Explores heterosexist bias in seven widely used assessment instruments. Focuses on bias that is observable in the instruments themselves and in the ancillary materials. Describes three types of bias, how these biases manifest in various instruments, and makes recommendations for mental health practitioners and for professionals who develop…

Comments on an article that explored heterosexist bias in seven widely used assessment instruments. Raises concerns about how the article defined homophobia and heterosexism, and advocates a cautious approach to decreasing heterosexist and homophobic bias in assessment, which includes gathering assessment data. (RJM)

Discusses why a researcher is saying that designers of the college-entrance examination, in trying to create a reliable test, may be guaranteeing bias. (EV)

Asserts that fragmentation of academic disciplines handicaps efforts to deal rationally with problems arising from group differences in general intelligence. Contends that open discussions like those appearing in this special journal issue are necessary, and illustrates arguments through comments on moral, scientific, and legal concerns addressed…

Attitudes were assessed after 89 undergraduates were asked either five neutral questions, five questions on the economic welfare of older people, or five on elders' physical frailty. Economic questions resulted in significantly more negative views of the mental aspects of aging, suggesting that questionnaires may contain tacit sources of bias. (SK)

Reviews literature on Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) racial bias since 1977. Research indicates cases in which racial bias is present and cases where it is not. Anticipates the onslaught of research on racial bias with the MMPI-2 and provides recommendations to researchers and mental-health counselors. (RJM)

Examines the Eurocentric basis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Third Edition (WISC-III) and reveals its antagonistic and incompatible relationship to an Africentric conception of intellectual and mental health. Suggests that the WISC-III provides a measure of misorientation quotient rather than intelligence quotient, and notes…

Studied the relationship between internal test bias and regression slope differences. Monte Carlo simulation results indicate a strong relationship between internal test bias and slope differences, but this relationship does not imply that an absence of internal test bias leads to slope invariance or that slope differences imply internal test…

Format dependence implies that assessment of the same subjective probability distribution produces different conclusions about over- or underconfidence depending on the assessment format. In 2 experiments, the authors demonstrate that the overconfidence bias that occurs when participants produce intervals for an uncertain quantity is almost…

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the performance of a stepwise variable selection algorithm to traditional exploratory factor analysis. The Monte Carlo study included six factors in the design; the number of common factors; the number of variables explained by the common factors; the magnitude of factor loadings; the number…

This study considers the importance of contextual effects on the quality of assessments on item bias and differential item functioning (DIF) in measurement. Often, in educational studies, students are clustered in teachers or schools, and the clusters could impact psychometric issues yet are largely ignored by traditional item analyses. A…

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) occurs when there is a greater probability of solving an item based on group membership after controlling for ability. Following administration of a 50-item scientific and quantitative reasoning exam to 286 two-year and 1174 four-year students, items were evaluated for DIF. Two-year students performed…

The comparability of examinations in different subjects has been a controversial topic for many years and a number of criticisms have been made of statistical approaches to estimating the "difficulties" of achieving particular grades in different subjects. This paper argues that if comparability is understood in terms of a linking…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires all states to assess the English proficiency of English language learners each school year. Under Title I and Title III of No Child Left Behind, states are required to measure the annual growth of students' English language development in reading, listening, writing, and speaking and in comprehension…

In the United States, when English language learners (ELLs) are tested, they are usually tested in English and their limited English proficiency is a potential cause of construct-irrelevant variance. When such irrelevancies affect test scores, inaccurate interpretations of ELLs' knowledge, skills, and abilities may occur. In this article, we…