The effects of increasing the test time to reduce the speediness of verbal and quantitative experimental sections of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test were investigated. Results show that extension of testing time so as to reduce intergroup differences is not indicated. (Author/GK)

Reliabilities and concurrent validities of teacher-made multiple-choice and true-false tests were compared. No significant differences were found even when multiple-choice reliability was adjusted to equate testing time. (Author/MH)

The impact of capitalizing on chance in item selection on the accuracy of test information functions was studied through simulation, focusing on examinee sample size in item calibration and the ratio of item bank size to test length. (SLD)

The concurrent validity of 2 brief intelligence tests, the Matrix Analogies Test-Short Form (MAT) and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III) using a sample of 50 urban students. The MAT and K-BIT appeared equally useful as screening tests. (SLD)

Monte Carlo methods are used to evaluate marginal maximum likelihood estimation of item parameters and maximum likelihood estimates of theta in the two-parameter logistic model for varying test lengths, sample sizes, and assumed theta distributions. Results with 100 datasets demonstrate the methods' general precision and stability. Exceptions are…

Previous person-fit research is extended through explication of an unexplored model for generating aberrant response patterns. The proposed model is then implemented to investigate the influence of test properties on the aberrancy detection power of a person-fit statistic. Difficulties of aberrancy detection are discussed. (SLD)

Reports the development of a paragraph-descriptor short form of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP); (L. Clark, 1993) with self- and other versions. Data from 294 college students, with parental ratings for 94 students, support the reliability and validity of the measure. (SLD)

Data from 196 Irish school children were analyzed and used to develop a shortened version of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales (E. Fennema and J. Sherman, 1976). Internal consistency estimates of the reliability of scores on the whole scale and each of the subscales of the original and short form were favorable. (SLD)

In this paper, the efficiency of conditional maximum likelihood (CML) and marginal maximum likelihood (MML) estimation of the item parameters of the Rasch model in incomplete designs is investigated. The use of the concept of F-information (Eggen, 2000) is generalized to incomplete testing designs. The scaled determinant of the F-information…

The authors present a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) parameter estimation procedure for the generalized graded unfolding model (GGUM) and compare it to the marginal maximum likelihood (MML) approach implemented in the GGUM2000 computer program, using simulated and real personality data. In the simulation study, test length, number of response…

A series of computer simulations was run to measure the relationship between testlet validity and the factors of item pool size and testlet length for both adaptive and linearly constructed testlets. Results confirmed the generality of earlier empirical findings of H. Wainer and others (1991) that making a testlet adaptive yields only marginal…

The basic equations of item response theory provide a foundation for inferring examinees' abilities and items' operating characteristics from observed responses. In practice, though, examinees will usually not have provided a response to every available item--for reasons that may or may not have been intended by the test administrator, and that…

The feasibility of quick norms derived by the procedure described by B. D. Wright and M. H. Stone (1979) was investigated. Norming differences between traditionally calculated means and Rasch "quick" means were examined for simulated data sets of varying sample size, test length, and type of distribution. A 5 by 5 by 2 design with a…

Previous work on the effects of dimensionality on parameter estimation was extended from dichotomous models to the polytomous graded response (GR) model. A multidimensional GR model was developed to generate data in one-, two-, and three-dimensions, with two- and three-dimensional conditions varying in their interdimensional associations. Test…

In this paper, a mathematical programming approach is presented for the assembly of ability tests measuring multiple traits. The values of the variance functions of the estimators of the traits are minimized, while test specifications are met. The approach is based on Lagrangian relaxation techniques and provides good results for the two…