A major problem in the research concerning distributional and other properties of reliability coefficients has been the non-existence or inaccessibility of adequate test data for use in empirical verification of hypothetical conclusions. The purpose of this paper is to develop a technique for the simulation of test item scores through the use of…

During early attempts to interpret factors represented in scores on the Gumpgookies test, an instrument designed to tap motivation to achieve in young children, the factors identified by ordinary factor-analytic techniques were found to be confounded by the subjects' response sets. This paper proposes a method for defining objectively irrelevant…

A factor rotation scheme is presented which has a property that is interesting for examining factor-structure hypotheses. Given several clusters of tests the orthogonal bounds scheme produces factors which contain these clusters in some optimal sense. (Author)

A new basic algorithm is discussed that may be used to do factor analysis by any of these three methods: (1) unweighted least squares, (2) generalized least squares, or (3) maximum likelihood. (CK)

Beginning with the results of Girschick on the asymptotic distribution of principal component loadings and those of Lawley on the distribution of unrotated maximum likelihood factor loadings, the asymptotic distributions of the corresponding analytically rotated loadings is obtained. The principal difficulty is the fact that the transformation…

The aims of this study were (1) to explore the factor structure of the Personality Research Form (PRF) and (2) to examine the inventory's relations with response styles. In general the PRF content scales correlated moderately with each other and with measures of acquiesence, social desirability, and defensiveness response Biases. Six oblique…

Given multiple independent measures of an underlying true factor and information on group membership, it is possible to compute a set of observed group means for each measure. Given at least three tests, these sets of means may be used to compute the reliability of the means for each test. The procedure for estimating true scores from the…

Results of two factor analyses of 3,722 student ratings of engineering courses and instructors, obtained by using alternative step factoring criteria, were compared on the basis of six criteria. Results indicated that the ten factor solution obtained by using a step criterion of accounting for 70-75% of the total variance as opposed to a five…

A presentation of the 40-year history of psychometrics is given with comments about needed trends for the future. Computers have radically changed the time required for data processing. In testing, many promising developments, such as Kristof's reliability for vector variables, latent class and latent struction models, one-factor ration scale in…

Item options of shortened forms of the Graduate Record Examination Verbal and Quantitative tests were empirically weighted by two variants of a method originally attributed to Guttman. The first method assigned to each option of an item the mean standard score on the remaining items of all subjects choosing that option. The second procedure…

The purposes of this study were to determine the feasibility of group testing of conservation and examine the differential performance of students drawn from various populations. The effects of three factors were examined: grade level (2, 4, 6), SES (disadvantaged, advantaged, and race (Black, White, Latin). (Author)

The mathematical derivation of the statistics used for inference in some linear models assumes that values of the independent variables are pre-selected such that these variables can be treated as fixed rather than random variables. This assumption is often disregarded when these models are utilized in research. This study is an investigation of…

Five models are introduced for the factor analytic treatment of a set of measures obtained for the same sample of persons on two different occasions. The models differ in terms of the assumptions made regarding the constancy of the (1) factor (actually component) score and (2) factor pattern matrices from occasion 1 to 2. Least-squares procedures…

The Mathematics Attitude Scale (Aiken, 1974) purports to reflect attitude toward mathematics on two basic dimensions, enjoyment and value. While this scale is widely used in mathematics research, the only empirical evidence supporting the two-factor structure is the item analysis of college freshmen responses. The present study examines the…

An inventory was constructed to screen children for psychiatric impairment. Factor analysis of the questionnaire items of child behavior yielded 18 factors. The 7 factors with the highest correlations with total psychiatric impairment were selected for the inventory, each represented by 5 items. (Author)