Physics education research (PER) has long used concept inventories to investigate student learning over time and to compare performance across various student subpopulations. PER has traditionally used normalized gain to explore these questions but has begun to use established methods from other fields, including Cohen’s $d$, multiple linear regression, and linear mixed effects models. The choice of analysis method for examining student learning gains in PER is a current subject of debate. We synthesize this debate here by focusing on the research questions and interpretations that can be drawn using various statistical tools. We focus particularly on how results can be interpreted through an equity lens and what questions can and cannot be answered using different methods. Our results demonstrate the importance of clearly defining a research question and using appropriate tools to answer that question.

中文翻译：

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检查用于分析概念清单数据的定量方法

物理教育研究（PER）长期使用概念清单来调查一段时间内学生的学习情况，并比较各个学生亚群的表现。传统上，PER一直使用归一化增益来探索这些问题，但已开始使用其他领域（包括Cohen's$d$，多元线性回归和线性混合效应模型。选择一种检查学生在PER中获得的学习成果的分析方法是当前争论的主题。在这里，我们通过集中讨论可以使用各种统计工具得出的研究问题和解释来综合讨论。我们特别关注如何通过公平的角度来解释结果以及使用不同方法可以回答和不能回答哪些问题。我们的结果证明了明确定义研究问题并使用适当的工具回答该问题的重要性。