This book reviews the latest techniques in exploratory data mining (EDM) for the analysis of data in the social and behavioral sciences to help researchers assess the predictive value of different combinations of variables in large data sets. Methodological findings and conceptual models that explain reliable EDM techniques for predicting and understanding various risk mechanisms are integrated throughout. Numerous examples illustrate the use of these techniques in practice. Contributors provide insight through hands-on experiences with their own use of EDM techniques in various settings. Readers are also introduced to the most popular EDM software programs. A related website at http://mephisto.unige.ch/pub/edm-book-supplement/offers color versions of the book's figures, a supplemental paper to chapter 3, and R commands for some chapters. The results of EDM analyses can be perilous - they are often taken as predictions with little regard for cross-validating the results. This carelessness can be catastrophic in terms of money lost or patients misdiagnosed. This book addresses these concerns and advocates for the development of checks and balances for EDM analyses. Both the promises and the perils of EDM are addressed. Editors McArdle and Ritschard taught the "Exploratory Data Mining" Advanced Training Institute of the American Psychological Association (APA). All contributors are top researchers from the US and Europe. Organized into two parts--methodology and applications, the techniques covered include decision, regression, and SEM tree models, growth mixture modeling, and time based categorical sequential analysis. Some of the applications of EDM (and the corresponding data) explored include: selection to college based on risky prior academic profiles the decline of cognitive abilities in older persons global perceptions of stress in adulthood predicting mortality from demographics and cognitive abilities risk factors during pregnancy and the impact on neonatal development Intended as a reference for researchers, methodologists, and advanced students in the social and behavioral sciences including psychology, sociology, business, econometrics, and medicine, interested in learning to apply the latest exploratory data mining techniques. Prerequisites include a basic class in statistics.

This edited volume features cutting-edge topics from the leading researchers in the areas of latent variable modeling. Content highlights include coverage of approaches dealing with missing values, semi-parametric estimation, robust analysis, hierarchical data, factor scores, multi-group analysis, and model testing. New methodological topics are illustrated with real applications. The material presented brings together two traditions: psychometrics and structural equation modeling. Latent Variable and Latent Structure Models' thought-provoking chapters from the leading researchers in the area will help to stimulate ideas for further research for many years to come. This volume will be of interest to researchers and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, including biology, business, economics, education, medicine, psychology, sociology, and other social and behavioral sciences. A working knowledge of basic multivariate statistics and measurement theory is assumed.

N.N. Ladygina-Kohts earned her degree in comparative psychology at Moscow University in 1917, then became the first curator of the Darwin Museum in Moscow. Her pioneering work with the chimpanzee, Joni, was reported throughout the continent during her lifetime, earning her a series of honors in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, Infant Chimpanzee and Human Child, her diary comparing Joni's development with that of her son, Rudy, had never been translated completely. This volume presents the first, complete English translation with 120 photographs, an introduction by Allen and Beatrix Gardner of the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Nevada and an Afterword by Lisa A. Parr, Signe Preuschoft, and Frans B. M. de Waal of the Living Links Center.

Single Case Research in Schools addresses and examines the variety of cutting-edge issues in single case research (SCR) in educational settings. Featuring simple and practical techniques for aggregating data for evidence-based practices, the book delves into methods of selecting behaviors of interest and measuring them reliably. The latter part of Single Case Research in Schools is devoted to a step-by-step model of using SCR to evaluate practices in schools. This includes considerations such as measurement, date collection, length of phases, design consideratoins, calculating effect size and reliability of measures.

Since its creation more than eighty years ago, the famous Rorschach inkblot test has become an icon of clinical psychology and popular culture. Administered over one million times world-wide each year, the Rorschach is used to assess personality and mental illness across a wide range of circumstances: child custody disputes, educational placement decisions, employment and termination proceedings, parole determinations, and even investigations of child abuse allegations. The test's enormous power shapes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people -- often without their knowledge. In the 1970s, this notoriously subjective test was supposedly systematized and improved. But is the Rorschach more than a modern variant on tea leaf reading?

"What's Wrong With the Rorschach?" challenges the validity and utility of the Rorschach and explains why psychologists continue to judge people by their reactions to ink blots, in spite of a half century of largely negative scientific evidence.

