Hypothesis generation has been proven to be a crucial phase in the clinical inquiry. The current instruments for measuring clinical problem-solving skills, however, are unable to differentially assess the hypothesis generating ability. For assessing this particular capability a new test is described. It is based upon exposing the examinee to an…

An objective measure of Erikson's ego-identity construct is being developed. The total scale includes seven relatively independent subscales designed to reflect the residuals (part conflicts) of Erikson's psychosocial stages of development. An initial item pool of 194 items has been reduced to 113 items by means of judgemental and statistical…

A study was conducted to determine the validity of the Op-In procedure in measuring global comprehension and to identify patterns of integrative thinking similar to those of pilot study subjects. The Op-In procedure is a type of cloze procedure that deletes every other sentence ending from a passage. Three sixth grade level scientific passages…

Prompted by research showing that communication is one element that distinguishes teachers rated effective by students from those rated ineffective, a study was undertaken to develop a scale for assessing the perceived communication effectiveness of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Two groups, one of undergraduate students and one of their…

Omitted items cannot properly be treated as wrong when estimating ability and item parameters. A convenient method for utilizing the information provided by omissions is presented. Theoretical and empirical justifications are presented for the estimates obtained by the new method. (Author)

In this document, the first of a projected series of reports on ensuring student success, student equity, and rigorous instructional standards, an overview is provided of the steps taken by Glendale Community College (GCC) to refine and improve student placement in the English curriculum. Following introductory material outlining factors…

This study, conducted at six southern universities, analyzed the validity and reliability of a researcher developed instrument designed to evaluate educational software in secondary mathematics. The instrument called the Instrument for Software Evaluation for Educators uses measurement scales, presents a summary section of the evaluation, and…

The development and validation of a new instrument, the School-Level Environment Questionnaire (SLEQ), are described. The SLEQ measures teachers' perceptions of psychosocial dimensions of the environment of the school. The SLEQ consists of 56 items, each scored on a five-point scale, and grouped in eight scales: (1) student support; (2)…

This report describes and summarizes findings on four National Teachers Examination tests provided by 45 faculty reviewers from six Oregon institutions of higher education. The tests were judged on the basis of students' opportunity to learn knowledge measured in test items and the importance of knowledge of items for beginning teachers. Tests…

To facilitate the proper technical use of the test scores obtained from the administration of the tests, the curricular and psychometric characteristics of the tests are described in a series of technical manuals. This manual, the seventh in the series, contains a description of the characteristics of the North Carolina Test of Chemistry. The test…

Focusing on the problems of validity and representativeness of samples, a study examined the history of literacy in the United States since 1880 in order to set the contemporary debate on test scores, literacy and reading performance in the longer-range perspective of the last 100 years. The quality of the data and the arguments of literacy…

This study sought to validate two measures of social cognitive development: a measure of conflict resolution (Shantz and Shantz, 1982), and a social rule measure (Shantz, 1982). Participants were 214 kindergarten through fourth grade children from two suburban schools, one a public school and the other a Catholic parochial school in the Chicago…

Validation and cross-validation studies were conducted using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and Inwald Personality Inventory (IPI) to predict job performance for 698 urban male police officers who completed a six-month training academy. Job performance criteria evaluated included absence, lateness, derelictions, negative…

While the perception of rape has been studied intensely in recent years, most scales focus on rape myths as the content domain. The need exists for a more general instrument which would include items from a variety of sources, e.g., attitudes toward rape awareness, sexual history, age, virginity, community support, etc., in addition to the myth of…

Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) score differences were examined for Black and White examinees who entered American medical schools in 1978 and 1979. The incidence of academic difficulty resulting in delayed graduation, withdrawal, or dismissal was also examined. The MCAT provides six scores: biology, chemistry, physics, science problems,…