When using assessment instruments for personnel purposes, identify the purposes of assessment, specify criteria for excellent performance, determine behavior standards, and select appropriate methodology. Correlation analysis is a useful technique for establishing the validity of an instrument. (SK)

Tested Bugen's Coping with Death Scale. Individuals who had written wills, planned estates and funerals, and signed organ donor cards scored higher on the Coping with Death Scale. Because Coping with Death scores were more consistently different in those who prepared for death, this scale may help in efforts to predict those who will engage in…

Created College Classroom Environment Scales (CCES), instrument with six subscales (Cathectic Learning Climate, Professorial Concern, Inimical Ambiance, Academic Rigor, Affiliation, and Structure) to assess social climate of college classrooms. Findings from four studies estimating CCES' reliability and validity suggest it is sufficiently reliable…

Twenty-one language tests that included norms for children ages 4 and 5 were reviewed for information on 10 psychometric criteria. Administration of the 4 tests meeting the most criteria to 20 preschool children with specific language impairments and 20 controls found that only 1 (the Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test) provided…

Developed and validated Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) in series of studies from 1980 to 1991 involving over 600 helping professionals. Across administrations, alpha reliabilities ranged between 0.83 and 0.91, and reliabilities of intrinsic and organizational satisfaction subscales ranged from 0.85 to 0.90 and 0.78 to 0.90, respectively. (Author/NB)

Summarizes the principles of instrument validity and reliability and identifies deviations from these principles in a random sample of 55 research studies published in 1989 in 5 refereed nursing journals targeted toward practicing clinicians. Provides documentation, justification, and suggestions for nursing educators, journal editors, and…

Presents an attempt to cross-validate a widely used set of standard credibility scales. Finds that the Meyer modification of the Gaziano-McGrath scales appears to validly and reliably measure credibility per se but that a second set of scales posited to measure community affiliation is not sufficiently reliable in its current form for use without…

Parent Role Questionnaire (PRQ), recently developed instrument to study individual perceptions of parent role, was piloted, revised, and studied psychometrically. Results from first (n=118) and second (n=94) administrations of test to graduate students in school psychology revealed that PRQ had relatively high internal consistency, moderate…

Reviews six instruments developed to assess the psychological processes associated with experiences of racism among African Americans. Recommendations for modifications, revisions, and additional reliability and validity evidence are presented for each of these relatively new measures. (SLD)

Investigates internal dimensions of the Organizational Identification Questionnaire, performing factorial analytic tests of cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Finds that it is unidimensional across organizations and time, but that only 12 of 25 items contribute meaningfully to the scale, and that these 12 items essentially constitute an…

Examined the psychometric properties of a social competence scale for school-age children. Factor analyses identified two moderately correlated competence aspects, Prosocial Orientation and Social Initiative. Scale showed reliability across one year, and concurrent and predictive validity in interrater agreement; also corresponded with observed…

Three studies of college students (n=178, 129, and 96) evaluated the reliability and validity of the Assessment of Attributions for Career Decision-Making instrument. Factor analysis supported a three-factor structure. The instrument demonstrated adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct, criterion, and incremental…

Pennsylvania adult literacy providers who responded to a survey (35 of 93) were generally satisfied with assessment tools for English as a Second Language. Problem areas included writing assessment for placement; measures of progress in reading, writing, and speaking; and diagnostic tools for grammar, pronunciation, and student interests and…

Responds to an article (1992) in which Cross and Saxe assert that polygraph testing is inaccurate and inappropriate in the area of child sexual abuse. Presents a summary of recent polygraph validity and reliability studies to refute their claims, and discusses current uses of polygraph testing in child sexual abuse cases. (JPS)

Describes a study that sought to test for the factorial validity of the French version of the Beck Depression Inventory separately for nonclinical adolescent French-speaking males and females; cross-validate findings across a second independent sample for each gender; and test for equivalent factorial structure across gender for that population.…