The Nursing Observation of Behavior Scales provides 55 five-point descriptive items for the objective assessment of patients in psychiatric wards. (CK)

Estimating the reliability of measures derived from separate questions on essay tests or individual judges on a rater panel is considered. Cronbach's alpha is shown to underestimate reliability in these cases. Some alternative coefficients are presented. (JKS)

Presently available test statistics for the Rasch model are shown to be insensitive to violations of the assumption of test unidimensionality. Two new statistics are presented. One is similar to available statistics, but with some improvements; the other addresses the problem of insensitivity to unidimensionality. (Author/JKS)

A table is provided and described for prorating Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory scales when the entire Form R has not been completed. Good concordance of profile types was found for 300 and 350 completed questions. Interpretations based on 200 items may be suspect. (Author)

An important relationship is given for two generalizations of coefficient alpha: (1) Rajaratnam, Cronbach, and Gleser's generalizability formula for stratified-parallel tests, and (2) Raju's coefficient beta. (Author/CTM)

Two alternative procedures to Rogers' method of using control charts to display item statistics are discussed. The data itself determines limit and centerline values, thus permitting these values to be compared to any criterion difficulty level(s) deemed appropriate for a given set of test items. (Author/RL)

Methods for evaluating the consistency of responses to test items were compared. When a researcher is unwilling to make the assumptions of classical test theory, has only a small number of items, or is in a tailored testing context, Cliff's dominance indices may be useful. (Author/CTM)

After taking tests in introductory college courses, students were asked to rate the quality of the items. Correlations between student ratings and item-test point biserial correlations revealed little or no relationship except for a subset of students who had performed well when taking the tests. (JKS)

This study was conducted to determine how items of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Form L-M, had performed in the 1930's standardization sample in comparison with the 1972 standardization sample. (SB)

Refined item digraph analysis (RIDA) is a way of studying diagnostic and prescriptive testing. It permits assessment of a test item's diagnostic value by examining the extent to which the item has properties of ideal items. RIDA is illustrated with the Orange Juice Test, which assesses the proportionality concept. (TJH)

A study concluding that the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Revised) (WAIS-R) has three clear factors in its structure is critiqued. An alternative factor comparison technique, FACTOREP, is used with identical data. It is demonstrated that the WAIS-R has only two strong factors--verbal comprehension and perceptual organization. (TJH)