Accommodations are commonly provided to address language-related barriers students may experience during testing. Research on the validity of scores from accommodated test administrations remains somewhat inconclusive. The current study investigated item response patterns to understand whether accommodations, as used in practice among English…

Problem- and project-based learning (PBL) has been seen as one of the pedagogical models to bridge the knowledge gab between education and work. This article reports a study of students' preparedness from a systemic PBL university to enter work life. Theoretically, a conceptual understanding of a systemic PBL is presented including four elements:…

This study compares a sample of 223 adopted adolescents with a nonadopted reference group representative of the Spanish adolescent population from the "Spanish Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study." Variables related to the family context, peers, school context, and emotional well-being are compared. Adoptees are not…

Co-morbidity of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and the impact of DCD on quality-of-life (QOL) was investigated in 65 5-8 year old children with SLI (43 boys, age 6.8 [plus or minus] 0.8; 22 girls, age 6.6 [plus or minus] 0.8). The prevalence of DCD was assessed using DSM-IV-TR criteria…

MMPI-2 scores from a parent competency sample (N = 136 parents) are compared with a previously published data set of MMPI-2 scores for child custody litigants (N = 508 parents; Bathurst et al., 1997). Independent samples t tests yielded significant and in some cases substantial differences on the standard MMPI-2 clinical scales (especially Scales…

The article describes the founding principles, work program, and accomplishments of a Reference Group with both expert and layperson stakeholders for the corrosion of copper canisters in a proposed deep repository in Sweden for spent nuclear fuel. The article sets the Reference Group as a participatory effort within a broader context of…

Researchers debate whether one represents the magnitude of a fraction according to its real numerical value or just the discrete numerosity of its numerator or denominator. The present study examined three effects based on the notion that people possess a mental number line to explore how children represent fractions when they compare fractions…

Aim: To determine if adolescents who are born very preterm (less than 32wks; of gestation) and/or with very low birthweight (VLBW; less than 1500g) have a higher risk of experiencing clinically significant anxiety problems. Method: We used a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched the databases ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, PsycNET,…

This study examined the effectiveness of the odds-ratio method (Penfield, 2008) and the multinomial logistic regression method (Kato, Moen, & Thurlow, 2009) for measuring differential distractor functioning (DDF) effects in comparison to the standardized distractor analysis approach (Schmitt & Bleistein, 1987). Students classified as participating…

The following empirical study examines the acquisition of expertise. The model structures in the domain of empirical methodologies were examined in a time period of two semesters. At each measurement point (N = 5), the model structures of the reference groups were compared with those of the group of learners. The group of learners consisted of (N…

The aim of the present study was to explore how a personal narrative told by a group of eight persons with aphasia differed between written and spoken language, and to compare this with findings from 10 participants in a reference group. The stories were analysed through holistic assessments made by 60 participants without experience of aphasia…

The theory of relative deprivation emphasizes that social comparisons contextualize how people experience impoverishment. An important application of this theory argues that relative deprivation that stems from unfavorable social comparisons can result in anger, normlessness and an increased likelihood of deviant behavior. We test this theory in a…

Religiosity and campus culture were examined in relationship to alcohol consumption among college students using reference group theory. Participants and Methods: College students (N = 530) at a religious college and at a state university complete questionnaires on alcohol use and religiosity. Statistical tests and logistic regression were…

The prevalence of phonological and surface dyslexia subtypes among Swedish university students with dyslexia (n = 40) was examined using both the regression method, developed by Castles and Coltheart, and latent profile analysis. When an academic-level control group was used as a reference group in a regression, eight students with phonological…

Most linguistic processes--acquisition, change, deterioration--take place in and are determined by a complex and multifactorial web of language internal and language external influences. This implies that the impact of each individual factor can only be determined on the basis of a careful consideration of its interplay with all other factors. The…