This article reports the development of the Faith Activities In The Home Scale (FAITHS). The initial FAITHS measure was improved on and expanded by using qualitative data of two separate samples and then empirically tested on three separate samples. Study 1 comprised two samples totaling 57 highly religious families from New England and California…

A latent variable analysis procedure for evaluation of reliability coefficients for 2-level models is outlined. The method provides point and interval estimates of group means' reliability, overall reliability of means, and conditional reliability. In addition, the approach can be used to test simple hypotheses about these parameters. The…

Several alternatives are available for specifying the residual structure in latent growth curve modeling. Two specifications involve uncorrelated residuals and represent the most commonly used residual structures. The first, building on repeated measures analysis of variance and common specifications in multilevel models, forces residual variances…

Will subscores provide additional information than what is provided by the total score? Is there a method that can estimate more trustworthy subscores than observed subscores? To answer the first question, this study evaluated whether the true subscore was more accurately predicted by the observed subscore or total score. To answer the second…

This paper details an investigation into onscreen marking (OSM) in Hong Kong--where paper-based marking is being phased out, being completely superseded by OSM. The study described involved 30 raters who had previously rated English language essay scripts on screen in the 2007 Hong Kong Certificate of Education examination. In the current study,…

Drug courts are reinventing the drug testing framework by experimenting with new methods, including use of the sweat patch. The sweat patch is a band-aid like strip used to monitor drug court participants. The validity and reliability of the sweat patch as an effective testing method was examined, as well as the effectiveness, meaning how likely…

Development of a research instrument to measure student achievement requires planning and reliability and validity testing before the instrument is used to collect data. These steps are often overlooked in research studies, but when the instrument is to be used across a wider population, the inclusion of these steps is vital to address the…

The use of timed, essay examinations is a well-established means of evaluating student learning in higher education. The reliability of essay scoring is highly problematic and it appears that essay examination grades are highly dependent on language and organisational components of writing. Computer-assisted scoring of essays makes use of language…

The current study examined the psychometric support of the Career Clusters Interest Survey (CCIS) that provides subscales scores for the 16 Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) career clusters in a sample of 203 college students. Reliability of the subscales was supported with respect to internal consistency and 2-week stability…

Students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are currently the most commonly used method for evaluating teaching effectiveness in higher education institutions. They aid in evaluating the quality of faculty teaching and provide useful information for administrators, faculty, and students. The majority of SET instruments were developed based on faculty…

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale for preferences of teachers in regard of their curriculum design orientations. Because there was no scale development study similar to this one in Turkey, it was considered as an urgent need to develop such a scale in the study. The sample of the research consisted of 300…

The purpose of the present study is to display a detailed investigation of the views of the elementary teachers in the specification of defections in the inclusive education applications and in the evaluation of success. In accordance with this aim, in 16 different cities of Turkey, 23 teachers who have been working in schools where inclusive…

Narrative skills that are important for preschoolers include retelling stories, telling personal stories, and answering questions about stories. Narrative abilities form the foundation of reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an individually delivered language intervention on the narrative skills of…

The expectancy-value model of motivation states that individuals' choice, persistence and performances are related to their beliefs about how much they value task. Despite the importance of "task value" in learning biology, lack of the instruments on task value for high school biology courses for practical use indicated requirement to…

This study examines the users' experiences with three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments to investigate the areas of development as a learning application. For the investigation, the modified technology acceptance model (TAM) is used with constructs from expectation-confirmation theory (ECT). Users' responses to questions about cognitive…