Introduces a new approach for partitioning test items into dimensionally distinct item clusters. The core of this approach is a new item-pair conditional-covariance-based proximity measure that can be used with hierarchical cluster analysis. The procedure can correctly classify, on average, over 90% of the items for correlations as high as 0.9.…

This article explores methodological issues in sonification and sound design arising from the design of helicopter monitoring sounds. Six monitoring sounds (each with 5 levels) were tested for similarity and meaning with 3 different techniques: hierarchical cluster analysis, linkage analysis, and multidimensional scaling. In Experiment 1,…

This article reports two studies to illustrate methodologies for conducting a conditional covariance-based nonparametric dimensionality assessment using data from two forms of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Study 1 illustrates how to assess overall dimensionality of the TOEFL including all three subtests. Study 2 is aimed at…

DETECT is a nonparametric "full" dimensionality assessment procedure that clusters dichotomously scored items into dimensions and provides a DETECT index of magnitude of multidimensionality. Four factors (test length, sample size, item response theory [IRT] model, and DETECT index) were manipulated in a Monte Carlo study of bias, standard error,…

Online professional development is multidimensional. It encompasses: a) an online, web-based format; b) professional development; and most likely c) specific objectives tailored to and created for the respective online professional development course. Evaluating online professional development is therefore also multidimensional and as such both…

The dynamics model, which is based on L. Talmy's (1988) theory of force dynamics, characterizes causation as a pattern of forces and a position vector. In contrast to counterfactual and probabilistic models, the dynamics model naturally distinguishes between different cause-related concepts and explains the induction of causal relationships from…

This study explores parental ethnotheories of children's temperament through mothers' responses to McDevitt and Carey's Behavioral Style Questionnaire (1978) for 299 children aged 3 to 8 years and interviews with their parents, in Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. We first established a standardized,…

Although the evidence base for the effectiveness of residential treatment is still very limited, a review of the literature reveals family-centered residential care as an emerging best practice. Synthesizing knowledge from research, families, youth, professionals, as well as values put forth in the standards by accrediting organizations, this…

Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were compared across groups of college women from China (n = 109), South Korea (n = 137), and the United States (n = 102). Based on cultural differences in the amount of exposure to Western appearance standards, particularly the thin-body ideal, sociocultural theory (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, &…

Background: Clinical experience has proven thus far that a monodisciplinary treatment approach to behavioural and psychiatric problems in persons with intellectual disability (ID), such as psychotropic medication or behaviour modification programmes, has yielded limited success. It is clear that the complexity of behavioural and psychiatric…

Represents an attempt to jointly scale both political issues and political candidates in the same space, using Tucker's (1972) three-mode mutidimensional scaling model. (Author/RC)

Using a model for individual differences in multidimensional scaling, 16 concepts dealing with developmental psychology were scaled before and after a course. The criterion measure used was the instructor's position in the subject space. Implications of this methodology for educational evaluation are discussed. (Author/SE)

Using Goodman's (1975) notion of quasi-independence as a method of obtaining goodness of fit measures for non-scalable types in a scalogram analysis, archival data sets were examined using available Guttman scaling techniques, recent developments in latent structure analysis, and multidimensional scaling procedures. The Stouffer-Toby (1951) data…

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) a highly reliable measurement technique, often requires an overwhelming task of the subject in the data collection procedure. This investigation was designed to determine the loss of precision in solution associated with five degrees of systematic reduction in the data collection task. Data were simulated via Monte…