A study investigated the reliability and validity of a measure of imagery vividness appropriate for young children. A questionnaire instrument consisting of 21 Likert-type items was developed and administered to 380 third- through sixth-grade children in a lower-middle to upper-middle socioeconomic population in southern California. Items in the…

Statistical invariance procedures provide a way of looking at the generalizability of research results from sample to sample when the research has not been validated by replication. This paper discusses the Procrustean Rotation invariance procedure following a canonical correlation analysis. The computer program RELATE is used to gauge the…

Research in how the Rorschach Inkblot Test has been utilized in the assessment of object relations is reviewed. The review includes a critical examination of six areas: (1) constructs and concepts of object-relations theory represented in the research; (2) relevant Rorschach history and history; (3) characteristics of Rorschach-based,…

The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) (P. Spector, 1985 and 1992) is a 36-item survey instrument designed to measure 9 aspects of job satisfaction, including: (1) pay; (2) promotion; (3) supervision; (4) benefits; (5) contingent rewards; (6) operating procedures; (7) co-workers; (8) nature of work; and (9) communication. In addition to measuring the…

In 1994, the journal "Educational and Psychological Measurement" (EPM) instituted an editorial policy requiring authors to use technically appropriate language and methodological practices in their discussions of validity and reliability. To determine if this policy has had any effect on current publications, 150 validity and reliability…

Qualitative research evokes rather stereotyped responses from the mainstream of social science. The following 10 standardized responses to the stimulus "qualitative research interview" (QRI) are discussed: (1) it is not scientific, only common sense; (2) it is not objective, but subjective; (3) it is not trustworthy, but biased; (4) it is not…

Not infrequently, investigators assume that reliability for groups is greater than reliability for persons, or that the error variance for groups is less than that for persons. Using generalizability theory, it is shown that this "conventional wisdom" is not necessarily true. Examples are provided from the course-evaluation and the…

The International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed standards to provide a uniform framework for quality assurance in organizations' products and services. Commonly referred to as ISO 9000, these standards focus on achieving and sustaining the quality of the product or service produced to continuously meet purchasers' needs, and give…

This study explores an endeavor by the Ohio Consortium for Portfolio Development to assess preservice teachers' reflectivity as demonstrated through the development of professional portfolios. The first section of this paper presents the demographic information of the study, explaining the consortium derivation, purpose, and interrater format. The…

Designing a test using three-parameter item response theory (IRT) is discussed. A brief review of IRT is followed by a discussion of two types of test design: (1) selecting items using confidence envelopes (confidence envelope method); and (2) using item characteristic curves and their confidence intervals (test envelope method). The confidence…

It has been postulated that young people are open to driving accidents because of age, lack of experience and risk-taking attitudes. The Young Driver Attitude Scale (YDAS) was developed to measure attitudes likely to influence driving practices. Over 200 items relating to the risk-taking attitudes of young people were shown to a small group of…

To study the stability of students' writing performances across occasions, four essays were obtained from each of 107 college students. These were scored with an analytic system that counts errors in 18 categories. Score reliability, computed by summing the 18 categories, was .36 for a single essay and .68 for the set of four essays. Score…

Inspection of the 1972 revised norms for the Stanford-Binet demonstrate that the average mental age for a particular chronological age (CA) no longer numerically corresponds to that CA. Thus, mental ages derived from the test cannot any longer be interpreted as mental ages. A table of test ages based on the 1972 norms is provided. (Author)

This is the preliminary report of a new memory scoring method. Using the Wechsler Memory Scale as its base, it scores lateralized verbal and figural memory and long- and short-term memory. Six independent memory scales were developed. Studies of 105 subjects demonstrate that these scales are reliable and valid. (Author)

Concludes that the "Inventory of Teacher Knowledge of Reading" is valid in discriminating between the specialist and non-specialist in reading, but that it fails to verify the seven components that the authors claim to measure. (RB)