In recent years, the social sciences have seen a resurgence in the study of divergent thinking (DT) measures. However, many of these recent advances have focused on abstract, decontextualized DT tasks (e.g., list as many things as you can think of that have wheels). This study provides a new perspective by exploring the reliability and validity…

The surgical theatre educational environment measures STEEM, OREEM and mini-STEEM for students (student-STEEM) comprise an up to now disregarded systematic overestimation (OE) due to inaccurate percentage calculation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the magnitude of and suggest a correction for this systematic bias. After an…

Scores are the most visible and widely used products of a testing program. The choice of score scale has implications for test specifications, equating, and test reliability and validity, as well as for test interpretation. At the same time, the score scale should be viewed as infrastructure likely to require repair at some point. In this report…

Investigated Kaufman's procedures for determining intersubtest scatter on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised by means of Sattler's revised tables for determining significant subtest fluctuations. Results indicated that Sattler's revised tables yielded more conservative estimates of subtest scatter than those originally reported…

Equations were derived for estimating MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) scores from a short form developed for cognitively impaired individuals. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that prediction from a single short-form scale was acceptable and was little improved by the addition of other scales or sex of subject to the…

Presents four tables for the statistical interpretation of factor scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Provides the percentile equivalents of factor scores; the significance of differences between factor scores; the frequency with which specified discrepancies occur; the significance of differences between a factor score…

Diagnostic hit rates for the Diagnostic Inventory of Personality and Symptoms were compared to diagnosis by psychiatrists of the same patients. The Probability Scale employing Bayesian concepts and base rates correctly classified 70% of the patients and was more accurate by far than the other two methods used. (Author/ABB)

A simple unbalanced block model is proposed for examination marks, as an improvement on the usual implicit model. The new model is applied to some real data and is found, by the usual normal linear theory F test, to give a highly significant improvement. Some alternative models are also considered. (Author)

Results of recategorizing the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Revised) subtest scores of 159 black learning disabled primary grade children into spatial, conceptual, and sequential scales as recommended by A. Bannatyne led to the conclusion that the diagnostic utility of the Bannatyne recategorization is questionable. (Author/DB)

Seventeen statistics for measuring the reliability of criterion-referenced tests were critically reviewed. The review was organized into two sections: (1) a discussion of preliminary considerations to provide a foundation for choosing the appropriate category of "reliability" (threshold loss function, squared-error loss-function, or…

Six different approaches to scoring test data, including number right, correction for guessing, and answer-until-correct, were investigated using Monte Carlo techniques. Modes permitting multiple response showed higher internal consistency, but there was little difference among modes for a validity measure. (JKS)

Students in an introductory college course (n=275) responded to equivalent 20-item halves of a test under number-right and formula-scoring instructions. Formula scores of those who omitted items overaged about one point lower than their comparable (formula adjusted) scores on the test half administered under number-right instructions. In contrast,…

After establishing a theoretical depiction of the domain of literature learning, a study developed test packages which examined: (1) the relationship among multiple choice, short open-ended, and long open-ended responses; (2) whether there would be differences according to the genres; (3) the relationship between literary and non-literary texts,…

A method is proposed for providing an absolute, in contrast to comparative, evaluation of how well two tests are equated by transforming their raw scores into a particular common scale. The method is direct, not requiring creation of a standard for comparison; expresses its results in scaled rather than raw scores, and allows examination of the…

Four methods are outlined for estimating or approximating from a single test administration the standard error of measurement of number-right test score at specified ability levels or cutting scores. The methods are illustrated and compared on one set of real test data. (Author)