The concept of due process provides an analogy for the process of standard setting that emphasizes many of the procedural and substantive elements of the process over technical and statistical concerns. Surely such concerns can and should continue to be addressed. However, a sound rationale for standard setting does not rest on this foundation.…

A study explored psychometric relationships among three dialectical tensions (connection/autonomy, openness/closedness, and novelty/predictability). A confirmatory factor analysis using 694 undergraduate students (347 romantic dyads) culled from various courses in a large midwestern metropolitan university confirmed the existence and independence…

This study demonstrates the utility of a HYBRID psychometric model, which incorporates both item response theoretic and latent class models, for detecting test speededness. The model isolates where in a sequence of test items examinee response patterns shift from one providing reasonable estimates of ability to those best characterized by a random…

This study was conducted to investigate the construct validity of scores on the Personal Preferences Self-Description Questionnaire (PPSDQ), a measure of Jungian types. Confirmatory factor analysis methods were used to investigate the structures underlying PPSDQ responses of 641 university students. The model fit statistics were generally…

Standard setting is a fairly widespread activity in educational and psychological measurement, but there is no formal psychometric theory to guide the development of standard setting methodology. This paper presents a conceptual framework for such a psychometric theory and uses the conceptual framework to analyze a number of methods for setting…

This article maintains that the older Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Form L-M) is the best tool for assessing extraordinarily gifted children despite the acknowledged deficits of the scale in comparison with newer instruments. Although the article finds that the Stanford-Binet uses outdated terminology, is highly verbal, has 20-year-old norms,…

The psychometric objections to using essays and other subjective tests for measurement can be overcome by a many-facet Rasch model. This model enables judge-awarded grades to be transformed from their arbitrary, local, non-linear rating scale form into linear measures with explicit generalizable meaning of specifiable reliability (standard error)…

Past and present trends in cognitive assessment in the USSR should be viewed within the context of Soviet psychology and Soviet developmental theories. This theoretical framework views cognitive abilities as an integral part of socio-cultural evolution. Pedology emerged as a strong movement in the 1920's. Its stated purpose was to identify and…

In the Spring 2003 issue of "Harvard Educational Review," Roy Freedle stated that the SAT® is both culturally and statistically biased, and he proposed a solution to ameliorate this bias. His claims, which garnered national attention, were based on serious errors in his analysis. We begin our analyses by assessing the psychometric…

The psychometric utility of six experimental cognitive style (CS) measures was analyzed. Examinees were 1,135 clients of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation who, during 1985, completed at least one of the six CS tests. Information is provided on measure reliability; relationships among CS measures; relationships with standard battery aptitude…

The construct validity of responses to the Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) was evaluated in two sets of analyses. First, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and an analysis of variance model adapted from multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) research, were used to examine the internal structure of the TSCS responses. Second, MTMM analyses…

The Rule Space Model, a cognitive error diagnostic methodology, is discussed, and the philosophy behind it is related to the question of what really determines item response curves. The Rule Space approach integrates Item Response Theory and the algebraic theory of databases. An application of Graph Theory is introduced as a way to acquire a list…

Historically, training for performance appraisal has focused on the same issues as instrument development--the reduction of psychometric errors in ratings. Efforts were centered around teaching people to use rating scales properly. A review of the literature shows these programs met with mixed success. While a meta-analysis of these data are…

This paper briefly explains the possible two-mode techniques of factor analysis and discusses in more detail one two-mode technique, the Q-technique, which may be useful when the researcher is interested in obtaining information about "types" of individuals with regard to certain variables. A concrete heuristic example is used to…

The usefulness of L. Guttman's partial order scalogram analysis is investigated in this study of the structure of a set of items that measure attitudes toward legal abortion. These items, drawn from the National Opinion Research Center's "General Social Survey," have been the focus of considerable applied research investigating…