A set of computer programs, which performs necessary item analysis and related procedures for developing new scales for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, is described. (Author/JKS)

Response changes on multiple-choice items tend to improve test scores of elementary school children. (Author/MJB)

Comparisons are made between BILOG version 2.2 and LOGIST 5.0 version 2.5 in estimating the item parameters, traits, item characteristic functions, and test characteristic functions for the three-parameter logistic model. Speed and accuracy are reported for a number of 10, 20, and 40-item tests. (Author/GDC)

Three methods were used to test the factor structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory administered to 583 Australians. The preferred method was to extract factors by the minimum residual method, use the Tandem Criteria Method, and then rotate that number of factors by the Tandem Criteria I method. (SLD)

Item response theory (IRT) is having a major impact on the field of testing. This special issue presents an introduction and seven papers concerning developments in IRT applications. Some important IRT research being conducted outside the United States is highlighted. (SLD)

Considered techniques to assess self-reported drug use. Evaluated the effects of different response options on the distribution, reliability, and validity of scores on drug-use items. Suggests that more quantitative measures are not necessarily more reliable or valid than less quantitative measures of drug use. (Author/KS)

Administered Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to clinically depressed and nondepressed inpatients, and compared scores from its Depression scale with scores from the Beck Depression Inventory. Demonstrated a positive linear relationship between the two measures and their ability to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed…

This article organizes models for categorical item response data into three distinct classes. "Difference models" are appropriate for ordered responses, "divide-by-total" models for either ordered or nominal responses, and "left-side added" models for multiple-choice responses with guessing. Details of the taxonomy…

The article reviews error analysis procedures for two subtests of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (reading recognition and reading comprehension). Suggestions are offered for composing and interpreting a pattern of errors on items from each subtest. (CL)

A latent class model for rating data is presented which provides an alternative to the latent trait approach of analyzing test data. It is the analog of Andrich's binomial Rasch model for Lazarsfeld's latent class analysis (LCA). Response probabilities for rating categories follow a binomial distribution and depend on class-specific item…

This article illustrates the use of generalizability theory in special education to estimate the reliability of a measure when there is more than one source of error in the universe of inference and how the effects from changing the number of items and/or raters can be evaluated. (Author)

Method, results, and conclusions are discussed of a study to compare responses to 3-choice test items with responses to 4-choice items when the question or statement being presented was held constant. (Author/AV)

The purpose of this study was to compare three technologies: the item forms technology (domain-referenced testing) of Hively et al. (1968), the hierarchical or stratified item forms technology of Ferguson (1969), and the algorithmic technology of Scandura (1971, 1973). (Author/RK)

The Strong Vocational Interest Blank responses of 93 students were used to construct six empirical scales similar to the scales of Holland's Vocational Preference Inventory. Correlation of scale scores with VPI scores suggested that meaningful estimates of VPI profiles are obtainable by scoring selected SVIB items. (Author)

In this paper consideration is given to the nature of the relationships among items within item forms and how these relationships compare with an ideal case for diagnostic tests in which if a person gets one item within an item form right then he would get all items within the item form correct. (Authors)