Reality and Imagination

Since...perception only gives information of this external world or of physical reality indirectly, we can only grasp the latter by speculative means. It follows from this that our notions of physical reality can never be final. We must always be ready to change these notions...in order to do justice to perceived facts in the most logically perfect way.
Albert Einstein in F.S.C. Northrop (1949) The Meeting of East and West. Macmillan. p. 249.

"Never let reality get in the way of imagination. imagination."
Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Teheran

Theory vs. Practice

"People sometimes say, This is right in theory but it doesn't work in practice. They ought to say, This is wrong in theory and consequently it is wrong in practice. There is no true theory which could be wrong in practice. This contrast between theory and practice is contrived by people who want to escape hard and thorough thinking. They like to abide in the shallowness of accustomed practices, on the surface of a so-called experience. They will accept nothing but a repeated confirmation of something they already know or believe. Only those questions for truth which have challenged and disturbed centuries of practice have brought about a fundamental transformation of practice. This is true of the history of science, morals and religion." Paul Tillich, "Doing the Truth", in "The Shaking of the Foundations", 1949.

"There is nothing so practical as a good theory." Kurt Lewin, 1890-1947, quoted in Tom Peters, Liberation Management, Macmillan, 1992, p.153.

Inadequate Measurement?

"The importance of measurement to social research is well stated in an observation by Hauser (1969, 127-9): I should like to venture the judgment that it is inadequate measurement, more than inadequate concept or hypothesis, that has plagued social researchers and prevented fuller explanations of the variances with which they are confounded.

"But why are the social sciences characterized by inadequate measurement? We would suggest that a fundamental component of any complete answer must be the popular definition of the term, that provided by Stevens (1951, 22): Measurement is the assignment of numbers to objects or events according to rules. This definition implies that measurement is mainly an empirical, almost mechanistic, process. In other words, Stevens' definition does not refer to the theoretical component of the measurement process. But measurement serves a vital theoretical purpose, as aptly described by Blalock (1970, 88-89): Measurement considerations often enable us to clarify our theoretical thinking and to suggest new variables that should be considered. It is often thought, prior to measurement, that we really understand the nature of a phenomenon because we have experienced it directly. Careful attention to measurement may force a clarification of one's basic concepts and theories."
From R.A. Zeller & E.G. Carmines (1980) Measurement in the social sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Measurement is much more than better quantification of the known. It is a voyage of discovery into the unknown. The great value of telescopes is not that they enable astronomers to perceive more clearly what they can already observe, but that they enable the investigation of the guessed at, the discovery of the unforeseen:

"The reason we are on a higher imaginative level [in 1963 than in 1923] is not because we have a finer imagination, but because we have better instruments. In science, the most important thing that has happened in the last forty years is the advance in instrumental design... A fresh instrument serves the same purpose as foreign travel; it shows things in unusual combinations. The gain is more than a mere addition; it is a transformation."
Alfred North Whitehead (1963) Science and the Modern World, New York: New American

Cannot be Measured?

"Many have decried the separate components that make up America's [college entrance selection] frenzy. Yet few have totaled up the human cost of this nonsense, which encourages young people to equate their self-worth with grades and test scores. Inner-directedness becomes a means, not an end, and failure becomes the ultimate disgrace, rather than a learning experience. Risk-taking and experimentations come to be viewed as errors in sound planning. Worse, service to fellow human beings is reduced to another outside activity to be listed on an application form. Because they cannot be measured, moral and spiritual development count for little."

S. Frederick Starr (1991) Colleges call it application time..., The Open Book, IV, 2, p.4.

Election of SIG Officers

SIG elected officers for April 1994 to April 1996 are:

Chair: George Engelhard, Jr.
Secretary/Treasurer: Carol M. Myford

Ballots mailed (Dec. 1993). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Ballots returned (Feb. 16, 1994). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Ballots spoiled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

For Chair:
George Engelhard, Jr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
William P. Fisher, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

For Secretary/Treasurer:
Carol M. Myford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
William Boone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

Vote Counters: Kathy Green, Ming Wa and Yap Ak

Quotations and notations. Rasch Measurement Transactions 1994 8:1 p.319ff.

Quotations and notations. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1994, 8:1 p.319ff.

Rasch Books and Publications
Invariant Measurement: Using Rasch Models in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences, 2nd Edn. George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang	Applying the Rasch Model (Winsteps, Facets) 4th Ed., Bond, Yan, Heene	Advances in Rasch Analyses in the Human Sciences (Winsteps, Facets) 1st Ed., Boone, Staver	Advances in Applications of Rasch Measurement in Science Education, X. Liu & W. J. Boone	Rasch Analysis in the Human Sciences (Winsteps) Boone, Staver, Yale
Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes	Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green	Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind	Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M	Appliquer le modèle de Rasch: Défis et pistes de solution (Winsteps) E. Dionne, S. Béland
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind	Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine	Winsteps Tutorials - free Facets Tutorials - free	Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets) - free, J.M. Linacre	Fairness, Justice and Language Assessment (Winsteps, Facets), McNamara, Knoch, Fan
Other Rasch-Related Resources: Rasch Measurement YouTube Channel
Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free	An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse	Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua	Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou	El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar	Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch	Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich	Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson	Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone Rating Scale Analysis - free, Wright & Masters
Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias	Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design	A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais	Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba	Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen

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