Purpose: "Medication administration hassles" are the minor daily irritants that family caregivers experience when they assist a dependent family member with medication regimens. This study was designed to develop and test a multidimensional measure of the hassles in family caregiver medication administration. Design and Method: The authors…

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale for Program Facilitators (SPF) to assess the effectiveness of after school achievement programs through four steps: (a) identification of a theoretical framework, (b) formulation of the initial scale, (c) test of content validity, and (d) conducting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). A…

The validity of estimates of peak oxygen consumption (VO[subscript 2]peak) using submaximal exercise tests may be compromised when the participants being tested are not similar to the participants used to develop the test. This study compared ethnic differences in the heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO[subscript 2]) responses to submaximal…

The current review provides a summary and evaluation of the technical characteristics of five preschool screening batteries, including the Brigance Screens, DIAL-3, ESI-R, ESP, and FirstSTEP. These norm-referenced instruments were selected on the basis of their commercial availability, description as a screening instrument, and ability to assess…

Two studies addressed the psychometric properties of the Children's Hope Scale (CHS; Snyder et al., 1997). A sample of 460 high school students was administered the CHS along with measures of life satisfaction, extraversion, neuroticism, social support, and externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The results revealed adequate internal…

Objective: This study examines the quality of evaluation studies using qualitative research methods in the social work literature in terms of a number of criteria commonly adopted in the field of qualitative research. Method: Using qualitative and evaluation as search terms, relevant qualitative evaluation studies from 1990 to 2003 indexed by…

This study examines the reliability and validity of translation tests as a reading comprehension measure. The following tests were administered to 70 Japanese high school students: (1) open-ended translation (OE-TRAN) test from English to Japanese; (2) multiple-choice translation (MC-TRAN) test; (3) cloze test (CLOZE-T); and (4) short-answer…

This study investigates the effect of computer animation on assessment and the conditions under which animation may improve or hinder assessment of conceptual understanding in physics. An instrument was developed by replacing static pictures and descriptions of motion with computer animations on the Force Concept Inventory, a commonly used pencil…

This paper presents and critically analyzes data from a project that sought teacher candidates' responses to the process and content of the Ontario Teacher Qualifying Test (OTQT), a mandatory, standardized, pencil and paper initial teacher qualification test. The aim of the project, guided by a critical democratic perspective, was to critically…

This paper represents Part I of a two-part study examining preservice teachers' development of a personalized, research-based Science Teaching Rationale (STR). Researchers have historically documented the application of the "rationale paper" (Clough, 1992; Veronesi, 1998) using qualitative methodologies. Since the rationale paper continues to…

This article presents a brief history of the National Science Foundation's involvement in education evaluation, reviews the program evaluations that NSF's Division of Research, Evaluation, and Communication (REC) has conducted in recent years, and describes future directions. The evaluations have reflected the field-driven nature of NSF's…

This article examines major threats to the validity of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the context of rural schools. Although rural students and their schools made significant academic progress in the past on national and state assessments, the current goal of AYP turns out to be highly unrealistic for them unless states set far lower…

Objectives: To evaluate the performance of the US Centers for Disease Control's health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scale among 522 college students. Methods: Chi-square analysis assessed scale construct validity and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with selected tobacco, alcohol, and substance use variables assessed known-groups validity of the…

Digital video and accompanying editing software are increasingly becoming more accessible for researchers in terms of ease of use and cost. The rich, visually appealing and seductive nature of video-based data can convey a strong sense of direct experience with the phenomena studied (Pea, 1999). However, the ease of selection and editing of…

The purpose of this research was to examine the validity of the 55-item Revised Token Test (RTT) and to compare traditional and Rasch-based scores in their ability to detect group differences and change over time. The 55-item RTT was administered to 108 left- and right-hemisphere stroke survivors, and the data were submitted to Rasch analysis.…