The study described the psychometric properties of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) when used in Taiwanese normally developing children and illustrated the ethnic differences in determining capacity and independence in daily function between Taiwanese and American children. The Chinese version of the PEDI (PEDI-C) was…

There is considerable debate in the area of individual quality of life research regarding the factor structure and hierarchical nature of the quality of life construct. Our purpose in this study was to test via structural equation modeling an a priori quality of life model consisting of eight first-order factors and one second-order factor. Data…

The psychometric properties and multigroup measurement invariance of scores across subgroups, items, and persons on the "Reading for Meaning" items from the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) were assessed in a sample of 778 seventh-grade students. Specifically, we sought to determine the extent to which score-based…

Four studies were conducted to develop and validate the Coping With Discrimination Scale (CDS). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (N = 328) identified 5 factors: Education/Advocacy, Internalization, Drug and Alcohol Use, Resistance, and Detachment, with internal consistency reliability estimates ranging from 0.72 to 0.90. In Study 2, a…

An instrument designed to measure a 3-factor model of research motivation was developed and psychometrically examined in the present research. Participants were 437 graduate students in biology, chemistry/biochemistry, physics/astronomy, and psychology. A principal components analysis supported the retention of 20 items representing the 3-factor…

This paper reports a study investigating trainee teachers' beliefs about music abilities and learning. The study employed two questionnaires: the "Music abilities beliefs questionnaire" (MABQ) and the "Music learning beliefs questionnaire" (MLBQ) which were specially designed to reveal the beliefs of trainee teachers of primary…

In this article, we operationalize identification of mixed racial and ethnic ancestry among adolescents as a latent variable to (a) account for measurement uncertainty, and (b) compare alternative wording formats for racial and ethnic self-categorization in surveys. Two latent variable models were fit to multiple mixed-ancestry indicator data from…

Recent debates about "Britishness" have drawn increasing attention to the inculcation of national values within the school history curriculum. To date, however, few studies have explored young people's attitudes towards history or how these are related to their sources of national pride and shame. This paper draws on a survey of over 400…

The Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) family of measures is routinely used in mental health services in the New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. However, the psychometric properties of the HoNOS65+ for elderly people have not been extensively evaluated. The aim of the present study was to examine the validity, reliability, and…

Disengagement in school is associated with behavioral problems and decreased academic achievement. In contrast, pupils who are engaged in school develop the academic and social efficacies that underlie successful adulthood. Moreover, engagement promotes educational resilience. This study examines pupils' self-reported level of engagement in…

Recent research suggests that competitive work environments may influence individual's attitudes, behaviors, stress, and performance. Unfortunately, adequate measures of competitive environments are lacking. This article traces the development of a new multidimensional competitive work environment scale. An initial 59-item pool covering five…

Universities confront many challenges in their efforts to manage staff activity with the aid of workload assessment and allocation systems. This article sets out fresh perspectives from an exploratory study designed to uncover patterns of subjective views about various aspects of workloads. Using Q methodology, academic staff in a single…

The concepts of optimism and employee engagement as mechanisms to improving individual performance have been discussed in the management literature. Though studies concerning optimism in the workplace are relatively limited, evidence certainly exists that links the concept to improvement in individual academic and workplace performance.…

A field trip is a common strategy used by educators to bring out-of-school learning experience into schools. Many research studies suggest a field trip will not only bring an individual close to the real-world, but may also increase an individual's environmental knowledge and responsible behaviors. Program evaluations usually focus on the…

Most computerized adaptive tests (CAT) have been studied under the framework of unidimensional item response theory. However, many psychological variables are multidimensional and might benefit from using a multidimensional approach to CAT. In addition, a number of psychological variables (e.g., quality of life, depression) can be conceptualized…