It has been shown that Guttman weighting of test options results in marked increases in the internal consistency of a test. However, the effect of this type of weighting on the structure of the test is not known. Hence, the purpose of this study is to compare the factor structure of Guttman-weighted and rights-only-weighted tests and to relate the…

Analysis of variance and subjective rating by curriculum specialists were used to identify biased items on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Results show little agreement between statistical and subjective methods. Test developers should statistically support a reviewer's selection of biased items. (Author/CP)

Despite the popularity of both multiple-choice (MC) and true-false (TF) items, most investigations comparing the two formats have done so to determine the optimum number of choices to be given to students within a given time period. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the reliabilities and the validities of both formats when the items…

It was hypothesized in this document that lowered self-concept would be associated with children exhibiting problems such as delinquency or childhood depression. The differences in self-concept between 97 clinic and 485 nonclinic children were investigated by administration of the Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale. The reported…

Eighty Singapore teachers voluntarily participated in the evaluation of three new scales: (1) the Responsibility Scale, which measures the teacher's sense of responsibility, willingness to take on additional new duties, and perception of being assigned duties; (2) the Change Scale which measures the teacher's acceptance of changes in life as…

A re-analysis of the Situational Attitudes Scale (SAS) was conducted to investigate its generality, validity and reliability and to suggest a more conservative method of analyzing the data. Three forms of the SAS were developed under the name Situational Attitude Inventory. Forms A and B corresponded to the originals; they tested attitudes toward…

A nontechnical approach to statistics is presented. The examples and illustrations have been drawn from the classroom and the needs of teachers who wish to measure and understand the progress of their pupils. The areas covered include the following topics: (1) different forms of average, middle value, dispersion of data around the average, and the…

Students' perception of overall teaching performance is strongly aligned with feelings about the course. A method is presented for separating the effects of the teacher, the course, and individual student groups. All three effects are highly significant; the effect of the course is by far the most prominent. (Author/JKS)

The usefulness of studying thought processes in the construct validation of ability tests was examined using a sample consisting of 343 Canadian senior high school students. Four levels of probing were used by the interviewer to examine the students' thinking processes while taking the Test on Appraising Observations: (1) think aloud; (2)…

Data were collected on 80 diverse items concerning student perceptions of teaching for a representative sample of 189 classes at a large university. The items were subdivided by type of focus into four categories: course content, objectives, and structure; instructor's behavior; instructional methods and materials; outcomes of instruction. The…