A study investigated 42 native English-speakers' (NSs) perceptions of the pragmatic appropriateness of refusal statements. The NSs rated the appropriateness of 24 written statements in 4 different refusal scenarios, which were collected from both native speakers and non-native speakers. Four weeks later, as a reliability check, the subjects rated…

A study assessed the usability, retest reliability, and construct validity of an instrument measuring young adults': (1) perceived attention from parents; (2) perceived "normalcy" of family interactions; and (3) perceived consistency of family interactions. The retest reliability study yielded no significant differences between 73…

The development of a project to assess the effectiveness of schools in a large urban school district is described in this paper, with a focus on improving the validity of school effectiveness instruments. Purposes of the project were to develop a methodology for reporting effective school strategies and to generate a broader profile of schools'…

A review of sex-role scales in the psychological and sociological literature indicated a need for an up-to-date scale focusing on normative conceptions of appropriate male and female behavior, or sex-role orientation (SRO). The authors developed a 36-item Likert-type scale to measure SRO; the scale appears to be reliable and valid. (Author)

A checklist of characteristics of effective mail questionnaires was developed that reflects some degree of consensus among experts in survey research and that can serve as a guide to novices designing a questionnaire. Journal and book sources of information about mail questionnaires were reviewed to yield 83 items in 7 categories that comprised…

A model and method for developing a valid and reliable paper-and-pencil test for evaluating the technical knowledge of baseball coaches in the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) in Canada are discussed. Development of a general theoretical and operational model for the evaluation of NCCP coaches in all sports are also studied. The…

This paper reports a preliminary study on in-service Additional mathematics teachers' knowledge of kinematics concepts. A survey consisting of TRUE/FALSE questions was issued to the participating teachers. The questions were collations of the common misconceptions identified by some local Physics teachers among the local Physics students. The…

A detailed description is provided of the variable interorganizational relations (IOR), which is part of the analysis in phase I of the Evaluation of Practices in Individualized Schooling. The variable is defined; the questionnaires on which the variable is based are listed; the procedures used to scale the variable are explained; the distribution…

The Phase 2 effort of a task to develop a new student critique form for the Air Training Command (ATC) is described. Phase 1 recommended the further development of group specific norms for officers, NCOs, and airmen enrolled in technical training schools. In Phase 2 additional items were added to the prototype form resulting in a later version of…

The generalizability of factor structures of student ratings of instruction based on instructors' individual differences was examined. The subjects were instructors from the humanities, social science, and mathematics divisions who had had their courses evaluated at least twice using the same evaluation questionnaire. The data from the three…

Four selected scales from the Learning Environment Inventory (LEI) were rewritten to measure the students' individual perceptions of their classroom environment, rather than their estimates of the opinions of the class as a whole. Both scales were then administered to 10 7th grade math classes and 4 10th grade social studies classes. The rewritten…

The Student Orientations Survey (SOS) is a research inventory designed to assess students' expressed attitudes regarding curricular-instructional policies, their views on preferred modes of learning, student-faculty roles, etc. The SOS provides a means of profiling students' general orientations toward various philosophies, purposes, and processes…

This study examined relationships among conformity to biographical item writing rules, rated stability, and obtained response stability. First and second administration data were collected and a stability index was obtained on 88 items using a college freshmen sample (N=106). One group of judges then educed rules to discriminate between the more…

The reliability of a 13-item questionnaire designed to assess the humanistic behaviors of internal medicine residents and the reliability of nurses as raters of those behaviors were examined. Residents were evaluated by nurses on two general medicine services and on cardiology and hematology-oncology services. (Author/MLW)

The development and validation of an instrument to assess the needs and concerns of elementary school substitutes are described. A literature review identified nine categories of needs for substitute teachers. A factor analysis of item responses for a sample of elementary school substitutes corroborated the existence of nine underlying factors.…