James Carlson

This is a highly accessible, comprehensive introduction to item response theory (IRT) models and their use in various aspects of assessment/testing. The book employs a mixture of graphics and simulated data sets to ease the reader into the material and covers the basics required to obtain a solid grounding in IRT. Written in an easily accessible way that assumes little mathematical knowledge, Carlson presents detailed descriptions of several commonly used IRT models, including those for items scored on a two-point (dichotomous) scale such as correct/incorrect, and those scored on multiple-point (polytomous) scales, such as degrees of correctness. One chapter describes a model in-depth and is followed by a chapter of instructions and illustrations showing how to apply the models to the reader’s own work. This book is an essential text for instructors and higher level undergraduate and postgraduate students of statistics, psychometrics, and measurement theory across the behavioral and social sciences, as well as testing professionals.

This is a highly accessible, comprehensive introduction to item response theory (IRT) models and their use in various aspects of assessment/testing. The book employs a mixture of graphics and simulated data sets to ease the reader into the material and covers the basics required to obtain a solid grounding in IRT. Written in an easily accessible way that assumes little mathematical knowledge, Carlson presents detailed descriptions of several commonly used IRT models, including those for items scored on a two-point (dichotomous) scale such as correct/incorrect, and those scored on multiple-point (polytomous) scales, such as degrees of correctness. One chapter describes a model in-depth and is followed by a chapter of instructions and illustrations showing how to apply the models to the reader’s own work. This book is an essential text for instructors and higher level undergraduate and postgraduate students of statistics, psychometrics, and measurement theory across the behavioral and social sciences, as well as testing professionals.

Business Calculus: Backward and Forward presents calculus lessons "backward"--from definite integrals to limits to derivatives to indefinite integrals. This approach first introduces the concept of area, which is more intuitive for students, before advancing to the concept of slope. Additionally, the text features exercises and problems that are exclusively business related. All solutions to odd-numbered problems are included, as well as answers to even-numbered

International Churches are no longer just "Country Club" churches for expats living abroad. International Churches can be a valid tool in fulfilling the Great Commission. In this thesis, Carlson provides a summary of how he became involved with international church work and summarizes all of the literature dealing with international churches. The research that Carlson accomplished was to study actual international churches and to discern what were special challenges for these churches. This was accomplished through an online survey and then some informal interviews. Carlson's findings include things like how every international church must position themselves on a continuum between being a refuge for their congregants and being a launching pad. There are discussions on the problem of rapid turnover in members and how this makes an added challenge for church leadership.

This up-to-date introduction to Griffiths' theory of period maps and period domains focusses on algebraic, group-theoretic and differential geometric aspects. Starting with an explanation of Griffiths' basic theory, the authors go on to introduce spectral sequences and Koszul complexes that are used to derive results about cycles on higher-dimensional algebraic varieties such as the Noether–Lefschetz theorem and Nori's theorem. They explain differential geometric methods, leading up to proofs of Arakelov-type theorems, the theorem of the fixed part and the rigidity theorem. They also use Higgs bundles and harmonic maps to prove the striking result that not all compact quotients of period domains are Kähler. This thoroughly revised second edition includes a new third part covering important recent developments, in which the group-theoretic approach to Hodge structures is explained, leading to Mumford–Tate groups and their associated domains, the Mumford–Tate varieties and generalizations of Shimura varieties.