Describes study results that compared different ways of measuring frequency of alcohol use employed in previous research. Results of intake interviews with clients (N=832) indicate that frequency-of-alcohol-use reports can be affected by the type of response options used and by the location of items in a self-administered microcomputer interview.…

Discusses the development of a questionnaire designed to render profiles of employment expectations. Factor analysis suggested that job knowledge/production skills, socialization and emotional coping skills, trainability/task flexibility, dependability, and motivation/satisfaction underlay the questionnaire. Construct validity revealed moderate…

Explores the structure of the Role Questionnaire (RQ) so as to clarify the measurement and structure of role conflict among high school counselors. Results indicate three underlying factors for the questionnaire: role ambiguity, role incongruity, and role conflict. A three-dimensional view of the RQ is required across populations and job…

Discusses Margaret Mead's insights on mental retardation. Her study of intelligence scores of Italian children, which analyzed correlations between test performance, language, immigration date, and social status, is used to indicate recognition of the multicultural complexities of mental retardation. Her belief in social integration is also…

Examined the psychometric properties of the Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) when used with a behavioral item-response scale. Results support the hypothesized unidimensionality of the ACCI-B Exploration subscales, need for occupational information, career choice certainty, and career indecision. Discusses implications for counselors. (RJM)

To offset the loss of explanatory power of Kelly's repertory grid when used with children, adapted the School Behaviour Game (SBG) to examine children's perceptions of school. Results show that the SBG enables children to articulate their tacit understanding of a concept. The SBG's potential for guidance and counseling are considered. (RJM)

Decision theory is a useful method for assessing the effectiveness of the components of a course placement system. The effectiveness of placement tests or other variables in identifying underprepared students is described by the conditional probability of success in a standard course. Estimating the conditional probability of success is discussed.…

Recent research demonstrates that intelligence is much more complex than can be measured by standardized tests. External sociocultural factors influence the development of intelligence, and a distinction should be made between potential for learning and actual learning. (SK)

A study compared the performance of 66 New Zealand children (ages 9-12) on a published problem-solving test and the Progressive Achievement Test (PAT). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that, independent of any chosen percentile, the PAT's accuracy at identifying mathematically gifted children was only 78%. (Contains references.)…

This study supported evidence of reliability and validity of the Theoretical Orientation Profile Scale-Revised (TOPS-R) scores. The TOPS-R was designed to measure theoretical orientation among counselors and trainees. Factor analysis yielded a 6-factor solution accounting for 87.5% of the total variance in the scale. The 6 factors corresponded to…

The concept of consequential validity wrongly links the idea of the consequences of test use with the idea of validity, widely held to be rooted in the accuracy of inferences drawn from examinees' test performances. The reification of consequential validity can distract from a needed clarity about test use consequences. (SLD)

Eight subtests were selected from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Third Edition (WISC-III) to make a short form for clinical use. Results with the 2,200 children from the WISC-III standardization sample indicated the adequate reliability and validity of the short form for clinical use. (SLD)

Evaluates the Personal Experience Inventory for convergent and predictive validity in a clinical sample of 140 youths being evaluated for drug treatment referral. Compares problem severity scales to concurrent client and parent measures of drug abuse and related psychosocial functioning at intake and one year later, to counselor intake ratings, to…

Investigates the factor structure of an intelligence scale for White, Mexican American, and African American children. Examined 4541 non-referred children and looked at verbal comprehension, perceptual organization, and freedom from distractibility. Results indicate differences in the intelligence scale's factor structure across groups, raising…

Describes the development and validation of a measure of the stress experienced by African Americans as a result of daily encounters with racism and discrimination. The scale has adequate indexes of internal consistency and fair-to-adequate estimates of test-retest stability. Several other factors also indicated the measure's reliability. (RJM)