Describes readers' responses to the task of assigning scores to nonuniform portfolios of student writing. Suggests that reaching the goal of reliability in reading practices will not be easy. Concludes that writing program administrators should greet suggestions for the use of nonuniform portfolios with questioning restraint. (RS)

Sixteen listeners (10 expert, 6 naive) judged the dissimilarity of pairs of voices drawn from pathological and normal populations. Only parameters that showed substantial variability were perceptually salient across listeners. Results suggest that traditional means of assessing listener reliability in voice perception tasks may not be appropriate.…

Discusses the progress in accurate measurement of reading, the major challenges for reading researchers in developing better measures in reading, and significant developments in the near future. (RS)

Today's employers desire a number of qualities in their workers: self-confidence, technical knowledge, positive attitude, communication skills, teamwork, and the ability to learn. Also important are the various aspects of reliability: punctuality, attendance, commitment to excellence, and listening skills. (SK)

Developed Adolescent Drug Involvement Scale (ADIS) to measure level of drug involvement, considered as continuum ranging from no use to severe dependency, in adolescents. Administered ADIS to 453 adolescents referred for treatment. Results indicated acceptable internal consistency and provide preliminary evidence of validity. Scores correlated…

Describes investigation employing within-counselor design. Investigators analyzed audio recordings of career counseling interviews with clients who held either relatively negative expectations or relatively positive expectations regarding counseling. Clients who held relatively positive expectations were rated significantly higher on global…

Discusses the role of feedback in performance technology and suggests ways to improve both the accuracy and the effectiveness of the feedback. Desirable characteristics of feedback are described, including promptness, directness, reliability, and usability; and the need for assessment and assimilation following feedback is explained. (LRW)

An error in an essential equation within the article by Williams and Zimmerman is corrected, and the algebraic inequalities are translated into questions a researcher can ask about simple or residualized difference scores. Williams and Zimmerman acknowledge the error and note that main conclusions are not affected. (SLD)

Addresses two vital issues in international studies of educational achievement: the quality of data obtained from participating countries and the interpretation of those data. Contends that examples of problems in item development for international studies are related to the quality of the data and norms used in interpretation. (Author/NB)

Two experiments investigating interval-by-interval interjudge and intrajudge agreement for stuttered and nonstuttered speech intervals found that training of judges could improve reliability levels; judges with relatively high intrajudge agreement also showed relatively higher interjudge agreement; and interval-by-interval interjudge agreement was…

Maximized correlation as an internal reliability estimate for tests with few items was investigated. An actual sampling distribution of maximum correlation--"r" max--was empirically derived from 100 samples of 50 cases each from Rorschach test data and compared with those of alpha and an odd/even split, using 2,020 Rorschach protocols.…

Administered Family-of-Origin Scale (FOS) to 88 high school students on 2 occasions, with 2-week interval between testings. Global FOS index and 10 subscale scores demonstrated high test-retest reliability. Internal consistency reliability was also high. Findings suggest that FOS for adolescents is psychometrically sound. (Author/NB)

Studies test validity of the instruments used to measure intrinsic motivation. Compares behavioral and self-report measures among undergraduates of intrinsic task interest to momentary mood, long-term motivational orientation, and interest in competing activities. Finds the behavioral measure depends on how treatments affect interest in…

Evaluated the Screen for Caregiver Burden (SCB) using 191 subjects. The SCB is a 25-item measure designed to identify distressing caregiver experiences rapidly, specifically for spouse caregivers of Alzheimer's care recipients. Results demonstrated the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity (content, divergent, convergent, and…

The psychometric properties of the Children's Attributional Style Questionnaire-Revised (CASQ) (N. Kaslow and S. Nolen-Hoeksema, 1991) were studied with 1086 children, 9 to 12 years old. Results indicate the revised version to be somewhat less reliable than the original, but with equivalent criterion-related validity for self-reported depression.…