Reports on three studies conducted in the Netherlands about the reading reliability of lay and expert readers in rating content and language usage of students' writing performances in three kinds of writing assignments. Findings reveal that expert readers are more reliable in rating usage, whereas both lay and expert readers are reliable raters of…

Presents an assessment that examines prominent factors from the professional literature describing background and clinical characteristics of paraphilic individuals and sex offenders. Reliability and validity of measures in use are reviewed with suggestions for a battery of measures that offer some index of dangerousness and target for treatment.…

A preschool screening battery was presented to a sample of 198 children with and without mild learning problems. Cross-sample test validation was demonstrated when 81% of both groups were correctly classified. Interrater reliability of 80% or greater on all but one of the tasks was demonstrated. (Contains references.) (Author/PB)

Evaluated new self-report measure assessing children's strategies for preserving emotional security in context of interparental conflict. Factor analyses of the Security in the Interparental Subsystem (SIS) Scale supported a 7-factor solution. The SIS demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Support for test…

Fifteen listeners using the Listener Comfort Scale rated videos of 10 adults before and after stuttering treatment and videos of 10 controls. Results were compared with those of 15 listeners who used the Speech Naturalness Scale. Reliability of the Speech Naturalness Scale was superior; however, the Listener Comfort Scale captured different…

Explains that the concern of learning style research is to identify student characteristics, which are related to instructional methods and learning outcomes in educationally significant ways. Demonstrates that styles as measured by the Ego Inventory Instrument have some desirable reliability and validity qualities. Proposes that in addition to…

To assess diagnostic accuracy and test-retest reliability, two forms of a nonword repetition task were administered to 22 preschool children with specific language impairment and 22 controls. Nonword repetition scores provided excellent sensitivity and specificity for discrimination. Scores on nonword repetition and digit span tasks improved from…

In the current study of 361 sexually active undergraduates cited for their first time for university substance abuse violations, confirmatory factor analysis was employed to validate the Risky Sex Scale. A three factor solution appears to fit the data significantly, and three subscales demonstrate good to excellent reliability and vary…

The response of the magazine "U.S. News and World Report" to criticism of its college ranking methodology included changes in the determination of indicators and reporting of data. However, the research still relies on subjective information, and its conclusions, therefore, are questionable. (Author/MSE)

Describes development of Adolescent Drug Abuse Diagnosis (ADAD), a 150-item instrument with a structured interview format, which produces a comprehensive evaluation of the life problem areas pertinent to the needs of adolescent drug abuse clients. A series of validity and reliability tests are described, along with characteristics of the…

Results are reported from a study that investigated the correspondence between two methods used to assess differential item functioning (test item bias). The study also explored the influence of sample size on the two procedures. Although agreement between the two procedures was generally good, the Rasch procedure was more reliable. (IAH)

Describes process used in constructing Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI), instrument designed to measure certain aspects of Chickering's theory of psychosocial development of traditional-age college students. Summarizes reliability and validity studies. Discusses use of SDTLI. (NB)

The taxonomy developed by J. Klecan-Aker et al. to investigate the use of various speech acts in response to questions during a structured picture-description task was evaluated. Results indicated that the taxonomy was sufficient to handle the responses of a group of 12 language-impaired children, aged 7-11. (JDD)

Reviews the use of propositional analysis in library and information science research. Evidence that different analysts produce similar judgments about texts and use the method consistently over time is presented, and it is concluded that propositional analysis is a reliable and valid research method. An example of an analysis is appended. (32…

A study of the usefulness of a comprehensive placement examination for individualizing the experiential course sequence for pharmacy students and providing needed remediation in selected subject areas found that the test could not be supported for preclinical screening but might be useful for identifying students needing remediation. (MSE)