Predictor-criterion relationships for cognitive, non-cognitive, and cross-product predictors were analyzed using criteria constructed for the curriculum units within the following grade complexity levels: cumulative, division, department, and course. Analyses of the correlations were performed in an attempt to inquire into the complexity of the…

Presented at a symposium on "The Structure of Concept Attainment Abilities Project: Final Report and Critique," this paper provides the methodological aspects of the project. The discussion centers around a "Guide to the Multivariate Methods," which is provided in the paper. The basic guide-posts are the types of analysis and the types of content.…

When Torgerson's multidimensional scaling model is used in conjunction with the method of tetrads, derived coordinates are based on data which is assumed to be distributed normally. The object of this study was to determine the amount of error contained in derived coordinates when the normality assumption is violated. Torgerson coordinates were…

Student and alumni ratings for 23 teachers were found to correlate .75 (somewhat less for teachers rated only by graduates of their department). This substantial agreement between current students and alumni (of five years) regarding who have been effective or ineffective teachers suggest that student ratings are fairly permanent and do, at least…

A project was conducted to develop a series of studies that will enable one to measure attitudes with reasonable accuracy. Nine stages of project activity were identified: design optical scanning form; write computer program to analyze data; determine adjective pairs; factor scales on elementary pupils; factor scales on high school students and…

The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) Third- and fifth-grade pupils' relative knowledge of certain graphemic options used in American-English orthography to represent selected phonemes presented in "new words," i.e., nonsense words, pronounced orally, and (2) the relationships between this knowledge and the pupils' reading and…

The analysis of covariance is frequently used in observational studies to either adjust treatment comparisons for biases due to different distributions of extraneous variables or for improving the precison of the treatment comparisons. This paper discusses aspects that the researcher should keep in mind when planning such a study. In particular it…

A definition of a suppressor variable is presented which is based on the relation of the semipartial correlation to the zero order correlation. Advantages of the definition are given. (Author/JKS)

Path analytic techniques for assessing the validity of indicators in multitrait-multimethod matrices represent improvements on Campbell and Fiske's early procedures for testing for validity. The diagnosis of indicator ills by means of confirmatory factor analysis is especially useful. An empirical example of these techniques is presented.…

Barron's Ego Strength Scale and Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale were administered to a sample of undergraduates in order to assess the relationship between ego strength and dogmatism. A significant inverse relationship was found, as predicted. (JKS)

Two proposed methods of factor analyzing a correlation matrix using only the off-diagonal elements are compared. The purpose of these methods is to avoid using the diagonal communality elements which are generally unknown and must be estimated. (Author/JKS)

The effects of the violation of the assumption of normality in the conditional distributions of the dependent variable, coupled with the condition of multicollinearity upon the outcome of testing the hypothesis that the regression coefficient equals zero, are investigated via a Monte Carlo study. (Author/JKS)

In order to examine the relationship between name writing and the drawing of a person, samples of both were collected from 112 preschool children (23-63 months old). (PNR)

A quantitative comparison of peer versus bibliometric procedures for rating the quality of U.S. universities is presented. The quality of graduate faculty is measured by the Roose-Andersen peer rating, while bibliometric ratings are based on the number, average "quality," and total influence of university papers in each field.…

An artifact encountered in regression models of human judgment is explored. The direction and magnitude of the artifactual effect is shown to depend upon the nature of the experimental task and task conditions. Use of an alternative index is recommended. (Author/JKS)