"What's Wrong With the Rorschach?" offers a provocative critique of one of the most widely applied and influential - and still intensely controversial - psychological tests in the world today. Surveying more than fifty years of clinical and scholarly research, the authors provide compelling scientific evidence that the Rorschach has relatively little value for diagnosing mental illness, assessing personality, predicting behavior, or uncovering sexual abuse or other trauma. In this highly engaging, novelistic account of the Rorschach's origins and history, the authors detail the wealth of scientific evidence that the test is of questionable utility for real-world decision making.

"What's Wrong With the Rorschach?" presents a powerfully reasoned case against using the test in the courtroom or consulting room - and reveals the strong psychological, economic, and political forces that continue to support the Rorschach despite the research that has exposed its shortcomings and dangers.

Contemporary Psychometrics features cutting edge chapters organized in four sections: test theory, factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multivariate analysis. The section on test theory includes topics such as multidimensional item response theory (IRT), the relationship between IRT and factor analysis, estimation and testing of these models, and basic measurement issues that are often neglected. The factor analysis section reviews the history and development of the model, factorial invariance and factor analysis indeterminacy, and Bayesian inference for factor scores and parameter estimates. The section on structural equation modeling (SEM) includes the general algebraic-graphic rules for latent variable SEM, a survey of goodness of fit assessment, SEM resampling methods, a discussion of how to compare correlations between and within independent samples, dynamic factor models based on ARMA time series models, and multi-level factor analysis models for continuous and discrete data. The final section on multivariate analysis includes topics such as dual scaling of ordinal data, model specification and missing data problems in time series models, and a discussion of the themes that run through all multivariate methods. This tour de force through contemporary psychometrics will appeal to advanced students and researchers in the social and behavioral sciences and education, as well as methodologists from other disciplines.

Built around a problem solving theme, this book extends the intermediate and advanced student's expertise to more challenging situations that involve applying statistical methods to real-world problems. Data relevant to these problems are collected and analyzed to provide useful answers. Building on its central problem-solving theme, a large number of data sets arising from real problems are contained in the text and in the exercises provided at the end of each chapter. Answers, or hints to providing answers, are provided in an appendix. Concentrating largely on the established SPSS and the newer S-Plus statistical packages, the author provides a short, end-of-chapter section entitled Computer Hints that helps the student undertake the analyses reported in the chapter using these statistical packages.

This volume presents the first wide-ranging critical review of validity generalization (VG)--a method that has dominated the field since the publication of Schmidt and Hunter's (1977) paper "Development of a General Solution to the Problem of Validity Generalization." This paper and the work that followed had a profound impact on the science and practice of applied psychology. The research suggests that fundamental relationships among tests and criteria, and the constructs they represent are simpler and more regular than they appear. Looking at the history of the VG model and its impact on personnel psychology, top scholars and leading researchers of the field review the accomplishments of the model, as well as the continuing controversies. Several chapters significantly extend the maximum likelihood estimation with existing models for meta analysis and VG. Reviewing 25 years of progress in the field, this volume shows how the model can be extended and applied to new problems and domains. This book will be important to researchers and graduate students in the areas of industrial organizational psychology and statistics.

Notwithstanding the mythical demise of "introspection," self-observation has always been an integral aspect of the social sciences. In the century following the "behavioral revolution," psychology has seen a reduction not so much in the frequency as in the rigor with which self-observation is practiced. A great deal of self-observation has been renamed or obscured (as, for example, "self-report"), but this has served only to defer and impoverish important theoretical and technical work.

This volume, which contributes to the development of a rigorous theory of self-observation, is organized around three general objectives: to re-animate a discourse on self-observation through a historical analysis of various self-observation traditions; to outline and begin to address some of the unique theoretical challenges of self-observation; and to elaborate some of the technical and practical details necessary for realizing a program of research dedicated to self-observation.

In the first section of the book, three historians of psychology trace the evolution of self-observation. In the second, three scholars who are currently working in contemporary traditions of self-observation discuss the basic theoretical and practical challenges involved in conducting self-observation research. In the final two sections of the book, scholars from the phenomenological and narrative traditions trace the history, theory, and practice of self-observation in their respective traditions. Self-Observation in the Social Sciences continues the fine tradition set by Transaction's History and Theory of Psychology series edited by Jaan Valsiner. It is of interest to psychologists and to those who study methodology within the social sciences.

