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Shlomo Sawilowsky

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Shlomo Sawilowsky
Sawilowsky in 1991
Born1954
Died11 January 2021 (aged 66–67)[3]
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States of America
Alma materUniversity of South Florida
Known fornonparametric statistics, Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods
AwardsUniversity distinguished fellow, teaching, and mentoring; American Educational Research Association distinguished paper
Scientific career
FieldsApplied statistics, research design, classical test theory, program evaluation, Monte Carlo methods
InstitutionsWayne State University
Doctoral advisorR. Clifford Blair[1] James Higgins[2]

Shlomo S. Sawilowsky (1954 - 11 January 2021) was a professor of educational statistics and Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he has received teaching, mentoring, and research awards.[5][6][7]

Academic career

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Sawilowsky obtained his Ph.D. in 1985 at the University of South Florida. He was inducted into the USF chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society on May 17, 1981,[8] when he received his M.A.[9] In 2008 Sawilowsky served as president of the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group/Educational Statisticians. He served as an Assistant Dean in the College of Education at WSU. Along with Miodrag Lovric (Serbia) and C. R. Rao (India), he was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to the International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science.[10]

Contributions to applied statistics and social/behavioral sciences

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In 2000, the AMSTAT News, a publication of the American Statistical Association, described Professor Sawilowsky's award of Distinguished Faculty Fellow "in recognition of Sawilowsky's outstanding scholarly achievements in applied statistics, psychometrics, and experimental design in education and psychology."[11]

Applied statistics

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He is the author of a statistics textbook that presents statistical methods via Monte Carlo simulation methods,[12] editor of a volume on real data analysis published by the American Educational Research Association SIG/Educational Statisticians,[13] and author of over a hundred articles in applied statistics and social sciences journals. Sawilowsky has also authored 24 entries in statistics encyclopedias.

His presentation titled "The Rank Transform," with co-author R. Clifford Blair, was awarded the 1985 Florida Educational Research Association & 1986 American Educational Research Association State/Regions Distinguished Paper Award.[9] Many of his publications are related to rank-based nonparametric statistics. For example, an examination of the robustness and comparative power properties of the rank transform statistic[14] was called a "major Monte Carlo study".[15][16] Hettmansperger and McKean stated that Sawilowsky provided "an excellent review of nonparametric approaches to testing for interaction" (p. 254-255).[15]

Sawilowsky's Monte Carlo work has been cited as an exemplar for designing simulation studies.[17] His work has been cited on a variety of statistical issues, such as

  • demonstrating sequential procedures of testing underlying assumptions of parametric tests, commonly recommended in textbooks and statistics software user manuals, "increases the rate of Type I error";[18]
  • rounding down degrees of freedom when using tabled critical values decreases statistical power;[19]
  • alternatives to the winsorized sample standard deviation can be invoked to increase the statistical power of Yuen's confidence interval;[20]
  • maximum likelihood methods (e.g., one-step Huber) are superior to trimming in constructing robust estimators;[21]
  • using effect sizes obtained when the null hypothesis has been retained inflates Type I errors in meta-analysis;[22] and
  • setting the standards for an appropriate Monte Carlo simulation.[23][24]

Psychometrics

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In psychological testing, Sawilowsky is a co-author of two self-determination assessment batteries;[25][26] an instrument designed to assess locus of control, self-esteem, and self-concept among at-risk adolescents;[27] an instrument "which measures future orientation, knowledge of the realities of child rearing, personal intentions, and sexual self-efficacy;"[28][29] and a college well-being instrument.[30] Sawilowsky was the initial proponent in favor of psychometric theory (reliability refers to the test) over datametric theory[31] (reliability refers to the data), a controversy with implications for test theory, role of tests in expert testimony, test validity,[32][33] etc. The debate was discussed in Educational and Psychological Measurement[34] and elsewhere.[35] Although the issue has not been resolved, the current non-aligned opinion "lean[s] toward the Sawilowsky position."[36] In classical test theory, he developed the Sawilowsky I test, a statistical test used to help demonstrate evidence of construct validity in the multitrait-multimethod matrix.[37]

Experimental design

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Sawilowsky's Monte Carlo[38] work on comparing randomized vs quasi-experimental design has been described as "one of the strongest examples"[39] demonstrating limitations of quasi-experimental design, and "provides possibly one of the strongest cases for the superiority of randomized designs."[40]

Mentorship

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In 1998, the AMSTAT News reported Sawilowsky's Awards for Excellence in Teaching, and Graduate Mentorship, and noted "Professor Sawilowsky's exceptional record as an academician is reflected in the excellence with which he mentors graduate students."[41] He has mentored 109 doctoral dissertations as major professor according to the Mathematics Genealogy Project.[2]

ProQuest indicates he has chaired dissertations in many other fields, such as kinesiology,[42] nursing education,[43] and teacher education;[44] and co-chaired a dissertation on process drama.[45] He also served as 2nd advisor on many doctoral dissertations, and numerous more as a committee member.[46]

