniques (i.e., techniques involving combining quantitative and qualitative analyses). Additionally, we contextualize our discussion of mixed data collection and analytical techniques with illustrative examples addressing the five gifted education research challenges. Our chapter concludes with a call for researchers to conduct more mixed studies in gifted education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Dr. Dai systematically redefines giftedness and proposes a new framework for the field of gifted education. He identifies nine essential tensions, revolving around three core questions: What do we know about the respective roles of natural ability, environment and experiences, and personal effort in talent development? How do we identify the gifted and talented, and study the process of gifted and talent development? And finally, how do we define the aims of gifted education and promote excellence? Sure to be a milestone in the field, this book: Scrutinizes some of the deeply held assumptions about the nature of giftedness and explains why a contextual, developmental approach is a more viable alternative to the traditional psychometric approach. Takes stock of the past, defines the present, and looks into the future in terms of understanding high potential and educating youths. Tackles tensions between the gifted child and talent development movements and between excellence and equity, and responds to the "elitism" criticisms in a constructive and comprehensive way. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: cover)

General differences in achievement on international mathematics assessments between Korean male and female students have significantly narrowed. However, the achievement gap between boys and girls at higher performance levels is still wide, and the proportion of females enrolled in special programs for gifted students at certified institutions is less than 30 %. To rectify this trend, Korea launched the Women into Science and Engineering [WISE] Project, an education program aimed at supporting girls in the upper level score brackets to continuously improve their mathematical capability and remain in those brackets. In this chapter, the mathematical capability of three students participating in the WISE project was examined, their learning patterns and perspectives on mathematics were explored, and the support of their parents considered. There were five distinct findings that vividly portray the realities facing Korean female students who achieve high scores in mathematics and their future potential in mathematics: (1) The girls' problem-solving abilities differed according to the types and characteristics of the problems examined and not the content area covered; (2) The three girls believed it was desirable for girls to study mathematics through continuous practice, and that they must do this in order to perform as well as boys who had innate talents in mathematics; (3) The girls preferred group activities to individual activities; (4) The female participants possessed a strong will to discuss their future career paths and to realize their dreams; and (5) Even if one parent paid attention to the mathematical studies of a daughter and enthusiastically helped with problem solving, this may raise her potential immensely because the daughter might cultivate a strong will and positive attitude towards mathematical studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Most of the people I evaluate for possible learning disabilities are like Rebekah, bright-to-gifted individuals whose struggles are at times inexplicable or invisible to those around them. Frequently, those who are twice-exceptional find that both their high intelligence and their learning disabilities go unrecognized, because the learning disabilities bring down the broad-based cognitive scores, and their strong cognitive abilities enable them to at least partially compensate for their weaknesses. I have often seen children who can barely decode nevertheless score in the average range on reading tests. In this case, Rebekah's parents referred her for assessment for three main reasons. First, because they home-school her, they wish to have an objective measurement of how she is progressing in the various curricular areas so as to guide their future curriculum delivery. Second, because they have observed that she has a great deal of difficulty expressing herself orally and in writing, whether about her own ideas or about what she has read, they are concerned about possible expressive language difficulties. Finally, her parents have observed some "tuning-out" behaviors, possibly consistent with auditory processing or attentional problems, and wish to have these possibilities investigated. Rebekah is a highly gifted 7-year-old girl who shows strengths in fluid reasoning, short-term and working memory, executive functioning, and receptive language. She is able to consider alternatives, is flexible in generation and use of strategies, and shows a level of comfort with abstract thought that is unusual even among adults. In contrast, her speed of information retrieval and response is exceedingly slow by comparison, causing a significant impediment to her use of expressive language. When she is pressed for time, or when she is not able to use verbatim recall as a scaffold, she has extreme difficulty in quickly finding the words and constructing the sentences she needs to express her ideas. As a twice-exceptional learner, Rebekah is at risk for having both her giftedness and her difficulties in processing speed and expressive language go unrecognized. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

ASC (Autism Spectrum Conditions) can appear on all levels of cognitive function, from profound mental retardation to intellectual giftedness. Therefore, the intelligence level is not part of the definition of any ASC. However, there is an excess of mental retardation in ASC. It is assumed that about 55% of all affected individuals also show a mental handicap (Baird et al., 2006), whereas the expected rate in the general population is approximately 3%. Thus, it is the most frequent coexisting psychiatric problem in ASC. Females with an ASC are even more likely to show a low intelligence quotient (IQ). On the other hand, most people with Asperger syndrome have an IQ in the average or high range. It is common in clinical settings today to also label people with ASC according to their general mental capacity in order to enhance communication between experts. One often hears the terms "high-functioning" (HF) or "low-functioning" (LF) in association with ASC individuals. These are still unofficial and not clearly defined subcategories. HF refers to the absence of mental retardation (i.e., IQ > 70) or sometimes even to the absence of learning disability (i.e., IQ > 85), whereas LF generally indicates mental retardation (i.e., IQ < 70). This differentiation is a little misleading and may be misunderstood by laypersons, as HF ASC does not necessarily indicate that the respective individual does particularly well in everyday life (Bolte & Poustka, 2002). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Gifted Child Quarterly, 1987, Vol 31(4), 180-185. (The abstract of the original article appeared in record 1989-27664-001.) Discusses the lack of representation of Black children in educational programs for the gifted. Historical precedents and lack of empirical data on appropriate identification processes and educational planning techniques are noted as part of the reason for the lack. Research data indicate that observation techniques; community involvement; and nominations by peer, parent, and teacher are suggested techniques to identify the Black gifted child. Data show that leadership skills, creativity, and mental processing abilities also indicate giftedness. Identification, curriculum, instructional environment, and evaluation are discussed in relation to the Black gifted child. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

