Laboratory courses serve as important gateways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. One of the challenges in assessing laboratory learning is to conduct meaningful and standardized practical exams, especially for large multisection laboratory courses. Laboratory practical exams in life sciences courses are frequently…

This report describes the design and results of an experiment to test whether a $10.00 payment to participate in the national Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HANES) would significantly increase the response rate for the survey. The design and findings of the study, as well as a comparison of response rates prior to and following…

Results show that the incentive group students, as compared with the control group students, obtained significantly higher verbal, performance, and full IQ scores. This suggests that norm-referenced tests as diagnostic placement aids must be used with caution. (Author)

Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: standard WAIS administration; a praise condition with praise for each correct WAIS response; and a self-monitoring condition with direct feedback on response accuracy. Results indicated that specific feedback is effective in inducing IQ test performance change in normal adults. (NG)

Explores factor structure of the Personality Research Form (PRF) and examines the inventory's relations with response styles. In general, the PRF content scales correlate moderately with each other and with measures of acquiescence, social desirability, and defensiveness response biases. (Author)

Directions for administering four major preschool instruments were analyzed to determine whether any basic concepts are included in the words spoken by the examiner. Inclusion of basic concepts in test directions may hinder a preschool child's understanding of what is expected of him (and possibly invalidate his scores). (Author)

This study was performed to resolve the question of comparability of manual dexterity scores obtained on wooden and plastic versions of the USES pegboard. Currently authorized equipment, either plastic or wooden, may be used with the confidence that scores are not affected by the type of equipment used. (Author)

Subtest questions of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence are ordered from least to most difficult. Test records of 89 females and 62 males revealed though questions were misordered for the present sample, misordering was not great enough to seriously affect subtest scores or interpretation of intratest scatter. (Author)

Evaluations of both individual and group therapies have yielded equivocal results. The results of this study indicate that the proportion of variance contributed by pretesting is influenced by group membership, treatment, and outcome criterion and is largely unpredictable. (Author)

Thirty-six undergraduate psychology students who had high measured test anxiety were randomly assigned to one of three groups: covert reinforcement, placebo control, and no-treatment control. Pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up scores were obtained on three criterion measures. The findings supported the use of covert reinforcement for…

College students were treated with either a standard or modified version of systematic desensitization. Relative to a no-treatment control group, both treatment methods produced significant reductions in both the treated and untreated fears. The implications these findings have for two alternative conceptions of systematic desensitization are…

Correlations with Binet IQ in the ITPA normative sample were corrected for restricted intelligence range. The corrected correlation for the Psycholinguistic Quotient is as high as that between the WISC and the Binet, a finding that raises a serious question about the construct validity of the ITPA. (Author)

Test performance and reported anxiety levels of high and low test-anxious subjects taking either a regular exam or an exam containing brief, written relaxation instructions were compared. High test-anxious subjects performed more poorly and reported greater worry and emotionality. Results provide greater external validity for Test Anxiety Scale.…

First-grade children of average or above intelligence who did not evidence visual perceptual dysfunction were administered a series of visual perceptual tasks. Results indicated considerable method of measurement influence upon task performance. Implications of the results for both researchers and practitioners are discussed. (Author)

Kapes and Sievert's (1973) research on the difference between wooden and plastic peg boards for the GATB is replicated. The results indicate that individuals tested on the wooden equipment perform significantly higher than those tested on the plastic equipment. (Author/PC)