The measurement error in principal components extracted from a set of fallible measures is discussed and evaluated. It is shown that as long as one or more measures in a given set of observed variables contains error of measurement, so also does any principal component obtained from the set. The error variance in any principal component is shown…

Critically examining common statistical approaches and their strengths and weaknesses is an important step in advancing recreation and leisure sciences. To continue this critical examination and to inform methodological decision making, this study compared three approaches to determine how alternative approaches may result in contradictory…

There is a lack of research on the effects of outliers on the decisions about the number of factors to retain in an exploratory factor analysis, especially for outliers arising from unintended and unknowingly included subpopulations. The purpose of the present research was to investigate how outliers from an unintended and unknowingly included…

A common question in test evaluation is whether an a priori assignment of items to subtests is supported by empirical data. If the analysis results indicate the assignment of items to subtests under study is not supported by data, the assignment is often adjusted. In this study the authors compare two methods on the quality of their suggestions to…

Although there are an increasing number of youth development programs that aim to empower young people, there is a dearth of psychometrically sound measures that can be used to assess flexible youth-led organizing and participatory research approaches that tackle a wide range of social and community problems. This study developed and tested…

The primary purpose of this research is to adapt the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire developed by Watkins and Marsick, and examine its validity and reliability in a Korean context. Although the concept of the learning organization is well established, there has not been rigorous validation of the application of the…

As part of Phase 3 of the Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS-3), Mathematica Policy Research worked with the First 5 LA Children and Families Commission and Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) to conduct a descriptive study of the characteristics of classrooms in LAUP programs during winter 2010. This study has a particular focus…

The authors center their presentation of material around a conceptual understanding of psychometric issues, such as validity and reliability, and on purpose rather than procedure, the "why" rather than the "how to." Their goal is to introduce psychometric principles at a level that is deeper and more focused than found in introductory…

Elementary and middle school children were given a large battery of tests evaluating reading subskills and reading-related cognitive abilities. These measures were used to define latent representing skills and abilities believed to be important components of reading comprehension. Hypothesized relationships among these constructs were specified…

Several themes which are common to both econometrics and psychometrics are surveyed. The themes are illustrated by reference to permanent income hypotheses, simultaneous equation models, adaptive expectations and partial adjustment schemes, and by reference to test score theory, factor analysis, and time-series models. (Author)

First- and second-round commentaries on an article by L. Guttman are presented. The following authors responded, with two articles each: (1) E. E. Roskam and J. Ellis; (2) P. H. Schonemann; (3) A. R. Jensen; (4) J. C. Loehlin; and (5) J.-E. Gustafsson. (SLD)

A new methodology is proposed for the simultaneous reduction of units, variables, and occasions of a three-mode data set. Units are partitioned into a reduced number of classes, while, simultaneously, components for variables and occasions accounting for the largest common information for the classification are identified. The model is a…

This paper briefly explains the possible two-mode techniques of factor analysis and discusses in more detail one two-mode technique, the Q-technique, which may be useful when the researcher is interested in obtaining information about "types" of individuals with regard to certain variables. A concrete heuristic example is used to…

Presents the history of psychometrics in terms of the various investigators who worked in this area; the fields of computer utilization, testing, scaling, factor analysis, and learning theory are examined. (JM)

The stability of psychometric "g," the general factor of intelligence, is investigated in simulated correlation matrices and in typical empirical data from a large battery of mental tests. "G" is robust and almost invariant across methods of analysis. A reasonable strategy for estimating "g" is suggested. (SLD)