Counseling professionals' and counseling psychology students' interest in performing research seems to be waning. Identifying the impediments to graduate students' interest and participation in research is important if systematic efforts to engage them in research are to succeed. The Research Self-Efficacy Scale (RSES) was designed to measure…

A new index for assessing the dimensionality underlying a set of test items was investigated. The incremental fit index (IFI) is based on the sum of squares of the residual covariances. Purposes of the study were to: (1) examine the distribution of the IFI in the null situation, with truly unidimensional data; (2) examine the rejection rate of the…

Three methods of factor analyzing dichotomously scored item performance data were compared using two raw score data sets of 20-item tests, one reflecting normally distributed latent traits and the other reflecting uniformly distributed latent traits. This comparison was accomplished by using phi and tetrachoric correlations among dichotomous data…

Multiple group factor analysis is described and illustrated through a simulation involving 5,000 examinees. The estimation process of the group factors were implemented using the TESTFACT program of Wilson and others (1987). Group factor analysis is described as a special case of confirmatory factor analysis. Group factors can be computed based on…

The Mooney Problem Check List, College Form, was administered to 2,261 students from six Louisiana universities, for standardization purposes. Usable protocols were obtained for 1,929 subjects. Comparisons among schools, school classes, sex, race, and marital status were made for the 11 Mooney categories. Norm tables were developed for all groups…

The Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQ II) was administered to 901 students (11 to 18 years old) in grades 7 through 12 who attended one public coeducational high school. The 11 factors the SDQ II was designed to measure were clearly identified in a conventional/exploratory factor analysis and in a confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL.…

The study focuses on the development and partial validation of scales measuring a complex of attitudes toward human fertility. Attitudes were collected from a 270-item questionnaire and factor, multiple regression, and correlation analyses of the collected data were conducted. Inferences for the development of a population education curriculum are…

Traditionally, the psychometric qualities of instruments used in guidance research are not reported and concerns of validity are passed over lightly. This article examines this problem by delineating instrument development from the identification of content through initial validation processes. Procedures for item selection, item validation, and…

A biographical inventory has been used in the selection of students for naval aviation training since World War II, and its validity in predicting their retention-attrition in this training has been well established. This study investigated the constructs underlying the inventory and their relations to students' retention-attrition. A factor…

The Stanford-Binet (Fourth Edition) (S-B:FE) and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) were administered in counterbalanced order to a sample of 30 non-handicapped, preschool children (13 males and 17 females). The children ranged in age from 3 years 11 months to 6 years 2 months, with a mean age of 4 years 11 months. Mean scores on the…

A plausible "s"-factor solution for many types of psychological and educational tests is one in which there is one general factor and "s - 1" group- or method-related factors. The bi-factor solution results from the constraint that each item has a non-zero loading on the primary dimension "alpha(sub j1)" and at most…

The application and utility of confirmatory second-order factor analytic methods are discussed. Factor analysis is central to concerns regarding measurement validity. Confirmatory methods are especially useful because they explicitly consider measurement error influences and because the methods are inherently theory-driven and theory-oriented.…

In an era of declining enrollments, it is vital to identify potential causes of absenteeism and implement strategies for reducing it. A study was conducted at the Annandale Campus of Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) to identify factors related to absenteeism. A survey instrument listing 51 reasons for missing class was developed and…

Multivariate methods were used to identify between-set factors relating the criterion set of eleven Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised subtest variables to the predictor set of demographic variables: age, race, sex, education, occupation, geographic region, and urban versus rural residence. Although factor analysis is usually used to…

A survey of computer scientists was conducted to identify factors that affect software complexity. A total of 160 items were selected from the literature to include in a questionnaire sent to 425 individuals who were employees of computer-related businesses in Lawrence and Kansas City. The items were grouped into nine categories called system…