Seven hierarchical clustering methods were applied to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) scores of 121 medical rehabilitation clients to investigate the possibility of method-dependent results and determine the stability of the clusters. This multiple-methods cluster analysis suggests that the underlying constructs of the…

Describes study of 383 college students in educational psychology classes that was designed to determine how students describe study activities. Completed inventories are compared from three theoretical perspectives: cognitive processes, approaches to learning, and autonomous studying, and factor analyses are explained. (25 references) (LRW)

A modification index is presented to aid in reformulating hypothetical models rejected after analysis of empirical data. This index is an improvement over the one in the LISREL V computer program in that it takes into account changes in all parameters of the model when one parameter is freed. (SLD)

The relationship between job skills and specific tasks is difficult to analyze, since any one task may require multiple skills. In this study, a sequence of statistical evaluations was conducted to examine the reliability of a subject matter expert panel's association of tasks and job skills and the factor structure of the task by job skill…

A sample of 2,232 children, aged three-five years, was administered the Preschool Reading Attitudes Scale to assess the developmental aspects of reading attitudes. Factor analysis on test-retest results for 360 subjects indicated stable and interpretable factors distinguishing three-, four-, and five-year-old students. (TJH)

A method of item factor analysis is described, which is based on Thurstone's multiple-factor model and implemented by marginal maximum likelihood estimation and the EM algorithm. Also assessed are the statistical significance of successive factors added to the model, provisions for guessing and omitted items, and Bayes constraints. (TJH)

Research with 38 undergraduates studied a technique for assessing conformity on a ratio scale and variables used to analyze normative and information factors. Computer presentation of the statistics and storage of responses allows assessment of discrepancies between actual line length and length of the reproductions made with/without peer…

Discussion of screen layout design for computer assisted instruction focuses on the perceptions of the viewers. Combinations of text format design variables that facilitate specific learning processes are investigated; evaluative criteria for text displays are discussed; individual and group perceptions are analyzed; and future research topics are…

A 12-item Self-Confidence in Teaching Scale was completed by 1,176 students entering a teacher preparation program and 861 teacher candidates completing their final semester. For the total sample, gender subsamples, and "entry"/"exit" subsamples, principal axis factor analyses yielded only one factor with an eigenvalue greater…

Narratives from three studies were analyzed using seven variables hypothesized to measure a variety of language abilities used in narrative production. Results indicated that the variables represented global organization of content, and within- and across-sentence structure. Variables representing sentence structure were most effective as…

Measurement fidelity (reliability, factor structure, and validity) of Aschenbach's Youth Self-Report scale was studied with 226 adolescents at a psychiatric hospital. Findings confirm convergent validity and reliability of four of the measure's seven narrowband syndromes, and seven meaningful subdimensions were extracted from the other three…

Combines costs of fund raising and college-relations data for each of 3 years from 17 colleges and universities with the schools' institutional characteristics to predict ratios of alumni donors to each school's total alumni. With factor analysis, classifies expenditure and institutional variables according to fund-raising effort, donor wealth,…

Critiques ideas expressed by Gould in "The Mismeasure of Man." Agrees with Gould that many scientists who studied human intelligence were racist, but disagrees that their work must therefore necessarily be dismissed. Disputes Gould's claim that factor analysts who study human intelligence have reified their factors and that factor…

Basic principles that should be followed by anyone developing a scale are reviewed, with emphasis on verbally mediated measures. The essential first step is a clear conceptualization of the target construct. Item development and ensuring unidimensionality follow. Factor analysis can be crucial in establishing unidimensionality and discriminant…

Investigates the factors that constrain and promote the selection of noun compound types in spoken and written Hebrew. Three types of data were examined, one spoken and two written. Lexical, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic analyses revealed that construct-state compounds are the default form for expressing relations. (55 references) (Author)