Assessing Adolescents with the MACI is an interpretive guide for using the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory—the most widely used personality assessment test for adolescents. The first book devoted exclusively to the MACI, this resource will prove a helpful guide for understanding the test, interpreting the results in clinical evaluation, and making appropriate recommendations for treatment and care management.

Unlike other assessment tests developed for adults and adapted for adolescents, the MACI was created to address the unique concerns, pressures, and situations of adolescents. The MACI is also constructed using an underlying theory of personality and psychopathology. The MACI is a 160-item, 31-scale self report inventory that was designed to assess personality styles, significant problems or concerns, and clinical symptoms in adolescents. Using a true false format, the MACI surveys a wide range of personality characteristics and clinical symptoms that tend to be a focus in psychological evaluations of teenagers that either have or are suspected of having emotional or behavioral difficulties.

While multi-scale personality inventories such as the MACI are useful for improving the clinician's understanding of an adolescent's personality and clinical symptoms, there are other reasons for using such instruments. The MACI can be used to formulate diagnostic hypotheses, confirm clinical diagnoses, formulate treatment plans, or assist in decision making surrounding case management and disposition planning. The MACI can be used as an outcome measure to evaluate changes in an adolescent's functioning as a result of treatment and intervention. Of course, the MACI can also be used in research studies to investigate a range of issues that pertain to adolescent psychopathology, personality, and treatment response.

Drawing on a broad range of sources, including data in the MACI manual, published research studies, unpublished research, theoretical literature, and his own experience with the test, Joseph McCann lays the groundwork for the basis of the test and then offers an exhaustive exploration of all facets of the test. Recognizing both the strengths and weaknesses of the MACI, McCann offers a balanced and comprehensive resource on this vital assessment tool.

"This book fills an important gap in the clinical literature . . . Joseph McCann, author of this first full text on the MACI, is the best known workshop presenter on the topic. Assessment with the MACI will enable the student and the clinician to develop a sophisticated basis for disentangling the many variations among youngsters, to assess both their assets and liabilities, to determine the presence of clinical disorders, and, most importantly, to provide a full picture that can serve as the basis for making decisions regarding each adolescent's welfare, that is, to be able to outline a logical course of treatment which may prove more optimally efficacious. It will guide the reader to transform the raw MACI test data, coordinate these data with the history of the youngster's experience, as well as with observational and interview information, facilitating interpretive syntheses and providing thereby a basis to help link assessment to psychotherapy. This text is insightful and comprehensive, a work of inestimable value to both practicing clinicians and students." —Theodore Millon, from the Foreword.

The study of intuition and its relation to thoughtful reasoning is a burgeoning research topic in psychology and beyond. While the area has the potential to radically transform our conception of the mind and decision making, the procedures used for establishing empirical conclusions have often been vaguely formulated and obscure. This book fills a gap in the field by providing a range of methods for exploring intuition experimentally and thereby enhancing the collection of new data. The book begins by summarizing current challenges in the study of intuition and gives a new foundation for intuition research. Going beyond classical dual-process models, a new scheme is introduced to classify the different types of processes usually collected under the label of intuition. These new classifications range from learning approaches to complex cue integration models. The book then goes on to describe the wide variety of behavioural methods available to investigate these processes, including information search tracing, think aloud protocols, maximum likelihood methods, eye-tracking, and physiological and non-physiological measures of affective responses. It also discusses paradigms to investigate implicit associations and causal intuitions, video-based approaches to expert research, methods to induce specific decision modes as well as questionnaires to assess individual preferences for intuition or deliberation. By uniquely providing the basis for exploring intuition by introducing the different methods and their applications in a step-by-step manner, this text is an invaluable reference for individual research projects. It is also very useful as a course book for advanced decision making courses, and could inspire experimental explorations of intuition in psychology, behavioural economics, empirical legal studies and clinical decision making.

