Test scores that are not perfectly reliable cannot be strictly equated unless they are strictly parallel. This fact implies that tau equivalence can be lost if an equipercentile equating is applied to observed scores that are not strictly parallel. Thirty-six simulated data sets are produced to simulate equating tests with different difficulties…

An alternate-choice test item is a simple declarative sentence, one portion of which is given with two different wordings. For example, "Foundations like Ford and Carnegie tend to be (1) eager (2) hesitant to support innovative solutions to educational problems." The examinee's task is to choose the alternative that makes the sentence…

"Lasbarhetsindex" ("Lix") is a readability formula developed in Sweden that holds promise for assessing text difficulty in other languages, including English. So far three separate studies have been conducted to test Lix with French and English texts, with German and English texts, and with Greek and English texts. In all three…

This study explores the extent to which scores on four separate complex reasoning solution processes could predict performance on difficult problems. Definitions are provided for the four processes--intra-sentence processing, inter-sentence processing, ordering, and collecting--and previous work done in the field is outlined. The procedures used…

This study examines the development of children's preference for task difficulty levels. Subjects were 78 boys and 66 girls, aged 63 to 105 months. The sample was separated into older and younger groups. Within each age group, half the children of each sex were randomly assigned to one of two forms to test their level of aspiration. Subjects were…

The special case of the Piagetian model is discussed in relation to test theory. Problems connected with the construction and analysis of a test based on Piaget and Inhelder's The Child's Construction of Quantities are presented, and related to a method of representing the item discrimination which is consonant with Piagetian theory. Loevinger and…

To examine the effects of goal-setting on supervisors' evaluations of workers' performance, and on the causes attributed to that performance, 80 subjects were shown a simulated interaction between a worker and supervisor in one of three goal-setting conditions: self-set, participative, or assigned. The worker either succeeded or failed to meet the…

The results of two experiments on understanding metaphors were found to be incompatible with the popular view that deaf children have particular problems in understanding metaphorical uses of natural language. Profoundly deaf children were presented with several short stories and were instructed to select (from a set of four alternatives) the…

This paper describes an approach to task analysis which seeks to identify potential sources of difficulty in the self-discovery of improved procedures by students who have been taught simpler procedures. The approach considers novices' procedures in terms of the changes needed to produce an expert procedure; the knowledge required to make those…

Current research in psycholinguistics has included studies of factors influencing effective verbal communication--the effect of sequences of words and operations within an instruction; effects of instruction and self-instruction on performance; and the presentation of complex interrelated rules such as those found in legal documents, regulations,…

The effect of the interaction between imagery level and number of semantic propositions on junior high readers at three ability levels was studied, using an instrument that compared two levels of imagery at each of five levels of semantic propositions. Syntax, word frequency, and number of arguments were held constant. The results indicated that…

This paper applied findings from studies using the kind of viewing measures used by social scientists, to the relationship between programing and viewership when viewership is measured by means used by producers. Total aggregate viewership and the relationship of viewers' ages to viewership was concentrated on. Effects of competing programs on…

The present research was designed primarily to investigate the type of instruction needed to help children learn difficult principles. A total of 159 fifth graders (each assigned to one of six experimental conditions) read lessons which dealt with principles from two content areas (mathematics and language arts). Lessons varied in the number of…

To find out what factors are involved in a child's learning of syntax, investigators studied the syntactic complexity of the language a mother and child use when talking to each other. The complexity measure used was one developed by Dr. Sheldon Frank and Dr. Harry Osser, and is based on the concepts of generative grammar and transformations.…

Decision-theoretic testing is used to explore whether students can improve their realism, i.e. congruence between reported and true probabilities. Randomized sets of math problems were presented at computer terminals to 49 seventh graders from two classes (high/low achievers) over a period of three weeks. The subject assigned values to each of…