We review common situations in Bayesian latent variable models where the prior distribution that a researcher specifies differs from the prior distribution used during estimation. These situations can arise from the positive definite requirement on correlation matrices, from sign indeterminacy of factor loadings, and from order constraints on…

This paper investigates reasoned risk-taking in decision-making by school principals using a methodology that combines sequential use of psychometric and traditional measurement techniques. Risk-taking is defined as when decisions are made that are not compliant with the regulatory framework, the primary governance mechanism for public schools in…

Objective: This research examines the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Child Welfare Scale (PCWS). This instrument is designed to assess child welfare workers' understanding of how society views their role and their work. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was utilized to analyze data on 538 child welfare workers. Results:…

Measurement shortcomings have hampered the understanding of institutional commitment (IC) in college students. Therefore, this study sought to (a) develop validated indices of IC and associated psychosocial attributes and (b) use these indices to test a nomological network of variables and their direct and indirect relationships to IC. Exploratory…

Objective: This research examines the psychometric properties of two subscales of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) Multicultural Council's Organizational Cultural Competence Assessment, which together have been used to assess organizational cultural competence in child welfare agencies. Method: Confirmatory factor…

Social-emotional health influences youth developmental trajectories and there is growing interest among educators to measure the social-emotional health of the students they serve. This study replicated the psychometric characteristics of the Social Emotional Health Survey (SEHS) with a diverse sample of high school students (Grades 9-12; N =…

Using data provided by the Self-Directed Search (SDS) on a sample of 1,519 participants comprising 3 subsamples containing high school students, university students, and working adults, the authors examine the structure of vocational interests in Romania. Three competing structural models of vocational interests (Holland's circumplex model and…

The Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire was developed to effectively measure affective, cognitive, and behavioral aspects, represented by the interpersonal constructs of closeness, commitment, and complementarity, of the quality of the relationship within the context of sport coaching. The current study sought to determine the internal…

Successful STEM learning depends on the interaction of affect, cognition, and application of ideas. Simply put students who are unwilling to persist in STEM based endeavors do not suddenly develop into scientists, mathematicians, engineers or computer scientists, nor do they seek out STEM related courses or STEM based careers. The purpose of this…

Bifactor latent structures were introduced over 70 years ago, but only recently has bifactor modeling been rediscovered as an effective approach to modeling "construct-relevant" multidimensionality in a set of ordered categorical item responses. I begin by describing the Schmid-Leiman bifactor procedure (Schmid & Leiman, 1957) and highlight its…

From the beginning, lead methodologists in psychometrics and quantitative psychology have been well aware of the problems of fitting structural and confirmatory factor models. The question we approach in our research is how to best detect this misfit and how to identify specific sources of misfit by scrutinizing the data at the case level. Since…

Purpose: The purpose of the present research was to test how behavioral regulations are mediated between basic psychological needs and psychological well-being and ill-being in a sample of team-sport coaches. Based on self-determination theory, we hypothesized a model where satisfaction and thwarting of the basic psychological needs predicted…

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to test a cause-and-effect model of factors affecting leisure satisfaction among Taiwanese adolescents. A structural equation model was proposed in which the relationships among leisure motivation, leisure involvement, and leisure satisfaction were explored. The study collected data from 701 adolescent…

Online learning constitutes the most popular distance-learning method, with flexibility, accessibility, visibility, manageability and availability as its core features. However, current research indicates that its efficacy is not consistent across all learners. This study aimed to modify and extend the factors of the Technology Acceptance Model…

Despite the limitations of overgeneralizing cutoff values for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; e.g., Marsh, Hau, & Wen, 2004), they are still often employed as golden rules for assessing factorial validity in sport and exercise psychology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the appropriateness of using the CFA approach with these…