Age-Period-Cohort Analysis: New Models, Methods, and Empirical Applications is based on a decade of the authors' collaborative work in age-period-cohort (APC) analysis. Within a single, consistent HAPC-GLMM statistical modeling framework, the authors synthesize APC models and methods for three research designs: age-by-time period tables of population rates or proportions, repeated cross-section sample surveys, and accelerated longitudinal panel studies. The authors show how the empirical application of the models to various problems leads to many fascinating findings on how outcome variables develop along the age, period, and cohort dimensions. The book makes two essential contributions to quantitative studies of time-related change. Through the introduction of the GLMM framework, it shows how innovative estimation methods and new model specifications can be used to tackle the "model identification problem" that has hampered the development and empirical application of APC analysis. The book also addresses the major criticism against APC analysis by explaining the use of new models within the GLMM framework to uncover mechanisms underlying age patterns and temporal trends. Encompassing both methodological expositions and empirical studies, this book explores the ways in which statistical models, methods, and research designs can be used to open new possibilities for APC analysis. It compares new and existing models and methods and provides useful guidelines on how to conduct APC analysis. For empirical illustrations, the text incorporates examples from a variety of disciplines, such as sociology, demography, and epidemiology. Along with details on empirical analyses, software and programs to estimate the models are available on the book's web page.

Psychologists are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the ecological validity of their assessment procedures--to show that the recommendations concluding their evaluations are relevant to urgent concerns in the legal and social policy arenas, such as predicting dangerousness, awarding compensation, and choosing a custodial parent. How much damage does a referred patient have? Who or what "caused" the damage? What impact will it have on his or her future life, work, and family? And what can be done to remediate the damage? The purpose of this book is to provide sound objective methods for answering these questions. It integrates the knowledge of experienced practitioners who offer state-of-the-art summaries of the best current approaches to evaluating difficult cases with that of basic theorists who describe emerging methods in both predictive and inferential statistics, such as Bayesian networks, that have proven their value in other scientific fields. Arguably, the enterprise of psychological assessment is so interdependent with that of data analysis that attempts to make inferences without consideration of statistical implications is malpractice. Prediction in Forensic and Neuropsychology: Sound Statistical Practices clarifies the process of hypothesis testing and helps to push the clinical interpretation of psychological data into the 21st century. It constitutes a vital resource for all the stakeholders in the assessment process--practitioners, researchers, attorneys, and policymakers.

This new edited volume features contributions from many of the leading scientists in probability and statistics from the latter part of the 20th century. It is the only book to assemble the views of these leading scientists--the pioneers in their respective fields. Stochastic Musings features contributions by: *Sir David Cox on statistics and econometrics; *C.R. Rao, M.B. Rao, and D.N. Shanbhag on convex sets of multivariate distributions and their extreme points; *Bradley Efron on the future of statistics; *David Freedman on regression association and causation; *Vic Barnett on sample ordering for effective statistical inference with particular reference to environmental issues; *David Bartholomew on a unified statistical approach to some measurement problems in the social sciences; *Joe Gani on scanning a lattice for a particular pattern; *Leslie Kish on new paradigms for probability sampling (his last paper); *Samuel Kotz and Norman L. Johnson on limit distributions of uncorrelated but dependent distributions on the unit square; *Samuel Kotz and Saralees Nadarajah on some new elliptical distributions; *Jef Teugels on the life span of a renewal; *Wolfgang Urfer and Katharina Emrich on maximum likelihood estimates of genetic effects; and **Vladimir M. Zolotarev on convergence rate estimates in functional limit theorems. The volume also includes the following contributions by faculty members of the Department of Statistics, Athens University of Economics and Business: *J. Panaretos, E. Xekalaki, and S. Psarakis on a predictive model evaluation and selection approach--the correlated gamma ratio distribution; *J. Panaretos and Z. Tsourti on extreme value index estimators and smoothing alternatives; *E. Xekalaki and D. Karlis on mixtures everywhere; and * Ir. Moustaki on latent variable models with covariates. Stochastic Musings will appeal to researchers, professionals, and students interested in the history and development of statistics and probability as well as in related areas, such as physics, biometry, economics, and mathematics. Academic and professional statisticians will benefit from the book's coverage of the latest developments in the field, as well as reflections on the future directions of the discipline.