Black students who are gifted or advanced learners are too often overlooked and misunderstood in education. Part of the problem associated with this neglect is that relatively little scholarship exists on those who are culturally different and in need of more challenge in school settings. This body of work was developed to help resolve this shortcoming and to inform and guide educators in their work with gifted and advanced Black students. In the first work of its kind, the book's editors have compiled reprints of what they believe to be among the best or most promising work, past and present, in understanding, meeting the needs of, and working with Black gifted and/or advanced learners. Theory, research, models, and strategies shed light on what we all must do to ensure that both gifted and advanced Black learners excel in school and otherwise reach their full potential. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: cover)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Research Monograph No 94112, 1994, Storrs University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. The under-inclusion of economically disadvantaged and minority children in programs for the gifted has been so well documented over the years that it hardly needs recounting. Simply put, the significant and constant increases in both the number and proportion of racial/ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged children in the public school population are not reflected in programs for the gifted and talented. This monograph (a) reviews traditional identification practices, (b) examines the environmental and value differences among several cultural subgroups, (c) describes the results of an exploratory study of the characteristics of disadvantaged and limited English proficient gifted students, (d) explores gifted behaviors as they relate to specific populations, (e) synthesizes insights emerging from the Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act, and (f) presents elements which can be used to construct a new paradigm of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Research Monograph No 95210, 1995, Storrs University of Connecticut, The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. The purpose of this paper is to explore a different perspective for observing and assessing characteristics of giftedness in minority, limited proficiency in the English language and economically disadvantaged student populations. First, a summary of what we know about the attributes of gifted and high achieving students from minority or economically disadvantaged families and areas is presented. Second, a proposal for focusing on core attributes that underlie the giftedness construct as a more viable basis for observing and identifying giftedness in minority or economically disadvantaged student groups is presented. A description of how a set of core attributes of giftedness was derived is also provided. Finally, implications for using these core attributes as the basis for a paradigm that better addresses the identification and education of gifted students from underrepresented populations are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

This reprinted article originally appeared in The Journal of Negro Education, 1995, Vol 64, 52-62. Abundant data suggest that gifted programs are the most segregated educational programs in the United States. Minority children, particularly African Americans, economically disadvantaged students, and underachievers are severely underrepresented in gifted programs but overrepresented in special education programs for the learning disabled, behaviorally disordered, and mentally retarded. The author advocates that concerted efforts must be launched by educators and parents to ensure that African American students who exhibit exceptional talent receive the education to which they are entitled. After discussing the conditions that have led to this underrepresentation, this article suggests ways to desegregate gifted education programs and redress educational inequities in this area. It then appraises the promise and effectiveness of contemporary definitions of giftedness, theories of intelligence, and assessment practices in identifying a more representative array of students for gifted programs. Finally, the article discusses what is required to retain more African American students in gifted programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This reprinted article originally appeared in Exceptional Children, 1992 (Oct-Nov), Vol 59(2), 150-159. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1993-11568-001.) Presents a schema designed to guide the development of theory, methodology, and research related to the psychoeducational assessment of African-American (AA) learners with gifts and talents. It is suggested that the philosophical world views, values, and behaviors of AAs auger for the development of assessment and identification systems that are grounded in pluralistic definitions and theories of the giftedness construct and that include cognition skills other than analytical abilities. The relationships among AA worldviews, needed psychoeducational assessment theory and methodology, and desirable assessment and identification instruments and practices are explored. Assessment paradigms, instruments, and practices most reliable and valid for identifying gifts and talents among AA learners are offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

For the purposes of this chapter, misdiagnosis is defined as a child who is identified as having a behavioral problem or psychological diagnosis without taking his or her gifted intellect and the normal behaviors of the gifted into consideration. The hypothesis for this chapter is that gifted Hispanic and African American children commonly served in the United States public school system often are underidentified as gifted due to behaviors related to their culture, as opposed to their level of giftedness; furthermore, the underidentification can lead to misdiagnosis. This chapter presents anecdotal evidence supporting the hypothesis that giftedness often is overlooked in culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. The children's identification is then frequently misdiagnosed or misrepresented. Some of the reasons for the misdiagnosis evidenced include: language differences, cultural norm differences, multiple school placements, institutionalized racism, and the prevailing lack of knowledge about giftedness in general. Various cultural populations likely carry more psychological diagnoses due to idiosyncratic issues that are discussed in this chapter. Carrying a psychological diagnosis further obviates overlooking giftedness in the culturally diverse population. Recommendations for identification and remediation of the misdiagnosis problem also are discussed. The author posed questions related to the stated hypothesis, which guided the collection of anecdotal information for this chapter. During individual interviews the questions were posed to educators, paraprofessionals, and parents. The members of this group included an elementary school principal, the head psychologist of a school district, an elementary school teacher, a parent-educator, a parent, a school district gifted coordinator, and a pediatric neuropsychologist. The individuals interviewed included an equal representation of Hispanics, African Americans, and Anglos, and one American Indian. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

In an increasingly global world, a deliberate effort must be made to recognize the value of all people of the world. Our Western view of exceptional behavior is not necessarily shared by other people of the world, nor is our view the only valid perspective. Throughout history, giftedness has been defined in a variety of ways. In the following pages we will discuss intelligence as giftedness, giftedness beyond intelligence, the debate on whether giftedness is a human trait or a behavior, and views of giftedness by scholars who are not White and male. Finally, we will take a comprehensive look at giftedness as defined by people across the globe. The challenge for gifted education in a globalized world is to utilize learning situations, appropriate curriculum, and available resources to develop necessary skills for a thoughtful, successful citizenship. Our challenge is to be sine our students are aware of their power and their responsibility toward others in the world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)