Background: Individuals with dementia have communication limitations resulting from cognitive impairments that define the syndrome. Whereas there are numerous cognitive assessments for individuals with dementia, there are far fewer communication assessments. The Profiling Communication Ability in Dementia (P-CAD) was developed to address this gap.…

The effects of different response option orders on survey responses have been studied extensively. The typical research design involves examining the differences in response characteristics between conditions with the same item stems and response option orders that differ in valence--either incrementally arranged (e.g., strongly disagree to…

Previous work has focused on positive feelings of mattering, which pertain to the human need to feel significant. In the current article, we examine a complementary yet distinct construct involving feelings of not mattering that may arise from being marginalized and experiences that heighten a sense of being insignificant to others. We also…

Relationships with teachers are a central component of a student's school environment, and have been shown to be related to school engagement and persistence in secondary school. Working alliance is a conceptualization of professional relationships that emphasizes not only the emotional bond between a professional and their client, but also their…

Cross-cultural equivalence, country and gender differences, and external relations with other measures were examined on a new, brief measure of test anxiety, the Test Anxiety Measure for College Students-Short Form (TAMC-SF), in a sample of Canadian and US higher education students. The sample of 1204 students completed the TAMC-SF and other…

Many English language proficiency (ELP) tests used for university admissions and placement now include integrated writing tasks that require examinees to use external sources when writing. Integrated writing tasks improve test authenticity and impact, but they raise several validity questions, such as what academic language skills they engage and…

Typically, only a minority of applicants to health professional training are invited to interview. However, pre-interview measures of cognitive skills predict for national licensure scores (Gauer et al. in "Med Educ Online" 21 2016) and subsequently licensure scores predict for performance in practice (Tamblyn et al. in "JAMA"…

This study examined the validity and reliability of a 30-second running sprint test using two non-motorized treadmills compared to the established Wingate Anaerobic Test. Twenty-four participants completed three sessions in a randomized order on a: (1) manual mode treadmill (Woodway); (2) specialized interval training treadmill (HiTrainer); and…

This paper explores a method to support instructors in assessing cognitive skills in their course, designed to enable aggregation of data across an institution. A rubric authoring tool, "BASICS" (Building Assessment Scaffolds for Intellectual Cognitive Skills) was built as part of the Queen's University Learning Outcomes Assessment (LOA)…

Studies of bicultural identity have claimed conflict--harmony and distance--overlap as relevant axes for describing bicultural identity, whereas other research emphasises variations across social situations. Based on this literature and focus group interviews, the bicultural identity of 300 young adults from immigrant families was examined, and a…

It is common practice for K-12 schools to assess multilingual students' language proficiency to determine language support program placement. Because such programs can provide essential scaffolding, the policies guiding these assessments merit careful consideration. It is well accepted that quality assessments must be valid (representative of the…

The psychometric measures of accuracy, reliability and validity of peer assessment are critical qualities for its use as a supplement to instructor grading. In this study, we seek to determine which factors related to peer review are the most influential on these psychometric measures, with a primary focus on the accuracy of peer assessment or how…

This study examined the psychometric properties of a questionnaire developed with the guidance of the socialization model of child behaviour to understand modifiable correlates of toddlers' physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Findings are based on 118 parents (33.7 ± 4.9 years; 86% female) of toddlers (19.3 ± 2.7 months; 48% female) from…

Typically, only a minority of applicants to health professional training are invited to interview. However, pre-interview measures of cognitive skills predict for national licensure scores (Gauer et al. in "Med Educ Online" 21 2016) and subsequently licensure scores predict for performance in practice (Tamblyn et al. in "JAMA"…

Limited tools assess positive development through university sport. Such a tool was validated in this investigation using two independent samples of Canadian university athletes. In Study 1, 605 athletes completed 99 survey items drawn from the Youth Experience Scale (YES 2.0), and separate a priori measurement models were evaluated (i.e., 99…