Foregrounding the voices of women who have survived experiences of domestic sex trafficking in the US, this text implements qualitative research methodologies to illustrate how experiences of complex trauma have impact on women's identities, sexuality, relationships, and re-integration into communities. Building on theoretical understandings of complex trauma and posttraumatic growth, this volume centers insights from in-depth interviews and photovoice methodology to document survivors' experience of sex trafficking and recovery. Outlining the nature of support and services available, the text identifies recommendations for effective recovery and in doing so, emphasizes women's capacity for post-traumatic growth. Relationship development, therapeutic and peer-support are highlighted as primary sources of healing. Ultimately, the text affirms the need for trauma-informed, ecological, and relational perspectives in the care of survivors. This text will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in trauma studies, clinical social work, and those working in mental health research more broadly. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around mental health services and support systems, adult trauma counselling, and mental health policy.

The Generic Qualitative Approach to a Dissertation in the Social Sciences: A Step by Step Guide is a practical guide for the graduate students and faculty planning and executing a generic qualitative dissertation in the social sciences. Generic qualitative research is a methodology that seeks to understand human experience by taking a qualitative stance and using qualitative procedures. Based on Sandra Kostere and Kim Kostere's experiences of serving on dissertation committees, this book aims to demystify both the nuances and the procedures of qualitative research, with the aim of empowering students to conduct meaningful dissertation research and present findings that are rigorous, credible, and trustworthy. It examines the fundamental principles and assumptions underlying the generic qualitative method, then covers each stage of the research process including creation of research questions, interviews, and then offers three ways of analyzing the data gathered and presenting the results. With examples of the generic qualitative method in practice to show students how to conduct their research confidently, and chapters designed to walk the researcher through each step of the dissertation process, this book is specifically tailored for the accessible generic method, and will be useful for graduate students and faculty developing dissertations in Psychology, Education, Nursing and the social sciences.

In this volume, a diverse group of world experts in personality assessment showcase a range of different viewpoints on response distortion. Contributors consider what it means to "fake" a personality assessment, why and how people try to obtain particular scores on personality tests, and what types of tests people can successfully manipulate. The authors present and discuss the usefulness of a range of traditional and cutting-edge methods for detecting and controlling the practice of faking. These methods include social desirability (lie) scales, warnings, affective neutralization, unidimensional and multidimensional pairwise preferences, decision trees, linguistic analysis, situational measures, and methods based on item response theory. The wide range of viewpoints presented in this book are then summarized, synthesized, and evaluated. The authors make practical recommendations and suggest areas for future research. Anyone who wonders whether people exaggerate or lie outright on personality tests -- or questions what psychologists can and should do about it -- will find in this book stimulating questions and useful answers.

The general theme of this book is to present innovative psychometric modeling and methods. In particular, this book includes research and successful examples of modeling techniques for new data sources from digital assessments, such as eye-tracking data, hint uses, and process data from game-based assessments. In addition, innovative psychometric modeling approaches, such as graphical models, item tree models, network analysis, and cognitive diagnostic models, are included. Chapters 1, 2, 4 and 6 are about psychometric models and methods for learning analytics. The first two chapters focus on advanced cognitive diagnostic models for tracking learning and the improvement of attribute classification accuracy. Chapter 4 demonstrates the use of network analysis for learning analytics. Chapter 6 introduces the conjunctive root causes model for the understanding of prerequisite skills in learning. Chapters 3, 5, 8, 9 are about innovative psychometric techniques to model process data. Specifically, Chapters 3 and 5 illustrate the usage of generalized linear mixed effect models and item tree models to analyze eye-tracking data. Chapter 8 discusses the modeling approach of hint uses and response accuracy in learning environment. Chapter 9 demonstrates the identification of observable outcomes in the game-based assessments. Chapters 7 and 10 introduce innovative latent variable modeling approaches, including the graphical and generalized linear model approach and the dynamic modeling approach. In summary, the book includes theoretical, methodological, and applied research and practices that serve as the foundation for future development. These chapters provide illustrations of efforts to model and analyze multiple data sources from digital assessments. When computer-based assessments are emerging and evolving, it is important that researchers can expand and improve the methods for modeling and analyzing new data sources. This book provides a useful resource to researchers who are interested in the development of psychometric methods to solve issues in this digital assessment age.

