Measurement of mental rotation presents a serious challenge to cognitive researchers owing to the lack of a single comprehensive measure that can be applied across the developing age groups. Objective of the present study was to develop and validate a new measure of mental rotation for preadolescent and adolescent age groups. Items were…

Despite the limitations of overgeneralizing cutoff values for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; e.g., Marsh, Hau, & Wen, 2004), they are still often employed as golden rules for assessing factorial validity in sport and exercise psychology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the appropriateness of using the CFA approach with these…

Periodic assessment and scrutiny of the discipline's measurement practices, instruments, and research findings are necessary to provide clarity and direction by revealing what we know, how we know it, and where the knowledge gaps exist. Reflective reviews have produced ample appraisals of the theory, research, and methods employed in the conduct…

HRQOL as a multidimensional construct has not been previously investigated in children with Asperger's Syndrome. The objective of the present study was to examine the initial feasibility, reliability, and validity of the PedsQL[TM] 4.0 Generic Core Scales and PedsQL[TM] Cognitive Functioning Scale parent proxy-report versions in school-aged…

Psychometric practice does not always converge with the advances of psychometric theory. In order to investigate this gap, the authors focus on the 10 most used psychological tests in Europe, as identified by recent surveys. The article analyzes test manuals published in 6 different European countries for these 10 most used tests. A total of 32…

Background: Appropriate assessment is an essential part of treating sexual offenders. Few assessments exist that can be used with offenders who have lower levels of intellectual functioning and/or literacy deficits. Method: This study describes the adaptation of four self-report assessments for sexual offenders with special needs: (i) the "Social…

Describes a newly developed method of rating the home environment of primary school children. The method was used in a study to assess the cognitive abilities and school progress of 20 children. Results indicate environmental factors significantly correlate with children's cognitive abilities and demonstrate that not all such factors are related…

The aim of this study is to suggest an alternative to the essay testing method of assessing structural understanding of concepts, which suffers from time constraints and lack of scoring reliability. In this method, students' relationship judgments between concept pairs are examined directly rather than by means of multidimensional scaling analysis…

A general working model of cognitive development assumes that there are sets of orthogonal cognitive abilities, which remain fairly stable after age 7. This paper examines the long term predictive and diagnostic value of assessing specific cognitive abilities among preschool children. This model by empirical studies was defendable on the grounds…

The validity and reliability of a novel route learning test were examined to assess the effectiveness of its use in evaluating spatial memory in healthy older adults and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Puget Sound Route Learning Test was significantly correlated with an existing measure of cognitive ability, the Dementia Rating Scale.…

The psychometric properties of the Pervasive Developmental Disorders Rating scale (Eaves, 2003) and the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (Gilliam, 1995) were investigated in this study. One hundred thirty-four individuals with autism, other pervasive developmental disorders, or conditions frequently confused with autism participated in the study. The…

This kit contains materials necessary to administer the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS), an assessment battery designed to evaluate cognitive processing in children 5 through 17 years of age. Derived from the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) theory, the four processing areas comprise the four scales that make up the CAS.…

In past Head Start evaluations, cognitive measures have been weighed heavily. This has not accurately reflected the relative unimportance of cognitive program goals; child performance gains are not an objective with high priority for most Head Start programs. Evaluation planners need to weigh previously encountered measurement problems carefully…

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K), selected a nationally representative sample of approximately 22,000 kindergartners in the fall of 1998 and is following these children through the end of the fifth grade. Baseline data about these children, their families, and their kindergarten programs were collected…