While there is growing research identifying the academic and nonacademic challenges to the wellbeing of Chinese international students, there is little discussion about the differences in and challenges of the assessment they experience. This gap appears to come from a tacit assumption that assessment is universal worldwide, or that students will…

Much psychological research depends on participants' diligence in filling out materials such as surveys. However, not all participants are motivated to respond attentively, which leads to unintended issues with data quality, known as careless responding. Our question is: how do different modes of data collection--paper/pencil, computer/web-based,…

Questionnaire design is routinely guided by classic experiments on question form, wording, and context conducted decades ago. This article explores whether two question order effects (one due to the norm of evenhandedness and the other due to subtraction or perceptual contrast) appear in surveys of probability samples in the United States and 11…

Background: This study examined the comparability of reading and writing tasks of two English language proficiency tests--the General English Proficiency Test-A (GEPT-A) developed by Language Training Center, Taipei and the Internet-Based Test of English as a Foreign Language (iBT) developed by Educational Testing Service, Princeton. Methods: Data…

The selection and interpretation of individually administered norm-referenced cognitive tests that are administered to culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students continue to be an important consideration within the psychoeducational assessment process. Understanding test directions during the assessment of cognitive abilities is…

This study explains mathematical difficulties of students who immigrated from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) vis-à-vis Israeli students, by identifying the existing bias factors in achievement tests. These factors are irrelevant to the mathematical knowledge being measured, and therefore threaten the test results. The bias factors were identified…

The purpose of test directions is to familiarize examinees with a test so that they respond to items in the manner intended. However, changes in educational measurement as well as the U.S. student population present new challenges to test directions and increase the impact that differential familiarity could have on the validity of test score…

The metric equivalence of translated scales is often in question but seldom examined. This study presents test-retest data that support the metric equivalence of the Spanish and English language versions of three measures: the Bidimensional Acculturation Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Self-Construal Scale. Participants were…

Findings from a study involving 69 multiracial and multiethnic women show that respondents' racial identification varies considerably across question formats and that persons of mixed heritage prefer a racial identification question that provides them the opportunity to acknowledge their multiracial backgrounds. Many respondents also wanted to…

The Chinese Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescents (MMPI-A) was applied in Hong Kong to a normative sample of 565 male and 664 female students aged 14 to 18. In conjunction with previous research, findings support the possibility of cultural differences in item interpretation, which should be considered in clinical interpretations…

Approaches to studying were investigated in 227 U.S. college students using a short form of the Approaches to Studying Inventory. The factor structure of responses differed from that previously obtained in the United Kingdom, suggesting that basic study orientations are interpreted in a manner distinct to each cultural context. (SLD)

In 1993, the Centre for Instructional Development at Centennial College, Ontario, Canada received funding to investigate the effects of student diversity on prior learning assessment evaluation processes and to develop guidelines to respond to any effects demonstrated. A review of the literature identified six barriers to equitable evaluation:…

Whether differences in mean scores among gender and racial/ethnic groups on science performance assessments are comparable to those for traditional tests was studied with 2,000 students in grades five, six, and nine. Overall, results suggest that the type of test has little effect on these differences in scores. (SLD)

Evaluating the comparability of a test administered in different languages is a difficult, if not impossible, task. Comparisons are problematic because observed differences in test performance between groups who take different language versions of a test could be due to a difference in difficulty between the tests, to cultural differences in test…

The objective of this study was to investigate differential tendencies to avoid guessing as a function of three variables: (1) lingual-cultural-group; (2) gender; and (3) examination year. The Psychometric Entrance Test (PET) for universities in Israel was used, which is administered in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Russian. The…