This investigation had two major purposes. The first was to explore the use of an inferential technique called Tukey's Jackknife in establishing a confidence interval about cooefficient alpha reliability. The second purpose was to study the robustness of the Feldt and the jackknife procedures when the data fails to satisfy usual normality…

Three United States Air Force job inventory procedures were studied in depth, categorizing task statements by duties, interviewing technical advisers for job information, and detecting bias in survey samples. Variations in the usual grouping of supervisory tasks were found to be occasionally necessary. Depending upon the career ladder surveyed,…

While school systems most often use achievement test results for individual appraisals, increasing attention to program evaluation and accountability requires that test results be used for institutional appraisals as well. When institutional test results are desired--that is, results for schools or school districts--not all pupils need be tested.…

Some sampling characteristics of three estimators of the intraclass correlation were investigated under a variety of conditions within the context of a one-way analysis of variance. The results promote caution in the use of all three estimators. The three estimators differed very little in their bias or in their standard errors. (Author/JKS)

Five branch libraries measured the quantity of books, sound recordings, and periodicals in their catalogs in comparison with the number available for loan. A sampling method similar to those used for political pools and market research was employed. (JAB)

In negotiating to obtain a sample of records from a computer file, it is important to be able to present a simple program that will produce a representative and valid sample. This article describes two procedures: (1) an interval selection method; and (2) a random numbers file. (JAZ)

Information loss occurs when continuous data are grouped in discrete intervals. After calculating the squared correlation coefficients between continuous data and corresponding grouped data for four population distributions, the effects of population distribution, number of intervals, and interval width on information loss and recovery were…

Large sample univariate methods are presented. These methods compare effect sizes within a single study between independent groups of different subjects on a single dependent measurement and independent groups that are assessed on the same dependent variable while using a different test. (TJH)

Computer sampling from a multivariate normal spherical population was used to evaluate Type I error rates for a test of P = I based on Fisher's tanh(sup minus 1) variance stabilizing transformation of the correlation coefficient. (Author/TJH)

A small data set is used to show that correlations and standard deviations measured within an explicitly selected group need not be smaller than those within an applicant population. Both validity and reliability estimates within a selected group can exceed those within an applicant population. (Author/LMO)

This framework will define the purpose and scope of NAEP's system of collecting background information, including background questionnaires and other sources of non-cognitive data. It will establish criteria for reporting background information as part of the National Assessment. The approach it suggests provides for asking various groups of…

This study examined the reliability of three methods for detecting differential item functioning (DIF) (i.e., the Mantel-Haenszel method, the standardization method, and the logistic regression method) applied to achievement test data. In addition, the study examined the influences of different sources of error variance, including examinee,…

The literature on measurement reliability shows the consensus that group heterogeneity with regard to the trait being measured is a factor that affects the sample measurement reliability, but the degree of such effect is not entirely clear. Sample performance also has the potential to affect measurement reliability because of its effect on the…

The major purpose of this investigation was to assess the concurrent validity of the French Pictorial Test of Intelligence with the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Form L-M in a moderate to severly physically disabled sample of children. (Author)

The aim of the inquiry was to assess the validity of the claim that divergent thinking instruments should be administered under relaxed conditions for optimum performance. (Author)