Editorship

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Sawilowsky is the founder and editor of the Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods. It was created to provide an outlet for research using Monte Carlo and other resampling methods, nonparametric and other robust methods, permutation and other exact or approximately exact methods, and statistical algorithms.[47][48]

Publications

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Books

  • 2007. (Ed.) Real data analysis. A Volume in Quantitative Methods in Education and the Behavioral Sciences: Issues, Research, and Teaching, American Educational Research Association Educational, Educational Statisticians. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
  • 2007. (With editorial assistance by Yechiel Conway.) Making the Shabbos kitchen. Lakewood, NJ: Pirchei Shoshanim.
  • 2002. (With G. F. Fahoome). Statistics via Monte Carlo simulation with Fortran. Rochester Hills, MI: JMASM.

Selected Articles [1]

Shlomo Sawilowsky
Notable work(s)Pirchei Shoshanim's Making the Shabbos Kitchen
Religious life
ReligionJewish
DenominationChabad-Lubavitch
SchoolRabbinical College of America, Yeshivas Pirchei Shoshanim
OrdinationIssur V'Heter, Shabbos
Senior posting
TeacherRabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Rabbi Avraham Lipskier (Mashpia), Rabbi Dovid Ostroff [2]
Post
  • Shaliach (Chabad) of Pinellas County, Florida
  • Associate Rabbi, Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills, Michigan [3]

Rabbinical studies and contributions to the Judaica literature

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After graduating from the Rabbinical College of America in 1979, Sawilowsky was the emissary of the Grand Rabbi of Lubavitch, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to Pinellas County, Florida.[49] He also obtained a rabbinical degree from Yeshivas Pirchei Shoshanim (Jerusalem, Israel) in 2004, after having studied with the first group of students ever to receive strictly Orthodox Rabbinical ordination curricula on the laws of the Jewish Sabbath delivered via e-mail.[50][51]

Sawilowsky is the author of a textbook written in dialogue format for preparing food and other matters related to the kitchen for the Sabbath.[52] It is based on the Talmud, Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch), and Ashkenaz, Sephardi, and Chabad customs. He has published articles on Bible commentary and related topics in the annual journal of Pirchei Shoshanim.[46]

