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Phantom peer spillover effects

Research Method · All research methods
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The article adopts the concept of phantom effects, coined by Harker and Tymms, defined as "misleadingly positive effects of aggregated variables in compositional models — peer spillover effects that are simply an artifact of the inadequacy in the statistical procedures used." Two facets of student-level under-specification produce them: measurement error bias, which can make non-existent compositional effects appear positive and significant, and omitted variable (selection) bias, whose direction depends on correlations among omitted and aggregated variables. The SIMS80 re-analysis empirically illustrates both facets.

Accounts

  • Phantom peer spillover effects: measurement error and selection bias as sources of misleadingly positive compositional effects: The article adopts the concept of phantom effects, coined by Harker and Tymms, defined as "misleadingly positive effects of aggregated variables in compositional models — peer spillover effects that are simply an artifact of the inadequacy in the statistical procedures used." Two facets of student-level under-specification produce them: measurement error bias, which can make non-existent compositional effects appear positive and significant, and omitted variable (selection) bias, whose direction depends on correlations among omitted and aggregated variables. The SIMS80 re-analysis empirically illustrates both facets. (Televantou et al. (2023))

Claims

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Key Sources

  • Televantou, I., Marsh, H. W., Xu, K. M., Guo, J., & Dicke, T. (2023). Peer Spillover and Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effects with SIMS80: Revisiting a Historical Database Through the Lens of a Modern Methodological Perspective. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09816-3
Page metadata
Field Value
type research-method
id phantom-peer-spillover-effects
title Phantom peer spillover effects
description The article adopts the concept of phantom effects, coined by Harker and Tymms, defined as "misleadingly positive effects of aggregated variables in compositional models — peer spillover effects that are simply an artifact of the inadequacy in the statistical procedures used." Two facets of student-l
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