This academic article provides the essential steps for designing an effective English questionnaire in social science research, with a focus on ensuring clarity, cultural sensitivity and ethical integrity. Developed from key insights from related studies, it outlines potential practice in questionnaire design, item development and the importance…

A positive working environment and culture are essential for researchers as these enable them to conduct valuable, high-quality research. Yet, university staff frequently report their research culture as less than ideal. To understand researchers' experiences of research culture to inform tangible change, several surveys have been conducted by…

In this article, we describe and illustrate the process by which we developed and validated short, multiple-choice, reliable tests to assess undergraduate students' comprehension of three mathematical proofs. We discuss the purpose for each stage and how it benefited the design of our instruments. We also suggest ways in which this process could…

I am currently conducting research for a PhD Public Health. As a result of my previous experience researching my Master's degree thesis, and what I have learned so far about designing and validating a risk-perception instrument, I have gained some insight related to know-how and possible pitfalls that can occur when undertaking research. These…

Although International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement-pioneered international large-scale assessment (ILSA) of education is now a well-established science, non-practitioners and many users often substantially misunderstand how large-scale assessments are conducted, what questions and challenges they are designed to…

Evaluation is a key component to learning about the effectiveness of a program. This article provides descriptive statistics of the newly developed National 4-H Common Measures (science, healthy living, citizenship, and youth development) based on data from 721 California 4-H youth. The measures were evaluated for their reliability and validity of…

The "PISA 2012 Technical Report" describes the methodology underlying the PISA 2012 survey, which tested 15-year-olds' competencies in mathematics, reading and science and, in some countries, problem solving and financial literacy. It examines the design and implementation of the project at a level of detail that allows researchers to…

The ever-changing requirements of working life require individuals to develop their competencies throughout their life cycle. This lifelong learning paradigm requires a renewed vision concerning assessment in which, besides formal learning, informal and non-formal learning experiences are also recognized. To support this lifelong learning…

Based on dissertation for EdD degree at University of Texas (1966).

This article illustrates the use of generalizability theory in special education to estimate the reliability of a measure when there is more than one source of error in the universe of inference and how the effects from changing the number of items and/or raters can be evaluated. (Author)

Educators have a need for a procedure to generate alternate forms of tests. The reliability of alternate forms generated from a table of specifications is examined, using 78 high school remedial mathematics students as subjects. (Editor)

The empirical item analysis techniques for developing short-forms of tests is questioned. Assumptions fundamental to Spearman-Brown theory are shown to offer an alternative. (Editor)

Describes the development of a scale specifically designed to measure marital instability among intact couples. Data from a telephone survey of 2,034 married men and women showed the Marital Instability Index to be a reliable and valid indicator. An abbreviated form of the index is presented. (Author/JAC)

Instrument refinement refers to any set of procedures designed to improve an instrument's representation of a construct. Five objectives of instrument refinement are discussed, and instrument refinement practices are reviewed in a discussion of its role in the process of developing theory and sharpening construct definition. (SLD)