Teachers and assistant teachers (N = 32) from two rural counties in North Carolina rated five pre-school educational settings and one hypothesized ideal setting using a semantic differential in order to determine if the semantic differential could be used to reliably differentiate between pre-school educational environments. Five discrepancy…

An attitude questionnaire, administered to third, fourth, and fifth grade students, is discussed. The questionnaire, "How I Feel," was composed of a packet of directions to the teacher, directions to the student with sample questions, and 11 concepts, each of which was evaluated by six bipolar adjective pairs that were chosen because of…

Male and female enlistees were compared on the basis of their performance on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Mean Aptitude Index scores were compared for male and female enlistees on the original testing and on retest. Males scored higher on mechanical and electronics, and females scored higher on administrative and general. Both…

The feasibility of using multiple choice questions as a reliable procedure in testing trainees is discussed, and suggestions for test construction are offered. (BP)

Although single-subject research techniques are valuable to counselors, analyzing change by graphs alone is open to major sources of error. Discusses these sources and explores the issues of serial dependency, unreliability of graphs, interjudge disagreement on graphed data, and the use of time-series statistics with relevance to the counselor in…

Discusses three weaknesses in reporting research findings by commenting and criticizing research articles published in the eighth volume of Journal of Research in Science Teaching. (CC)

Findings show that the reliability of GPA depends on three factors: the number of course grades, the average reliability of these grades, and the credit-hour weights. (Authors)

An examination of the weaknesses of the common statistical approaches suggests that change scores are unnecessary and often even inappropriate for statistical studies. Alternative statistical procedures are suggested. (Author/VW)

In this comment a recent attempt by Samuel A. Livingston to develop a theory of reliability for criterion-referenced measures is critiqued. For Livingston's rejoinder see TM 500 560. (Authors/MB)

Investigated the stabilities and construct validities of the Career Salience Questionnaire (CS) and the Central Life Interests Questionnaire (CLI) after minor modifications. Results indicated the modified CS and CLI are reliable for experimental use and that the CS and CLI tap different aspects of an "importance of work" construct. (RC)

Conducted a meta-evaluation of 11 school-based smoking prevention programs. Criteria included: adequacy of research design; evidence of reliability and validity; appropriate statistical analyses and interpretations; reporting of effect sizes or practical significance; accounting for attrition; and tracking fidelity to the program. Criteria with…

Several extensions to the Angoff method of standard setting are described that can accommodate characteristics of performance-based assessment. A study involving 12 panelists supported the effectiveness of the new approach but suggested that panelists preferred an approach that was at least partially conjunctive. (SLD)