Selected Judaica

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References

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  1. ^ https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/coe_tbf/14/ A conversation with R. Clifford Blair on the occasion of his retirement.
  2. ^ a b "The Mathematics Genealogy Project - Shlomo Sawilowsky".
  3. ^ "Remembering Dr. Shlomo Sawilowsky". Wayne State University. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  4. ^ "Shlomo S. Sawilowsky". American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences. Gale Biography In Context. Detroit: Gale. 2008.
  5. ^ 1994 WSU President's Award For Excellence In Teaching; 1997 College of Education Excellence in Teaching Award Archived 2008-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "1998 WSU Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  7. ^ 2000 - 2002 WSU Distinguished Faculty Fellow.
  8. ^ Who's Who in American Education, 1990, II, 608. National Reference Institute.
  9. ^ a b "Profile View - College of Education - Wayne State University". 11 May 2021.
  10. ^ http://www.ime.usp.br/~abe/lista/pdfcFHNhReNSn.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  11. ^ Amstat News, May, 2000, p. 26.
  12. ^ Sawilowsky, Shlomo S.; Fahoome, Gail C. (2003). Statistics via Monte Carlo Simulation with Fortran. Rochester Hills, MI: JMASM. ISBN 978-0-9740236-0-1.
  13. ^ Sawilowsky, Shlomo S., ed. (2007). Real Data Analysis: A Volume in Quantitative Methods in Education and the Behavioral Sciences: Issues, Research, and Teaching. American Educational Research Association SIG Educational Statisticians. Charlotte, NC: IAP-Information Age Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59311-565-4.
  14. ^ Sawilowsky, Shlomo S.; Blair, R. C.; Higgins, J. J. (1989). "An investigation of the type I error and power properties of the rank transform procedure in factorial ANOVA". Journal of Educational Statistics. 14 (3): 255–267. doi:10.3102/10769986014003255. S2CID 123538275.
  15. ^ a b Hettmansperger, T. P.; McKean, J. W. (1998). Robust nonparametric statistical methods. Kendall's Library of Statistics. Vol. 5 (First ed.). London: Edward Arnold; New York: John Wiley \& Sons, Inc. pp. xiv, 269–270, 467. ISBN 978-0-340-54937-7. MR 1604954..
  16. ^ Similarly, see F. Pesarin (2001), Multivariate permutation tests, Chichester: Wiley, p. 229.
  17. ^ Maxwell, S. E.; Cole, D. A. (1995). "Tips for writing (and reading) methodological papers" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin. 118 (2): 196–197. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.417.6968. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.118.2.193. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  18. ^ Grissom, R. J., & Kim, J. J. (2005). Effect sizes for research: A broach practical approach. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, p. 15.
  19. ^ Grissom & Kim (2005), p. 33
  20. ^ Grissom & Kim (2005), p. 38
  21. ^ Grissom & Kim (2005), p. 42
  22. ^ Grissom & Kim (2005), p. 60
  23. ^ Cassey; Smith (2014). "Simulating confidence for the Ellison-Glaeser Index". Journal of Urban Economics. 81: 93. doi:10.1016/j.jue.2014.02.005.
  24. ^ Grissom & Kim (2005), p. 131
  25. ^ "Self-Determination Assessment-internet".
  26. ^ "Self Determination Technical Assistance Centers". Archived from the original on 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2010-03-22.
  27. ^ Wood, P. C, Hillman, S. B., & Sawilowsky, S. S. (1996). Locus of control, self-concept, and self-esteem among at-risk African -American adolescents. Tests in Print, Volume 1, Oscar Krisen Buros, Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, Educational tests and measurements, 1999, p. 247.
  28. ^ Herrman, J. W.; Waterhouse, J. K. (2010). "What do adolescents think about teen parenting?". Western Journal of Nursing Research. 33 (4): 577–592. doi:10.1177/0193945910381761. PMID 20947793. S2CID 206462502.
  29. ^ Somers, C. L.; Johnson, S. A.; Sawilowsky, S. S. (2002). "A measure for evaluating the effectiveness of teen pregnancy programs". Psychology in the Schools. 39 (3): 337–342. doi:10.1002/pits.10023.
  30. ^ "Edge Research Executive Summary". Archived from the original on 2011-01-18. Retrieved 2010-12-09.
  31. ^ Sawilowsky coined the phrase "datametric theory" in Sawilowsky, S (2000). "Psychometrics vs datametrics". Educational and Psychological Measurement. 60 (2): 157–173. doi:10.1177/00131640021970439. S2CID 145237093.; see also Sawilowsky, S. (2000). "Reliability: Rejoinder to Thompson and Vacha-Haase". Educational and Psychological Measurement. 60 (2): 196–200. doi:10.1177/00131640021970457. S2CID 145538874.
  32. ^ S. Urbina (2004), Essentials of psychological testing. Hoboken: Wiley, p. 148.
  33. ^ Note that in classical measurement theory (see, e.g., Sawilowsky (2000), Educational and Psychological Measurement), validity applies to the application of the test, but not to the test itself. Hence, the Wikipedia link name is problematic.
  34. ^ 2000, v. 60
  35. ^ B. Thompson (Ed.) (2003), Score reliability: Contemporary thinking on reliability issues, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
  36. ^ J. C. Thomas and P. Traux (2008), Assessment and analysis of clinically significant change. In D. McKay (Ed.), Handbook of Research Methods in Abnormal and Clinical Psychology, p. 333.
  37. ^ Sawilowsky, S (2002). "A quick distribution-free test for trend that contributes evidence of construct validity". Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. 35 (2): 78–88. doi:10.1080/07481756.2002.12069051. S2CID 143359025.
  38. ^ Sawilowsky, Shlomo S., ed. (2007). Real Data Analysis: A Volume in Quantitative Methods in Education and the Behavioral Sciences: Issues, Research, and Teaching. American Educational Research Association SIG Educational Statisticians. Charlotte, NC: IAP-Information Age Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59311-565-4., Chapter 15
  39. ^ Spence, P. R.; Lachlan, K. A.; Rainear, Adam (2016). "Social media and crisis research: Data collection and directions". Computers in Human Behavior. 54: 667–672. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.045.
  40. ^ Spence, P. R.; Lachlan, K. A. (2010). "Disasters, crises, and unique populations: Suggestions for survey research". New Directions for Evaluation. 2010 (126): 95–106. doi:10.1002/ev.332. S2CID 145595778.
  41. ^ "Awards for Outstanding Statistics Educators". Archived from the original on 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  42. ^ ProQuest 1594489921
  43. ^ ProQuest 1269394702
  44. ^ ProQuest 1269395621
  45. ^ Proquest 733505421
  46. ^ a b "Profile View - College of Education - Wayne State University". 11 May 2021.
  47. ^ "JMASM: Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods - Open Access Journals - Wayne State University".
  48. ^ "Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods (JMASM)".
  49. ^ Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman (Ed.)(1986). Let there be light: Thirty days in the lives of the Chabad-Lubavitch Lamplighters. Brooklyn, NY: Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Section "Florida: S. Petersburg," ISBN 0-8266-0378-5.
  50. ^ Shema Yisrael Torah Learning Network
  51. ^ Mishpacha Jewish Family Weekly Archived November 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  52. ^ Sawilowsky, Shlomo S. (2007). Making the Shabbos kitchen. (With editorial assistance by Yechiel Conway.) Lakewood, NJ: Pirchei Shoshanim. ISBN 978-0-9740236-7-0
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