Discusses the need for a van Hiele test without limitations. Presents the background and main characteristics of a procedure to select items in designing three linked tests on polygons and other related concepts. Contains 15 references. (ASK)

Explored, using simulations, the use of disclosed items on continuous testing conditions under a worse-case scenario that assumes that disclosed items are always answered correctly. Some item pool and test designs were identified in which the use of disclosed items produces effects on test scores that may be viewed as negligible. (Author/MAK)

Inconsistent item-pair Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) and True Response Inconsistency (TRIN) scales were developed for the Jesness Inventory using 500 male and female delinquents to detect random and acquiescent sets. Specificities above 0.90 showed sensitivities up to 0.89 for VRIN and 0.85 and 0.62 for TRIN. Predictive power and overall…

Examined the assumption that matching difficulty levels of test items with an examinee's ability makes a test more efficient and challenged this assumption through a class of one-parameter item response theory models. Found the validity of the fundamental assumption to be closely related to the van Zwet tail ordering of symmetric distributions (W.…

Outlines places in the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses that address 15 nursing competencies for care of clients at the end of life. Categories are safe, effective care environment; health promotion and maintenance; psychosocial integrity; and physiological integrity. Sources of information on end-of-life content are…

Applied the rating scale model (D. Andrich, 1978) to data from a survey of student satisfaction with college services using data from a single college with item samples sizes ranging from 2 to 355. Compared to items' average ratings, item parameter estimates in the rating scale model did a better job of predicting the item receiving the higher…

Proposes additional ways for people in the measurement profession to think about the fairness of assessments and about the fairness of the uses of assessments. Suggests that measurement professionals must pay more attention to reducing group differences at the design stage of test development, to providing all examinees an opportunity to…

Performed a simulation study to demonstrate the dramatic impact of capitalization on estimation errors on ability estimation in adaptive testing. Discusses four different strategies to minimize the likelihood of capitalization in computerized adaptive testing. (SLD)

Proposes a new multistage adaptive-testing procedure that factors the discrimination parameter (alpha) into the item-selection process. Simulation studies indicate that the new strategy results in tests that are well-balanced, with respect to item exposure, and efficient. (SLD)

Examined whether the item response theory (IRT) true-score equating method is more adversely affected by the presence of multidimensionality than two conventional equating methods, linear and equipercentile equating. Results of two simulation studies suggest that the IRT method performs as well as the conventional methods when the correlation…

Proposed an approximate chi square statistic based on the nonlinear factor representation of R. McDonald (1967) and investigated it with simulated data. The approximate chi square statistics had good control over Type I errors when unidimensional data were generated and displayed good power in identifying the two-dimensional data. (SLD)

Compared the results of differential item functioning (DIF) analysis with matching based on the total test score, matching based on subtest scores, or multivariate matching using multiple subtest scores. Results using 2,000 responses from medical students suggest that matching on multiple subtest scores may be superior to the other methods. (SLD)

Introduces a new Item Response Theory (IRT) based statistic for detecting answer copying. Compares this omega statistic with the best classical test theory-based statistic under various conditions, and finds omega superior based on Type I error rate and power. (SLD)

Keying-related factors in psychological scales are variously interpreted substantively or as products of violations of the assumptions underlying item keying. The present study investigated whether the extremity of the wording of items may contribute to the emergence of item-keying factors in a commonly used psychological scale. Respondents…

Can infants below age 1 year learn words in one context and understand them in another? To investigate this question, two groups of parents trained infants from age 9 months on 8 categories of common objects. A control group received no training. At 12 months, infants in the experimental groups, but not in the control group, showed comprehension…