A series of phonemic awareness (PA) and single-word reading tasks, which did not require spoken responses, was developed for administration to people with complex communication needs. The aims of the study were to (a) determine the construct validity of the PA tasks and (b) investigate the relationship between PA and single-word reading in adults…

Purpose: The Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) has been validated in many diverse samples. This measure of health-related quality of life, however, has not yet been examined among older Mexican Americans, a rapidly growing subset of the older population. Design and Methods: We address the validity of the SF-36 in a…

This research describes efforts to develop and validate a multidimensional measure of the learning organization. An instrument was developed based on a critical review of both the conceptualization and practice of this construct. Supporting validity evidence for the instrument was obtained from several sources, including best model-data fit among…

This study provides empirical evidence to support the validity of using a content-specific reading test for college placement decisions. A content-specific reading test presents passages exclusively from the subject area for which the placement decision is intended. Forty-nine students in a human anatomy class were administered a content-specific…

This article reports five studies in which a scale for assessing teachers' beliefs about classroom use of critical-thinking (CT) activities was developed and its scores evaluated for reliability and validity. The Critical Thinking Belief Appraisal (CTBA) is based on a four-factor "advantage effect" model: the theoretical premise that teachers'…

The measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critically important for the identification and treatment of this disorder. The PTSD Checklist (PCL; F. W. Weathers & J. Ford, 1996) is a self-report measure that is increasingly used. In this study, the authors investigated the factorial validity of the PCL with data from 236 cancer…

The 25-item Clark-Beck Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (CBOCI) was developed to assess the frequency and severity of obsessive and compulsive symptoms. The measure uses a graded-response format to assess core symptom features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American…

The purpose of this study was to determine the latent structure of the California Verbal Learning Test--Children's Version (CVLT-C; D. Delis, J. Kramer, E.Kaplan, & B. Ober, 1994) in a sample of 175 children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Maximum-likelihood confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test 6 competing hypothetical models…

Fifty years ago, L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) advocated for the concept of construct validity, noting that psychologists study hypothetical, inferred entities and that validating measures of such entities involves basic theory testing. Three important developments in clinical assessment following that seminal article are noteworthy.…

The question of the status of cause-and-effect explanations of human behavior that posit physically existing causative factors and those that, on the other hand, posit hypothetical entities in the form of "useful fictions" has a long history. The influence of the works of Jeremy Bentham and Hans Vaihinger, as well as the later influence of Francis…

Many work-site physical activity interventions use theoretical variables in the design of their programs. Yet, these interventions do not document the degree of change in theoretical variables produced by the intervention. This study examined the construct validity of an intervention designed to affect social cognitive theory variables linked to…

The use of standards-based classroom assessments to test English learners' language proficiency is increasingly prevalent in the United States and many other countries. In a large urban school district in California, for example, a classroom assessment is used to make high-stakes decisions about English learners' progress from one level to the…

The validity of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) has been examined extensively in men, but its validity for women remains understudied. Specifically, the correlates of the general construct of psychopathy and its components as assessed by PCL-R total, factor, and facet scores have yet to be examined in depth. Based on previous research…

Longitudinal validity of Brief Symptom Inventory subscales was examined in a sample (N = 318) with schizophrenia-related illness measured at baseline and every 6 months for 3 years. Nonlinear factor analysis of items was used to test graded response models (GRMs) for subscales in isolation. The models varied in their within-time and between-times…

This study reports on the development and psychometric evaluation of the Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale (ISOS). Data from 576 college women were collected in three studies. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered two factors: Body Evaluation and Unwanted Explicit Sexual Advances; confirmatory factor analysis supported this factor…