Two studies examined second- through fifth-grade children's negative-item bias with responses to the Self Description Questionnaire and how it is related to cognitive development and reading achievement. Results showed that younger children and poorer readers responded less appropriately to negative items, thus biasing the interpretations of their…

The factorial structure of the Rotter Internal-External (IE) scale was examined. While there was strong evidence against the unidimensionality of the Rotter scale, the findings suggested that the first-order factors do define a single higher-order construct that may represent the generalized IE construct. (Author/LMO)

Results of this study demonstrate student-instructor agreement on evaluations of teaching effectiveness, support the validity of student ratings for both graduate and undergraduate courses, and emphasize the importance of using multifactor rating scales that are derived through the application of factor analysis. (Author/AL)

In an extension of research on the Marsh/Shavelson model of self-concept, a set of 14 academic self-concept scales was related to school performance in 8 subjects for 507 Australian high school boys. Findings indicate that components of academic self-concept are more differentiated and content-specific than assumed. (SLD)

Data from the authors' previous research (1979, 1980, 1987), consisting of responses to five masculinity-femininity (M-F), two esteem, and two social desirability instruments, were reanalyzed. The subjects were 104 male and 133 female college students who completed the: Bem Sex Role Inventory, Personal Attributes Questionnaire, ANDRO instrument…

Analyses of students' responses to Students' Evaluation of Education Quality (collected 4,471 courses) focused on two interrelated issues: the multidimensionality of student ratings and their susceptibility to bias. (Author/PN)

Extending research on the Marsh/Shavelson model of self-concept, a set of 14 academic self-concept scales was related to school performance in 8 school subjects for a sample of 507 high school students. Correlations between matching areas of self-concept and achievement (0.45 to 0.70; mean r=.57) were substantial and larger than correlations…

The distinctiveness of affects associated with different school subjects was studied with 24,599 students (National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988). This distinctiveness was evaluated in relation to school grades and standardized test scores. Ratings in different subjects were very distinct, a finding supported by models incorporating grades…

The "Students Evaluation of Educational Quality" is an instrument measuring dimensions of college teaching effectiveness. A study showed that, for ratings of 123 instructors in 3,079 classes over 13 years, each instructor has a distinct profile of ratings that generalizes over time, different courses, and course level. (Author/MSE)

Negative item bias is produced by the inability of preadolescent children to respond appropriately to negatively worded items on rating scales, and is hypothesized to be a cognitive-developmental phenomenon. The effect is examined with responses to the Self Description-Questionnaire (SDQ), a multifactor self-concept instrument. In study 1,…

The construct validity of 290 preadolescent children's responses to 3 instruments claiming to measure dimensions of self-concept was studied. Instruments administered to the fifth graders include the Self-Description Questionnaire; the Perceived Competence Scale; and the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scales. (SLD)

The Students' Evaluations of Educational Quality (SEEQ) instrument measures distinct dimensions of teaching effectiveness. Previous research has shown that ratings of a given instructor tend to generalize over different course offerings, but research has not examined whether each instructor had a generalizable, distinguishable profile of scale…

Two student evaluation surveys developed in the United States were administered to a sample of University of Sydney students to determine their applicability in Australia. The Endeavor Instructional Rating Form (Frey et al.) measures seven components of effective teaching that have been demonstrated with the use of factor analysis in several…

To test the applicability of multidimensional ratings of writing effectiveness that are amenable to normal classroom usage, all grade 7 students (N=139) from one suburban school (Sydney, Australia) wrote a brief essay. Master and student teachers evaluated all the essays according to overall effectiveness of written expression and according to…

The advantages of applying confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) data are widely recognized. However, because CFA as traditionally applied to MTMM data incorporates single indicators of each scale (i.e., each trait/method combination), important weaknesses are the failure to: (1) correct appropriately for measurement…