To assess the effects of correlated abilities on test characteristics, and to explore the effects of correlated abilities on the use of a multidimensional item response theory model which does not explicitly account for such a correlation, two tests were constructed. One had two relatively unidimensional subsets of items, the other had all…

The focus of this study was to explore the relationship between culture and children's development, and to suggest that inquiry into narratives is a way of understanding how children live and develop in a cultural sense. The article begins by inquiring into the nature of culture in the Hong Kong context and explaining the ways in which it might…

Four epistemological belief and two teaching/learning conception dimensions were identified from a questionnaire study of a sample of Hong Kong preservice teacher education students. The epistemological belief dimensions were labelled Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge. The somewhat…

This study examines how students' cognitive styles are correlated with their attitudes toward online education and learning behaviors in online learning environments. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the attitude survey toward online instruction were administered to 104 students enrolled in various online courses at the University of…

A canonical correlation model was applied to data on 36 primary level classes for educable mentally retarded students to determine whether classroom means and standard deviations on a criterion variable were predictable from classroom means and standard deviations on input measures. (Author/MC)

The Specific Language Disability Test developed by Neva Malcomesius was administered to 195 regular sixth grade students for the purposes of standardization and correlation with achievement and intelligence test scores. (DB)

A method of estimating the operating characteristics of a new test item added to an established test without assuming a prior model has been proposed by the author. In this paper, the author extends this logic by proposing a different hypothesized distribution of the resulting estimate. The former method used a normal approximation; the present…

The pretest-posttest design referred to as Design 2 by Campbell and Stanley (1963) is commonly used in educational research and evaluation. The tenability of the assumption of a zero population difference commonly used with this design is questioned. A nonzero population estimate based on the mean difference observed in test-retest reliability…

Four sections of introductory psychology were involved in a study of aptitude-treatment interactions. Two sections were taught with a high-structure curriculum, and two with a low-structure curriculum. Students' preference for structure was measured with the Inventory of Beliefs (IOB). During eight weeks of instruction, observers recorded…

Good and poor readers from grades 2 to 5 were compared on conceputal style preference, cognitive tempos and attentional styles. Attentional style measures distinguished poor and good readers better than the other cognitive style measures. (Author/BJG)

Using M. A. K. Halliday's and R. Hasan's concept of cohesion, a study examined statistical accounting of cohesive ties as a means of measuring and evaluating text coherence. Twelve grade twelve students were provided outlines on two topics and asked to write essays for each topic. One group of six students was familiar with the topics, the other…

A study examined the relationship between self-reported communication apprehension and psychological sex type as measured by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). The BSRI identifies people as masculine (high in masculinity, low in feminity), feminine (high in femininity, low in masculinity), androgynous (high in both femininity and masculinity), and…

Recognition of the gravity of the social problem of incest in the United States, coupled with increasing demands for psychological treatment and assistance from social service agencies by incest victims and their families, has demonstrated the need for controlled research in this area. Knowledge of the effects of incest is critical to the…

The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) provides separate ability estimates organized into three components; verbal, quantitative and non-verbal. There is no composite score. An analysis of scores obtained on the CAT and the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) by a sample student population indicated that discrepancies of twenty points or more among the…