Objective: This study describes the development of an engagement scale for use with youth in residential treatment centers. Engagement includes attitude about treatment, bond with providers, and participation in treatment activities. Method: Interview data were collected at the midpoint in residence of 130 youth in two centers. Items were selected…

This study was designed to determine whether teacher portfolios can be validly and reliably assessed, to investigate the effect of an instructional tool on increasing the level of reflective thinking in elementary preservice teachers' portfolios, and to find whether electronic portfolios designed and assessed in optimal conditions represent…

Children with autism are able to show secure attachment behaviours to their parents/caregivers. Most studies on attachment in children with autism used a (modified) Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to examine attachment security. An advantage of the Attachment Q-Sort (AQS) over the SSP is that it can be attuned to the secure-base behaviour of…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to conduct a content validity study. Instructions on how to calculate a content validity index, factorial validity index, and an interrater reliability index and guide for interpreting these indices are included. Implications regarding the value of conducting a content validity study for…

College students completed the Decisional Process Inventory, or DPI (n=248), Career Decision Scale (n=242), Occupational Alternatives Question (n=244), and Gestalt Contact Styles Questionnaire Revised (n=243). Results supported the DPI's content and criterion-related validity as a tool for assessing career decidedness. (SK)

Occupational stereotypes of automobile salespersons were identified through a review of media articles and cartoons and concept mapping by college students. Clothing and appearance cues and personal attributes were statistically analyzed. Content-, construct-, and criterion-related evidence supported the validity of the content of the stereotype…

Reviews the fundamental principles associated with achieving a high level of content validity when developing tests for students. Suggests that the short-term efforts necessary to develop and integrate measurement theory into practice will lead to long-term gains for students, faculty, and academic institutions. (Includes 21 references.)…

The understanding of the nature and extent of morphological processing is critical to the overall investigation of how words are organized in the mind. In this overview article, we discuss the nature of morphological processing and the domain of morphological processing research. We claim that investigations crucially involve the understanding of…

This study presents the development and basic psychometric characteristics of the "School Safety and Security Questionnaire" (SSSQ). This new measure was constructed to assess middle grade students' perceptions of safety and security during the school year. The content validity of the theoretically-based instrument was assessed and the measure was…

In this paper, the authors report research focused directly on the validation of the Coding of Academic Teacher-Student interactions (CATS) direct observation instrument. They use classroom information gathered by the CATS instrument to better understand the potential mediating variables hypothesized to influence student achievement. Their study's…

The purpose of this study was to develop and content validate a Performance Rating Scale and Interview Protocol, enabling study of the social role performance of adult daughters and sons as they fulfill the societal norms and expectations of adult children. This exploratory investigation was one of 13 contemporary adult social roles completed by…

The authors report the development and validation of the Writing Dispositions Scale (WDS), a self-report instrument for measuring affective stances toward writing. The authors collected survey data from 854 elementary and middle school students and randomly split the data to facilitate both an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory…

The primary objective of this study was to develop an instrument to measure adults' attitudes toward continuing education. Secondary objectives consisted of various statistical analyses designed to provide preliminary evidence of the instruments' criterion-related and construct validity. (JOW)

One group of 113 college students took the Skills Confidence Inventory twice in three weeks; 218 took it once. Test-retest reliability and content validity were supported by the results. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested the inventory's fit with Holland's six-factor structure. (SK)

Points out problems in assessing student learning outcomes. Outlines a content validation approach to outcomes assessment and suggests steps for defining the content domains and developing and adopting measures. (Contains 28 references.) (SK)