* Aims to revive the field study method and demonstrate the importance of studying the behaviour of subjects in real-life, rather than laboratory conditions while complying with the current methodological and ethical standards * Examines the advantages and limitations of the field study method, whilst offering practical guidance on how it can be used in experiments now and in the future * Suitable for graduate and undergraduate students taking courses in methodology, and researchers looking to use field study methods in their research

A Journey into Open Science and Research Transparency in Psychology introduces the open science movement from psychology through a narrative that integrates song lyrics, national parks, and concerns about diversity, social justice, and sustainability. Along the way, readers receive practical guidance on how to plan and share their research, matching the ideals of scientific transparency. This book considers all the fundamental topics related to the open science movement, including: (a) causes of and responses to the Replication Crisis, (b) crowdsourcing and meta-science research, (c) preregistration, (d) statistical approaches, (e) questionable research practices, (f) research and publication ethics, (g) connections to career topics, (h) finding open science resources, (i) how open science initiatives promote diverse, just, and sustainable outcomes, and (j) the path moving forward. Each topic is introduced using terminology and language aimed at intermediate-level college students who have completed research methods courses. But the book invites all readers to reconsider their research approach and join the Scientific Revolution 2.0. Each chapter describes the associated content and includes exercises intended to help readers plan, conduct, and share their research. This short book is intended as a supplemental text for research methods courses or just a fun and informative exploration of the fundamental topics associated with the Replication Crisis in psychology and the resulting movement to increase scientific transparency in methods.

- The application of situational crime prevention theory to homicide by people with a serious mental disorder make this book a novel resource. - Research is reviewed with a focus on implications for prevention.

Design and Analysis in Educational Research Using jamovi is an integrated approach to learning about research design alongside statistical analysis concepts. Strunk and Mwavita maintain a focus on applied educational research throughout the text, with practical tips and advice on how to do high-quality quantitative research. Based on their successful SPSS version of the book, the authors focus on using jamovi in this version due to its accessibility as open source software, and ease of use. The book teaches research design (including epistemology, research ethics, forming research questions, quantitative design, sampling methodologies, and design assumptions) and introductory statistical concepts (including descriptive statistics, probability theory, sampling distributions), basic statistical tests (like z and t), and ANOVA designs, including more advanced designs like the factorial ANOVA and mixed ANOVA. This textbook is tailor-made for first-level doctoral courses in research design and analysis. It will also be of interest to graduate students in education and educational research. The book includes Support Material with downloadable data sets, and new case study material from the authors for teaching on race, racism, and Black Lives Matter, available at www.routledge.com/9780367723088.

Research today demands the application of sophisticated and powerful research tools. Fulfilling this need, The Oxford Handbook of Quantitative Methods in Psychology is the complete tool box to deliver the most valid and generalizable answers to today's complex research questions. It is a one-stop source for learning and reviewing current best-practices in quantitative methods as practiced in the social, behavioral, and educational sciences. Comprising two volumes, this handbook covers a wealth of topics related to quantitative research methods. It begins with essential philosophical and ethical issues related to science and quantitative research. It then addresses core measurement topics before delving into the design of studies. Principal issues related to modern estimation and mathematical modeling are also detailed. Topics in the handbook then segway into the realm of statistical inference and modeling with chapters dedicated to classical approaches as well as modern latent variable approaches. Numerous chapters associated with longitudinal data and more specialized techniques round out this broad selection of topics. Comprehensive, authoritative, and user-friendly, this two-volume set will be an indispensable resource for serious researchers across the social, behavioral, and educational sciences.

Capstone projects have long been used in other disciplines but are now being seen within psychology courses. This textbook is a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to undertake a capstone project or other final project. In a friendly and collaborative style, this book guides the student through everything they need to know to ensure a successful capstone or other final project.

Essentials of Rorschach Assessment provides an invaluable resource for clinicians, offering the only step-by-step guidance toward all aspects of the Rorschach Comprehensive System and Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). Beginning with an overview of the tests' history and development, the discussion delves into each test separately before placing the two side by side for direct comparison of administration, coding, and interpretation. The same case study is used for both tests, providing a start-to-finish example of how the Comprehensive System and R-PAS differ, and practical resources including checklists, charts, and sample forms help ease implementation, use, and transition. Thorough explanations break down the jargon and technical language to give clinicians a clearer understanding of both tests without sacrificing precision or depth of information, providing a quick and easy reference for Rorschach personality assessment.