Recent research has suggested that students prefer restudying over retrieval practice when learning difficult materials, despite the latter being a more effective learning strategy. The current study investigated whether an instructional intervention can improve the use of retrieval practice for both easy and difficult materials. In Experiment 1,…

To understand the extent to which the general-factor loadings of tests are inherent in their characteristics or due to the sampling of tests, the number of tests in the correlation matrix, and the factor-extraction methods used to obtain them, test scores from a large sample of young adults were inserted into independent and overlapping batteries…

The distributional characteristics of Kaiser's Measure of Sampling Adequacy (MSA) were investigated in sample matrices generated from multivariate normal populations of specified correlation levels. Systematic variation of sample size and number of variables revealed the overall MSA to be most influenced by the number of variables. (Author/JKS)

The present study compared six methods, two of which utilize the content structure of items, to estimate total-test scores using 450 students and 60 items of the 110-item Stanford Mental Arithmetic Test. Three methods yielded fairly good estimates of the total-test score. (Author/RL)

Multiple matrix sampling is a sampling design in which both test items and examinees are randomly sampled from their respective populations. This study was designed to develop and assess a method for computing an estimate of a correlation coefficient when a multiple matrix sampling design is used. The examinee populations included 212 third-grade…

To examine the validity of short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the WISC-R was first administered to 106 hospitalized psychiatric patients, aged 8-16. No subjects had a primary diagnosis of mental retardation or learning disability, and one-third were receiving psychotropic medication. WISC-R IQ scores…