Evaluated the psychometric properties of a perceptual measure of the extent to which manufacturing organizations develop proprietary equipment, the Proprietary Equipment Scale (developed by the World Class Manufacturing study). Analysis of data from 164 manufacturing plants in 5 countries indicates that although method effects are present, the…

Makes the case for dynamic assessment, in which individualized instruction and feedback are built into the testing process. Urges the use of dynamic approaches to help psychologists and teachers collaborate on classroom-based interventions. Calls for studies to examine the utility of approaches. An appendix identifies target group, nature, and…

The Chinese Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale (CPCPS), constructed to assess how Chinese people explain poverty, covers four areas of explanations: personal problems, lack of opportunities, exploitation, and bad fate. Chinese secondary school students were administered the CPCPS. Four subscales were abstracted from their responses and found to be…

Psychometric considerations that must be addressed in planning a faculty evaluation system for higher education are discussed. Constructing a framework for evaluation is reviewed through the example of evaluation of instructional competence, research productivity, and professional service. (SLD)

The author replies to responses to her article, "The Newtonian Mechanistic Paradigm, Special Education, and Contours of Alternatives" (EC 220 916). Topics covered include the degree of objectivity versus the idea of objectivity, theory-data separation versus theory-laden data, Piagetian theory and the question of theory versus paradigm,…

Simulation techniques were used to generate conventional test responses and track the proportion of alternatives examinees could classify independently before and after taking the test. Finite-state scores were compared with these actual values and with number-correct and formula scores. Finite-state scores proved useful. (TJH)

Examines practices that encourage false negatives and false positives on licensing and certification tests designed to protect the public. Recommends increasing the amount of testing or raising the required passing score for repeat test takers. (FMW)

Administered Peabody Mathematics Readiness Test to 325 students in kindergarten through second grade to investigate selected psychometric characteristics of the test. Found low item-to-item correlations; results did not support factor structure suggested by test's authors or proposed hierarchical structure. (Author/NB)

Examined discriminant validity of Family-of-Origin Scale (FOS) with 60 self-defined adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) and 64 college students. ACOAs obtained significantly lower scores on 10 FOS subscales, 2 larger dimensions of Autonomy and Intimacy, and global score. Discriminant function correctly classified nearly 88% of sample. Findings…

This paper reviews the psychometric properties, treatment utility, and conceptual basis of instruments used to identify the functions of aberrant behaviors in people with developmental disabilities. Instruments include the Motivational Assessment Scale, Motivation Analysis Rating Scale, Functional Analysis Interview Form, and Functional Analysis…

Evidence is presented in support of psychometric "g," arguing that it accounts for most of the prediction of educational and vocational criteria that is possible from a battery of tests of cognitive tasks. Providing the best measure of "g" is explored. (SLD)

Psychophysiological measures are generally those in which electrodes measure central or autonomous nervous system or skeletomotor activity with the goals of establishing linkages between the measurement and specific psychological processes. Psychophysiological methods and the difficulties inherent in their use are discussed. Guidelines are…

Compared to children with high-average and low-average intelligence quotients, 26 intermediate grade gifted children used fewer moves to solve a combinatorial problem-solving task and exhibited higher metacognitive knowledge on person and strategy variables. Qualitatively different intercorrelational patterns among problem-solving, metacognition,…

To determine whether or not there are systematic differences in the psychometric properties of items in the vocabulary test of the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test, data from test administrations from 1984 through 1988 (over 50,000 students) were analyzed. The systematic relationships between word characteristics and psychometric properties are…

The Swedish version of the Communication Strategies scale of the Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired was evaluated in terms of descriptive statistics, corrected item-total correlations, principal component analysis, and internal consistency reliability. The study concludes that the scale is an adequately reliable and clinically useful…