Milligan presented the conditions that are required for a hierarchical clustering strategy to be monotonic, based on a formula by Lance and Williams. The statement of the conditions is improved and shown to provide necessary and sufficient conditions. (Author/GK)

A method based on homogeneity analysis (multiple correspondence analysis or multiple scaling) is proposed to reduce many categorical variables to one variable with "k" categories. The method is a generalization of the sum of squared distances cluster analysis problem to the case of mixed measurement level variables. (SLD)

A flexible data analysis approach is proposed that combines the psychometric procedures seriation and multidimensional scaling. The method, which is particularly appropriate for analysis of proximities containing temporal information, is illustrated using a matrix of cocitations in publications by 18 presidents of the Psychometric Society.…

A new method for evaluating the content representation of a test is illustrated. Item similarity ratings were obtained from three content domain experts to assess whether ratings corresponded to item groupings specified in the test blueprint. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis provided substantial information about the test's content…

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in finding ways of promoting and evaluating structural knowledge (knowledge of how ideas, events, and principles are interrelated). Research has demonstrated that students' numerical judgments of the strength of relatedness among ideas drawn from a domain provide insights into how they have…

Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were used to describe and categorize tasks from six graduate disciplines including academic psychology, applied psychology, English literature, journalism, physics, and electrical engineering. A sample of task descriptions was constructed through interviews with four or five graduate students from each…

One of the major assumptions of latent trait theory is that the items in a test measure a single dimension. This report describes an investigation of procedures for forming a set of items that meet this assumption. Factor analysis, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis and latent trait analysis were applied to simulated and real…

Two quasiexperimental designs--nonequivalent dependent variable and reversed treatment designs--illustrate pattern matching logic as a basis for evaluation, examining college health services. Three pattern matches are significant: (1) program pattern match indicates implementation; (2) measurement match assesses test validity; and (3) effect…

An expanded version of the method of content evaluation proposed by S. G. Sireci and K. F. Giesinger (1992) was evaluated with respect to a national licensure examination and a nationally standardized social studies achievement test. Two groups of 15 subject-matter experts rated the similarity and content relevance of the items. (SLD)

Critical review of previous techniques for the measurement of an individual's self-concept (SC) is a necessary prelude to the development of more adequate methodologies. This paper focuses on recent methodological innovations in the study of the self, namely, those derived from cognitive social psychology. A view of the self as a cognitive…

A procedure for interpreting multiple-discrimination indices from a multidimensional item-response theory analysis is described and demonstrated with responses of 1,635 high school students to a multiple-choice test. The procedure consists of converting discrimination parameter estimates to direction cosines and analyzing the angular distances…

Various methods used to assess the content of a test are reviewed, and a new procedure designed to improve on these methods is presented. The two tests considered are a professional licensure examination, the auditing section of the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, and an educational achievement test, a nationally standardized…