This book addresses the validity of think-aloud protocols (TAPs) in L2 writing research through a mixed methods study and proposes effective approaches for their valid implementation. The book uncovers the reactive effects that TAPs have on L2 writing performance and processes, and examines how individual factors moderate this reactivity. It…

This study, involving 67 children (ages 2 to 60 months) with motor delays, found that the Battelle Developmental Inventory (BDI) possessed moderate to high levels of concurrent validity with appropriate subtests from the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. (Author/JDD)

This study, involving 20 children (ages 4-11) with severe hearing impairments, affirmed the content validity of the Clark-Madison Test of Oral Language as a measure of nonwritten expressive language with hearing-impaired children. Performance comparison with hearing individuals revealed a different profile of strengths and weaknesses than did…

Discusses the conditions for validating customary phylogenetic procedures. Concludes that the requisites of homogeneity and completeness for proved short lineages seem satisfied by the Hennigian but not the Haeckelian procedure. The epistemological antinomy of the two procedures is emphasized for the first time. (Author/RH)

This paper examined test scores and information about test takers collected from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) national test administration files, GRE validity study data provided by institutional users, and survey questionnaires sent to test repeaters. Data were collected from 200,000 men and women who took the GRE General Test in June…

This study examined the comparability and predictive validity of three approaches to measurement of child or adolescent maltreatment, involving the adolescents themselves (n=160), case file review by researchers, and protection agency social workers. Comparison of ratings across sources indicated considerable disagreement with respect to judgments…

Because diagnostic capability of the WISC-R has remained in doubt, its diagnostic suitability was assessed by applying Kelley's method of estimating the proportion of score differences in excess of chance to the original subscales, Bannatyne clusters, and Kaufman's three factor groupings. Caution should be used when applying WISC-R diagnostically.…

In recent years educators have been utilizing judgmental methods, such as the ones advocated by Ebel and Angoff, to set minimum competency standards on test items. This study was designed to investigate the reliability and validity of these two procedures in setting minimum levels of performance on 175 vocational evaluator competency statements.…

A total of 102 Spanish-speaking and 104 English-speaking preschool 4-year-old pupils were individually administered the Spanish and English versions of the Cooperative Preschool Inventory (CPI) to examine item responses for possible bias. Miminum logit chi-square regression was applied to each of the 30 items of the CPI verbal scale. Each of the…

This paper compared clinicians' diagnosis and DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), DSM-III-R (Revised), and ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) diagnoses of 52 individuals with autism and 62 nonautistic, developmentally disordered individuals. The DSM-III-R system overdiagnosed the presence of autism, and ICD-10 closely…

Scores of 66 elementary students (referred for poor learning progress) on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) were below mean performance on all Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (SB:FE) area scores except memory. The study refutes the assertion that the PPVT-R is an appropriate screening instrument for the SB:FE.…

Describes three basic approaches to needs assessment--problem identification, problem analysis, and problem verification--and assesses them in terms of their potential utility to users in business and educational settings as measured by their estimated time requirement, accuracy, and cost. Needs assessment data collection resources and techniques…

The psychometric integrity of a short form of the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress was evaluated, based on data provided by 66 mothers and 66 fathers of 33 handicapped and 33 nonhandicapped preschool children. Alpha reliability, factor structure, and construct validity analyses indicated that the measure has reasonable psychometric integrity.…

Two methods of researching second language learning are described, analyzed, and compared: student diaries giving a first-person account of the second language learning experience; and participant observation, in which the observer is in the language learning situation recording in descriptive terms all possible data about the situation.…

The validity of a comparison of mean test scores for two groups and of a longitudinal comparison of means within each group is assessed. Using LISREL, factor analyses are used to test the hypotheses of similar factor patterns, equal units of measurement, and equal measurement accuracy between groups and across time. (Author/DWH)