A computer program generating question series for achievement examinations was presented and the relative reliability of computer-generated and instructor-selected items was investigated. To provide validity for examinations generated by an original computer program, representative processes of construction and sampling were operationally defined.…

This extension of an earlier study investigated the hypothesis that occupational choices follow orderly or lawful patterns and can be predicted from initial choices. By applying Holland's scheme of classification to students' successive occupational choices, the authors learned that the classification provides a practical definition of…

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), a structured job analysis questionnaire that provides for the analysis of individual jobs in terms of each of 187 job elements, was used to establish the job component validity of certain commercially-available vocational aptitude tests. Prior to the general analyses reported here, a statistical analysis…

Few meaningful sex differences will be reported if investigators go beyond the reporting of statistical significance to determine the indices of experimental effect size. Techniques for obtaining this type of information include the calculation of d and the estimate of omega squared, which indicate the advisability of continuing a line of…

The validity of current standardized competency tests for writing is in doubt as is the need for such testing at all. Some tests, especially those requiring little writing, may not be testing what they purport to test (content validity). Instructional validity (testing what has actually been taught) raises the issue that what is being tested is…

A high school population (N = 541) was administered the Rotter Locus of Control in April and again the following November. At the second testing the MacDonald-Tseng and Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scales were given to examine their concurrent validity. The AIM-ETS Survey and a demographic survey were also administered. Test-retest…

The known interval scale, referred to as the 7.8 scale, has been criticized as an invalid measuring instrument in the form of an attitude scale. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate that this scale can produce spuriously inflated correlation coefficients, high reliability, and false significance on statistical tests. The case will be…

It is hypothesized that the use of an empirical indicator of a theoretical construct implies certain epistemic assumptions about the nature of the construct. In this study, the implications of assuming interval level of measurement using various isomorphic monotonically increasing epistemic alternatives to a commonly used occupational status index…

In this paper it is argued that the problem of construct validation in the construction of instruments and indicators is an important problem for educational researchers and practitioners; moreover, it is claimed that the popular notion of operational definition is a misleading idea which has obscured the problem of construct validity in…

Applied Performance Tests (APT) are defined as instruments designed to measure performance in an actual or simulated setting. They require at least a close approximation of the setting (if not the actual setting) to which the performance is expected to be transferred. This paper outlines measurement problems and issues that are unique to APT. It…

This investigation sought to study separately evaluative devices for assessing levels of performance and knowledge competency in basketball, swimming, and gymnastics. Subjects were women students at the University of Washington, 1968-69. For assessment of basketball competence, indications are that: (1) evaluation, by one individual, of films of…

The evaluation of a testing program is necessary before or during a sound total project evaluation. Ideally, the testing program study should be concurrent with, and equal in magnitude to, the total project evaluation. Step one in an evaluation is to define the testing program's objectives in operational terms. Step two is a thorough description…

For two tests measuring the same trait, the program, BIV20, equates the scores using the two True score distributions estimated by the univariate method 20 program (see Wingersky, Lees, Lennon, and Lord, 1969) and, with these equated true scores and their distributions, estimates the bivariate distribution scores and the relative efficiency of the…

The assumptions behind secondary school literature course tests--whether asking students to recall aspects of literary works, to relate literary works to each other, or to analyze unfamiliar literary works--are open to question. They fail to acknowledge some of the most important aspects of literature which, if properly taught, should provide a…

The item (difficulty and discrimination) and test (reliability and validity) statistics in classical test theory are highly dependent upon the calibration sample of individuals used. The estimates of item and test parameters in classical test theory is valid within a range of interest along the characteristic measured. Generally, this range of…