Many psychological tests have arbitrary metrics but are appropriate for testing psychological theories. Metric arbitrariness is a concern, however, when researchers wish to draw inferences about the true, absolute standing of a group or individual on the latent psychological dimension being measured. The authors illustrate this in the context of 2…

This article analyses the main changes in the rules for validating experience in France and of what they mean for society. It goes on to consider university validation practices. The way in which this system is evolving offers a chance to identify the issues involved for the economy and for society, with particular attention to the expected…

The present study extends the literature base that is answering the call to examine the validity of J. L. Holland's (1959, 1997) 6 types of themes (realistic [R], investigative [I], artistic [A], social [S], enterprising [E], and conventional [C]) in his typology when applied to populations that are culturally different from the populations with…

The authors examine the facet structure of mindfulness using five recently developed mindfulness questionnaires. Two large samples of undergraduate students completed mindfulness questionnaires and measures of other constructs. Psychometric properties of the mindfulness questionnaires were examined, including internal consistency and convergent…

This study is a means of validating the Harter's Social Support Scale for Children on a sample of Mexican and Mexican American ninth-grade students to assist researchers and practitioners to more accurately assess this variable on this specific Latino group. The psychometric information was obtained through intercorrelations and Cronbach's alpha.…

Three studies were conducted using the interpersonal grid, a method for assessing perceptions of agentic and communal behavior based on the interpersonal circumplex. The 1st examined consistency across perceivers and convergence between perceiver and the perceived person. The 2nd examined whether responses to the interpersonal grid were sensitive…

To investigate the reliability and validity of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), 28 youth aged 6 to 17 years with Tourette's syndrome (TS) participated in the study. Data included clinician reports of tics and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) severity, parent reports of tics, internalizing and externalizing problems, and child reports…

Recent studies have demonstrated that personality disorders (PDs) can be assessed via a prototype-matching technique, which enables researchers and clinicians to match an individual's five-factor model (FFM) personality profile to an expert-generated prototype. The current study examined the relations between these prototype scores, using…

Researchers have a long-standing interest in better understanding why some students avoid challenging academic course work at the risk of harming their academic standing, whereas others are willing to pursue these types of challenges. The Academic Hardiness Scale (AHS) was developed to better understand characteristics that may differentiate these…

The purpose of the present research was to develop and validate a measure of motivation toward career decision-making activities, the Career Decision-Making Autonomy Scale (CDMAS). The CDMAS is designed to assess the constructs of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, and external regulation. A longitudinal study was…

This study explores the use of multiple measures to enhance the validity and reliability of inferences about school and district effectiveness. Using data from the state of Ohio, a framework for combining measures is applied to examine the individual and collective impact of multiple measures on both the federal AYP designations and state ratings.…

This article describes the Self-Assessment of Program Evaluation Expertise instrument and procedure developed to help participants assess their learning gains in a 3-week evaluation institute. Participants completed the instrument in a pre- and posttest format. To reduce both the threat of embarrassment from individual results and the temptation…

This article reports on the development of a qualitative career assessment activity, the My System of Career Influences (MSCI) Reflection Activity. The article describes the process of developing and testing the instrument. The testing was conducted in two stages with adults and adolescents. Findings from Stage 1 indicate that the MSCI (pilot…

Human nature is a very complex phenomenon. In physical therapy this complexity is enhanced by the need to understand the intersection between the art and science of human behavior and patient care. A paradigm is a set of basic beliefs that represent a worldview, defines the nature of the world and the individual's place in it, and helps to…

Five hundred thirty-eight elementary school students participated in a study designed to examine the technical characteristics of curriculum-based measures (CBMs) for the assessment of writing. In addition, the study investigated rating-based measures of writing using the Six Trait model, an assessment instrument and writing program in use in many…