Traditional comparisons of test score means identify group differences in broad academic areas, but fail to provide substantive description of how the groups differ on the specific cognitive attributes required for success in the academic area. The rule space method (RSM) allows for group comparisons at the cognitive attribute level, which…

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of a self-determined motivational climate including support of autonomy, relatedness, task involvement, and ego-involving climate on students' affective responses and effort in physical education. The sample involved 338 sixth-grade students (11-12 years old) who completed a questionnaire battery…

This study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of 2 assessment instruments, the "Behavior Problems Inventory-01" ("BPI-01"; Rojahn, Matson, Lott, Esbensen, & Smalls, 2001) and the "Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form" ("NCBRF"; Aman, Tass, Rojahn, & Hammer, 1996). The sample consisted…

Analysis of children's spoken narratives represents a potentially informative approach to language assessment within early childhood settings. Yet, narrative assessment is not readily amenable to at-scale use given the time needed to collect, transcribe, and analyze a child's narrative sample and the lack of consensus regarding what aspects of…

Background: The Home Situations Questionnaire (HSQ) is a caregiver-rated scale designed to assess behavioural non-compliance in everyday settings that has been used in several studies in typically developing children. Currently there is no accepted measure of behavioural non-compliance in children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs).…

Two experiments examine the psychometric effects of providing immediate feedback on the correctness of answers to open-ended questions, and allowing participants to revise their answers following feedback. Participants answering verbal and math questions are able to correct many of their initial incorrect answers, resulting in higher revised…

The types of difficulties associated with career attitudes were studied using Super's model of career maturity (1990) in a group of 620 Portuguese students from grades 9 and 12. A cluster analysis identified four styles with different patterns of association between time perspective, attributional beliefs, self-esteem and career attitudes. The…

The purpose of this study is to describe how the attribute hierarchy method (AHM) can be used to evaluate differential group performance at the cognitive attribute level. The AHM is a psychometric method for classifying examinees' test item responses into a set of attribute-mastery patterns associated with different components in a cognitive model…

The Functional Analytic Psychotherapy Rating Scale (FAPRS) is behavioral coding system designed to capture those essential client and therapist behaviors that occur during Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP). The FAPRS manual presents the purpose and rules for documenting essential aspects of FAP. The FAPRS codes are exclusive and exhaustive…

Although several different measures have been developed to assess job satisfaction, large-scale examinations of the psychometric properties of most satisfaction scales are generally lacking. In the current study we used meta-analysis to examine the construct validity of the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire Job Satisfaction Subscale…

Michael Kane comments on three articles in this issue: (1) "Is Psychometrics Pathological Science?" (Joel Mitchell); (2) "Latent Variable Theory" (Denny Borsboom); and (3) "Constructs, Concepts, and the Worlds of Possibility" (Keith Markus). He states that the common thread in these three articles is the goal of putting measurement practice on a…

Pathology of science occurs when the normal processes of scientific investigation break down and a hypothesis is accepted as true within the mainstream of a discipline without a serious attempt being made to test it and without any recognition that this is happening. It is argued that this has happened in psychometrics: The hypothesis upon which…

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) was created to measure anxiety about being negatively evaluated by others because of one's overall appearance, including body shape. This study examined the psychometric properties of the SAAS in three large samples of undergraduate students (respective ns = 512, 853, and 541). The SAAS demonstrated a…

Purpose: Previous research has proposed that persons with functional dysphonia (FD) present with temperamental traits that predispose them to their voice disorder. We investigated this theory in a controlled experiment and compared them with social anxiety (SA) and healthy control (HC) groups. Method: Twelve participants with FD, 19 participants…

This article discusses the status of existing English language proficiency (ELP) tests, and compares the content coverage and psychometric characteristics of ELP assessments that existed prior to the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) with those developed after NCLB Title III guidelines were introduced. The article argues that…