Notes that, although consultation researchers and practitioners have called attention to need for more psychometrically sound instruments, little advancement has occurred in this area. Outlines key quantitative and qualitative psychometric standards for organizational consultation assessment and evaluation instruments. Presents framework and…

Developed scale to assess routinization (tendency to maintain daily events of one's life in relatively unchanging and orderly pattern of regularity) among older adults. Findings from over 200 older adults revealed 2 underlying factors: Having Order and Routine in daily living and Disliking Disruption. Evidence was found for validity of the 20-item…

Developed bipolar Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Optimism-Pessimism (PSM) scale based on results on Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanation applied to MMPI. Reliability and validity indices show that PSM scale is highly accurate and consistent with Seligman's theory that pessimistic explanatory style predicts increased…

Provides guidelines for writing multiple-choice tests and ways to evaluate the quality of test items. (SK)

Letter series and number series tests of items based on identical rules were administered to 160 male and 160 female undergraduates to determine comparability by testing equality of means, variances, and validity coefficients. Results indicate that letter and number series tests are not equivalent. Number series tests are easier, probably because…

First-year college students (n=506) completed Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (J. Raven, J. Court, and J. Raven, 1988). Data were used to contribute to the normative database for American college students. A short form developed from 12 items of the original 36 was found to possess acceptable psychometric properties. (SLD)

Responses of 903 Canadian college students to the Self-Monitoring Scale (M. Snyder, 1974) and artificial data are used to illustrate the importance of pairing test theoretical structure with quantitative characteristics, including conditional association (CA) and strong positive orthant dependence (SPOD). Tests for CA and SPOD are reviewed. (SLD)

Examined the degree to which coefficient alpha is affected by including items with different distribution shapes within a unidimensional scale. Computer simulation results indicate that reliability does not increase dramatically as a result of using differentially shaped items within a scale. Discusses implications for test construction. (SLD)

Reviews optimal test-assembly literature and introduces the contributions to this special issue. Discusses four approaches to computerized test assembly: (1) heuristic-based test assembly; (2) 0-1 linear programming; (3) network-flow programming; and (4) an optimal design approach. Contains a bibliography of 90 sources on test assembly.…

Investigated the use of mathematical programming techniques to generate parallel test forms with passages and items based on item-response theory (IRT) using the Fundamentals of Engineering Examination. Generated four parallel test forms from the item bank of almost 1,100 items. Comparison with human-generated forms supports the mathematical…

Applied optimal design methods to the item-bank design of adaptive testing for continuous testing situations using a version of the weighted-deviations model (M. Stocking and L. Swanson, 1993) in a simulation. Independent and overlapping item banks used items more efficiently than did a large item bank. (SLD)

Describes a procedure for automated-test-forms assembly based on Classical Test Theory (CTT). The procedure uses stratified random-content sampling and test-form preequating to ensure both content and psychometric equivalence in generating virtually unlimited parallel forms. Extends the usefulness of CTT in automated test construction. (Author/SLD)

Holland's model of vocational interests influenced development of the Strong Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII), Strong Interest Inventory, and Campbell Interest and Skill Survey. His theory led Campbell to make the following changes in the SCII: two kinds of content scales, reorganization using the hexagonal system, and merged inventories for men…

Provides theoretical and practical guidelines to help test developers choose the most appropriate tool for standard-setting in both written and performance tests. (Author/CCM)

Studied reducing the number of slides submitted by candidates taking the histology technician examination of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. Results from 145 candidates show that slides can be reduced from 15 (with coverslipping and block preparation scores) to 9 without affecting the mean ability level of candidates and only a…