Many methods for the identification of key variables in movement patterns have the problem that direct transferability back to coaches or players is not easy; this is because the variables used are not presented in the language of most sport participants. Using a research strategy--from the coaches back to the coaches--proposed by Roth (1996),…

Objectives: (a) to continue the development of a measure of human caring in the context of social work practice and (b) to expand a line of inquiry exploring the relationship between human caring characteristics and the retention of public child welfare workers. Methodology: Surveys were received from a sample (n = 786) child welfare workers in…

This article reports a reliability study of two versions of the Vocabulary Levels Test at the 5000 word level. This study was motivated by a finding from an ongoing longitudinal study of vocabulary acquisition that Version A and Version B of Vocabulary Levels Test at the 5000 word level were not parallel. In order to investigate this issue,…

A method is outlined for evaluating the reliability and criterion validity of weighted scales based on sets of unidimensional measures. The approach is developed within the framework of latent variable modeling methodology and is useful for point and interval estimation of these measurement quality coefficients in counseling and education…

Properties of the Spearman correction for attenuation were investigated using Monte Carlo methods, under conditions where correlations between error scores exist as a population parameter and also where correlated errors arise by chance in random sampling. Equations allowing for all possible dependence among true and error scores on two tests at…

This study describes a comparison between retrospective questions and daily diaries inquiring about positive and negative support in spousal interactions. The design was a multitrait-multimethod matrix with trait factors of positive and negative support, and method factors of retrospective questions and daily asked questions. Five questions were…

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is emerging at middle/secondary school settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of a concept maze task to assist middle school teachers in making accurate decisions regarding student content learning. A total sample of 240 middle-school students were randomly assigned to take a…

Self-reports of grade at first menstrual period for 1,967 fourth-grade through ninth-grade girls were used to categorize girls as early maturers. The categories of early maturer and other (on-time or late maturers) were then examined for stability over a 3-year period using McNemar tests and [kappa] coefficients. Although the results showed…

Value added has emerged as a hot-button topic in the assessment literature, due in large part to the Commission on the Future of Higher Education. Value added, as conceptualized by Astin (1985), reflects talent development, "changes in the student from the beginning to the end of an educational program. These changes can cover a wide range of…

This study examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Suicide Probability Scale (SPS) in a sample of 226 (80 male, 146 female) adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Confirmatory factor analyses provided only some support for the original subscales. Exploratory factor analyses revealed some overlap with the original scales, but…

A new measure for reliability of a rating scale is introduced, based on the classical definition of reliability, as the ratio of the true score variance and the total variance. Clinical trial data can be employed to estimate the reliability of the scale in use, whenever repeated measurements are taken. The reliability is estimated from the…

Sixty-six English-speaking postgraduate distance-education medical students completed the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ: 40-item version). This was completed while attending a residential workshop at the beginning of the semester, and 44 of these students completed the same LSQ questionnaire 5 months later at the completion of the semester.…

Mackintosh and Bennett's [Mackintosh, N. J. and Bennett, E. S, (2005). ''What do Raven's Matrices measure? An analysis in terms of sex differences.'' Intelligence 33: 663-674.] study shows that males outperform females in some APM items but not in others, implicating that these items are measuring discriminable mental processes. The present…

This report describes the purposes of benchmark assessments and provides recommendations for selecting and using benchmark assessments--addressing validity, alignment, reliability, fairness and bias and accessibility, instructional sensitivity, utility, and reporting issues. We also present recommendations on building capacity to support schools'…

The purpose of this survey based study was to examine whether the characteristics (i.e., flexibility and cohesion) of expatriate families in a multinational corporation as measured by the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale can predict cross-cultural adjustment of the expatriate (individual level of analysis) and his/her family…