The current study investigated psychometric properties of the Family Affective Attitude Rating Scale (FAARS) for assessing parents' thoughts and feelings about their child, coded from a 5-min speech sample. Parental affective attitudes derive from previous experiences of parenting and child behavior, representations of the parent-child…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the most appropriate item response theory (IRT) measurement model for aphasia tests requiring 2-choice responses and to determine whether small samples are adequate for estimating such models. Method: Pyramids and Palm Trees (Howard & Patterson, 1992) test data that had been collected from…

The purpose of this study was to examine an alternative configuration of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), a psychometric instrument used as a measure of academic motivation in various academic environments. The analyses utilised data from a convenience sample of 2354 business students, broken into two random subsamples of 1177 cases.…

This article reports on the Gerontology Doctoral Student Assessment Model (GDSAM), a comprehensive web-based system premised on developing an evaluation mechanism attuned to the special requirements of advanced graduate education at the doctoral level. The system focuses on longitudinal tracking of selected dimensions of intellectual,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nine-point strategic leadership characteristics of Malaysian Quality National Primary School Leaders (QNPSL) and to indicate the implications of these findings for the current educational management and leadership practices in their quest for Malaysian quality education.…

One of the major outcomes from the national Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) Project in 2011 was the development and statistical validation of a survey instrument to measure the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of pre-service teachers as a result of the TTF intervention implemented across all Australian Education…

This study investigated the relation between multidimensional aspects of high school students' perceptions of their parental involvement and their achievement. It explored differences in socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, and higher and lower achieving students, and a structural model was developed to further investigate these…

The Pediatric Attention Disorders Diagnostic Screener is a multidimensional, computerized screening tool designed to assess attention and global aspects of executive functioning in children at risk for attention disorders. The screener consists of a semi-structured diagnostic interview, brief parent and teacher rating scales, 3 computer-based…

Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese Cultural Beliefs about Adversity scale (CBA). Methods: The CBA was administered in a sample of 275 Chinese parents experiencing economic disadvantage. Results: The CBA was found to be internally consistent. Consistent with the conceptual framework, factor…

Understanding urban teachers' beliefs about African American students has become important because (a) many teachers are reluctant to teach students from other cultures, and (b) most teachers are European American. To construct a psychometrically sound measure of teacher beliefs, the authors investigate the measurement properties of a teacher…

This dissertation comprises three papers that propose, discuss, and illustrate models to make improved inferences about research questions regarding student achievement in education. Addressing the types of questions common in educational research today requires three different "extensions" to traditional educational assessment: (1)…

Governments around the world are recognising the importance of measuring subjective well-being as an indicator of progress. But how should well-being be measured? A conceptual framework is offered which equates high well-being with positive mental health. Well-being is seen as lying at the opposite end of a spectrum to the common mental disorders…

National average happiness and the difference in happiness between women and men are positively correlated in European countries. This study focuses on this cross-country relationship and tests (1) whether, after controlling for socio-economic factors, the correlation is attributed to their direct relationship, or, alternatively, explained by the…

In this paper we use data from a population survey on quality of life dimensions conducted in Uruguay to analyze the self reported well-being among workers and non workers. Along with the literature, we find that the probability of being happy is greater for workers than non-workers. Specifically, we find evidence that workers tend to be more…

"Approach to studying" research focuses on the "manner" (deep, surface, etc.) in which studying is grasped. This is the Husserlian "noesis", the mental orientation, to studying. In this article, it is argued that attention must also be given to the subjective meaning of studying and of what is studied--the Husserlian "noema". However, the…