Tested the reliability and validity of a structured admission interview to a public medical school residency program. Found that interrater agreement was good; moderate-to-low correlations between interview scores and other admission criteria suggested that the interview provided additional useful information and accounted for a substantial…

A study examined reliability and validity of the Test of Playfulness (ToP) with 25 children who have physical disabilities but no cognitive limitations, comparing their scores with those of able-bodied peers and examining patterns of difference in test items between groups. The mean ToP scores of the two groups did not differ. (Contains 33…

Confirmatory factor analysis results for the Attitudes toward Diversity Scale (ATDS) using 349 adults from different occupations indicated that the ATDS is 3-dimensional as hypothesized. Results support its high internal consistency and that it is not affected by a social desirability response style. (SLD)

A literature review on the Career Development Inventory since 1979 found support for its sensitivity and specificity as a measure of readiness to make educational and vocational choices. Research is needed on its predictive validity. Revision should address increasing the reliability of the two cognitive scales. (63 references) (SK)

Employs factor analysis and comparability analysis to investigate the impact of item order on the number of factors and the underlying factor structure stability of the writing apprehension construct of the 1975 Daly and Miller scale. Finds that the randomized item factor structure was comparable with the original item order factor structure. (SR)

Characterizes the circumstances under which validity changes may occur as a result of the deletion of a predictor test segment. Equations show that, for a positive outcome, one should seek a relatively large correlation between the scores from the deleted segment and the remaining items, with a relatively low correlation between scores from the…

Using the responses of 115 adults attending an asthma educator training course, the Asthma General Knowledge Questionnaire for Adults (AGKQA) was found to be an acceptably valid and reliable measure for assessing knowledge related to the management of asthma by adults. (Author/MKA)

Reanalyzed data from the Self-Description Questionnaire II (SDQII) from an earlier study of 376 gifted students, and a new study of 837 gifted students to explore alternative approaches to missing data and data normalization. Results strongly support the construct validity of responses to the SDQII by gifted adolescents. (SLD)

Evaluates the effects of rater reliability of common IQ and achievement tests on subsequent learning disorder eligibility determinations, particularly with respect to difficulty level of individual subtests and expertise of the scorer. The study corroborates previous findings of strong interrater reliability on most subtests of common IQ and…

Studied the reliability of a translation of the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ) (D. Offer and others, 1984) with 268 Finnish 13-year-olds, 83 of whom were tested a second time. Results support the reliability of the OSIQ for only four subscales. (SLD)

Compares and contrasts standards and techniques of qualitative and quantitative usability testing methodologies. Focuses on ways technical communicators can ensure rigorous tests in terms of the validity and reliability of findings, defining criteria of validity and reliability for both quantitative and qualitative methods. Presents a list of…

Studied the reliability of the Addiction Severity Index (1980) by using eight trained professional actors as client surrogates to examine the reliability of the instrument when administered in the field. With careful surrogate selection and training, the method proves to be an effective means of assessment. (SLD)

Reviewed the "Journal of Counseling Psychology,""Psychology & Aging," and "Professional Psychology: Research and Practice" for their practices regarding the reporting of reliability coefficients from 1990 to 1997. In two of the three journals, there was little change in reporting reliability coefficients during…

Measured vagal tone and heart period at 2 months and 5 years in children and their mothers to evaluate the development of vagal regulation at rest and during an environmental task. Found that children reached adult levels of baseline vagal tone by 5 years and did not differ from mothers in baseline-to-task change in vagal tone or heart period.…

A scale containing items rated by a Delphi panel of 11 nurse educators was administered to 201 nursing students. The questionnaire appears to be a valid and reliable measure of nursing students' self-directed learning readiness, overcoming some problems in the instrument developed by Guglielmino. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)