Examines the limitations of standardized test scores as predictors of success in college writing courses. Supports the selective use of writing samples as an additional placement tool. (MM)

Nine indices for assessing the accuracy of an individual's test score were evaluated using simulated item responses to a commercial and a classroom test. The indices appear capable of identifying relatively high proportions of examinees with spurious total scores. (Author/PN)

Describes the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD), a newly developed questionnaire designed to evaluate families according to the McMaster Model of Family Functioning. Discusses the procedures used to develop the FAD and presents scale means and scale reliabilities from a sample of 503 individuals. (Author/JAC)

Assessed five scales as mental health measures for older persons (N=318). The internal consistency reliabilities for the anxiety, depression, and well-being scales were moderately high to high, but the reliabilities for the affect balance scale suggest some caution. Cutting points for the well-being and depression scales are suggested. (Author/JAC)

Examined a Sufi personality typology that describes nine life strategies depicted by a nine-sided figure called the enneagram. Devised an objective 135-item test instrument to differentiate the nine styles, and obtained positive results. Enneagram typology may have diagnostic, prognostic, and heuristic value for studying personality structure and…

Used the intraclass correlation coefficient to estimate the interrater reliability of judgments of clinician and novice raters of depressed females (N=20) who took the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD). Expert and student raters both made reliable ratings on the HRSD. Criterion validity for student raters was also satisfactory.…

Initial assessments of the item characteristics, reliability, and validity of the Inquiry Mode Questionnaire (IMQ) are reported. The IMQ was developed by (Harrison and Bramson) to measure the characteristic thinking style of individuals on five major dimensions: synthesist, idealist, analyst, realist, and pragmatist. (Author/PN)

Responses of 522 middle-class parents to Torrance's Ideal Child Checklist were factor analyzed. Four dimensions were found to underly the 66 items that originally comprised the scale: Factor I, Confident, Aggressive, Well Adjusted; Factor II, Socially Virtuous; Factor III, Negativistic, Critical; and Factor IV, Creative-Intuitive. These dimensions…

Examined the scale characteristics of two measures of organizational commitment. Using data from l,l05 accountants, findings indicated that while both instruments exhibited a high degree of internal reliability, the Porter et al. (1947) instrument exhibited significantly greater predictive validity with respect to intended turnover than the…

A comparison of double as opposed to single multiple-choice questions yielded significant differences in regard to item difficulty, item discrimination, and internal reliability, but not concurrent validity. (Author/PN)

The School of Architecture faculty posed the methodological problem to construct a scale of 10 items or less to reliably evaluate instruction at different levels of technical and artistic instruction. Among the first 10 ordered items were: "The instructor did a good job" and "The course was worthwhile." (CM)

Compared the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities for 35 preschool children identified as being "at risk." Nonsignificant differences were found between Forms L and M of the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI.Correlations between the PPVT-R and the McCarthy GCI and Scale scores were significant. (Author)

Investigated item bias on six subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised for four sociocultural groups (N=950), Anglo, Black, Chicano, and Native American Papago (NAP). Results of statistical indexes indicated no or negligible bias against Blacks and Chicanos. Found evidence suggesting bias in some verbal scales with NAPs.…

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised protocols from two vocational counseling clients were scored by 19 psychologists and 20 graduate students. Regardless of scorer's experience level, mechanical scoring error produced summary scores varying by as much as 4 to 18 IQ points. (Author/RC)

The Rational Behavior Inventory and other scales of psychological adjustment were administered to mental health outpatients (N=75) who were receiving psychotherapy. Significant correlations were found between all measures in expected directions, and significant pre- to postscale differences identified consistently with expected effects of…