Walberg and Thomas (1972) have made an attempt to operationalize and validate the concept of open education. However, their conception fails to differentiate between open education and other nontraditional approaches to education, thereby lumping together a variety of different types of classrooms. In addition, their method of item selection does…

Examples of cross-cultural stability or instability of mental test items are illustrated. A statistical procedure involving the cross-plotting of item difficulties for two different groups and generating a line of mutual regression through the resulting scatter of points is described. D-values, representing the perpendicular distance, in delta…

How farmers evaluate farm information sources, the views they hold of sources, and the relationship of views held to the use made of them were studied. The research was undertaken from two different vantage points: (1) determining how farmers view farm information sources, and (2) determining how views of farmers about sources are related to the…

Effects of item difficulty sequencing on performance and on post state anxiety were investigated using a timed mathematics aptitude test. The subjects were randomly assigned to a random, easy-to-hard, or hard-to-easy difficulty sequence group. The hard-to-easy sequence group performance was significantly lower than either the random or…

In this paper, a new item analysis index, e, is derived as a function of difficulty and discrimination to represent item efficiency. Item discrimination in this paper is not independent of item difficulty, and it is demonstrated algebraically that the maximum discriminating power of an item may be determined from its difficulty. Item efficiency is…

Illustrates a multivariate approach to item analysis. Previous formulation is extended by investigating techniques simultaneously taking into account scale variance with the goal of reducing the average correlation between scales. Study examines problems in determining optimum values for combinations of item parameters selected for personality…

A computer program for item evaluation, reliability estimation, and test scoring is described. The program contains a variable format procedure allowing flexible input of responses. Achievement tests and affective scales may be analyzed. (Author)

When the logistic function is substituted for the normal, Thurstone's Case V specialization of the law of comparative judgment for paired comparison responses gives an identical equation for the estimation of item scale values, as does the Rasch formulation for direct responses. Comparisons are made. (Author/CTM)

Three formulae developed to correct item-total correlations for spuriousness were evaluated. Relationships among corrected, uncorrected, and item-remainder correlations were determined by computing sets of mean, minimum, and maximum deviation coefficients and Spearman rank correlations for nine test lengths. (Author/JKS)

A generalization of the Rasch model is employed to quantify statements on a scale in the Thurstone tradition, as well as to measure a person's attitudes in the Likert tradition. An illustration of the technique is provided. (JKS)

A modification of Hoyt's analysis of variance model for test analysis was proposed by Lu. A difficulty that may be encountered in using Lu's modification is examined, and a solution is proposed. (JKS)

A general FORTRAN computer program for analyzing categorical or frequency data obtained from questionnaires is described. A variety of descriptive statistics, chi square, Kendall's tau and Cramer's statistic are provided. (Author/JKS)

Generalizations of the G index as a measure of similarity between persons beyond the dichotomous situation are discussed. An attempt is made to present a generalization that does not require dichotomization of the items for cases where the number of response alternatives may differ. (Author/JKS)

A method to improve personality inventory validity by presenting positively keyed items from a single trait in descending order of endorsement and encouraging subjects to respond in terms of the resulting Guttman scale is presented. Experimental results show increases in reliability and validity. (Author/JKS)

Ten psychometric criteria (such as item analysis, concurrent validity, and interexaminer reliability) were used to compare four preschool screening tests: "Comprehensive Identification Process", "Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning--Revised" (Dial--R), "Denver Developmental Screening Test", and…