Examined a Sufi personality typology that describes nine life strategies depicted by a nine-sided figure called the enneagram. Devised an objective 135-item test instrument to differentiate the nine styles, and obtained positive results. Enneagram typology may have diagnostic, prognostic, and heuristic value for studying personality structure and…

Initial assessments of the item characteristics, reliability, and validity of the Inquiry Mode Questionnaire (IMQ) are reported. The IMQ was developed by (Harrison and Bramson) to measure the characteristic thinking style of individuals on five major dimensions: synthesist, idealist, analyst, realist, and pragmatist. (Author/PN)

Responses of 522 middle-class parents to Torrance's Ideal Child Checklist were factor analyzed. Four dimensions were found to underly the 66 items that originally comprised the scale: Factor I, Confident, Aggressive, Well Adjusted; Factor II, Socially Virtuous; Factor III, Negativistic, Critical; and Factor IV, Creative-Intuitive. These dimensions…

A questionnaire, which is included, was developed to measure students' attitudes toward pharmacy as a profession, professional principles, and their preparation for the profession. It was administered to three consecutive year graduating classes in both pre- and post-externship so that changes in attitudes during the eight-week program might be…

Rules are given for estimating accuracy of predictions based on a multiple regression equation. Formulas for moments of distribution and other parameters are noted. The approximate inflation in mean absolute error due to estimating the regression coefficients is a function of the base sample size and number of predictors. (DWH)

Examined the scale characteristics of two measures of organizational commitment. Using data from l,l05 accountants, findings indicated that while both instruments exhibited a high degree of internal reliability, the Porter et al. (1947) instrument exhibited significantly greater predictive validity with respect to intended turnover than the…

A comparison of double as opposed to single multiple-choice questions yielded significant differences in regard to item difficulty, item discrimination, and internal reliability, but not concurrent validity. (Author/PN)

The School of Architecture faculty posed the methodological problem to construct a scale of 10 items or less to reliably evaluate instruction at different levels of technical and artistic instruction. Among the first 10 ordered items were: "The instructor did a good job" and "The course was worthwhile." (CM)

Compared the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities for 35 preschool children identified as being "at risk." Nonsignificant differences were found between Forms L and M of the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI.Correlations between the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI and Scale scores were significant. (Author)

Investigated item bias on six subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised for four sociocultural groups (N=950), Anglo, Black, Chicano, and Native American Papago (NAP). Results of statistical indexes indicated no or negligible bias against Blacks and Chicanos. Found evidence suggesting bias in some verbal scales with NAPs.…

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised protocols from two vocational counseling clients were scored by 19 psychologists and 20 graduate students. Regardless of scorer's experience level, mechanical scoring error produced summary scores varying by as much as 4 to 18 IQ points. (Author/RC)

The Rational Behavior Inventory and other scales of psychological adjustment were administered to mental health outpatients (N=75) who were receiving psychotherapy. Significant correlations were found between all measures in expected directions, and significant pre- to postscale differences identified consistently with expected effects of…

Discusses a series of six studies that investigated the performance of 66 reading and learning disabilities specialists and classroom teachers who diagnosed simulated reading or learning disability cases and suggested remediation plans. Results indicate that both commonality and individual agreement among participants was very low. (AEA)

The need for reliable, valid, and economical preschool screening measures to identify psychoeducational problems as mandated by P.L. 94-142 (the Education for All Handicapped Child Act) led to the development of the Minneapolis Preschool Screening Instrument (MPSI). (SW)

Nonrestricted-answer, multiple-choice test items are recommended as a way of including more facts and fewer incorrect answers in test items, and they do not cue successful guessing as restricted multiple choice items can. Examination construction, scoring, and reliability are discussed. (MSE)