Proactive preliminary minimum sample size determination can be useful for the early planning stages of a latent variable modeling study to set a realistic scope, long before the model and population are finalized. This study examined existing methods and proposed a new method for proactive preliminary minimum sample size determination.

Three numerical coefficients for analyzing the validity and reliability of ratings are described. Each coefficient is computed as the ratio of an obtained to a maximum sum of differences in ratings. The coefficients are also applicable to the item analysis, agreement analysis, and cluster or factor analysis of rating-scale data. (Author/BW)