A short speech perception test for severely and profoundly deaf children (4 to 19 years old) was developed which incorporates "distinctive feature" elements in a minimal contrast, forced choice, word-picture format. (Author)

The article describes a diagnostic procedure for assessing children's mental images and knowledge of cardinal numbers, 0 through 9. The diagnostic procedure includes the assessment of a child's visual memory, visual perception, symbol recognition, oral naming of numerals, and symbol-set linkage. (Author/SBH)

Some practical guidelines for developing multiple choice tests are offered. Included are three steps: (1) test design; (2) proper construction of test items; and (3) item analysis and evaluation. (JMF)

Examines four factors involved in the determination of how many test items should be constructed or sampled for a set of objectives: (1) the type of decision to be made with results, (2) importance of objectives, (3) number of objectives, and (4) practical constraints. Specific guidelines that teachers and evaluators can use and an illustrative…

K. May and W. A. Nicewander recently concluded (1994) that percentile ranks are inferior or raw scores as indicators of latent ability. It is argued that their conclusions are incorrect, and an error in their derivation is identified. The incorrect equation results in an incorrect conclusion, as work by F. M. Lord (1980) also indicates.…

Dato de Gruijter is correct in the recent conclusion that one equation derived by the present authors should be changed to reflect that it is an approximation, but it is still argued that percentile ranks for difficult tests can have substantially lower reliability and information relative to their number correct scores holds. (SLD)

Differential item functioning (DIF) assessment procedures for items with more than two ordered score categories, referred to as polytomous items, were evaluated. Three descriptive statistics (standardized mean difference and two procedures based on the SIBTEST computer program) and five inferential procedures were used. Conditions under which the…

It has often been asserted that the reliability of a measure places an upper limit on its validity. This article demonstrates in theory that validity can rise when reliability declines, even when validity evidence is a correlation with an acceptable criterion. Whether empirical examples can actually be found is an open question. (SLD)

A simulation study was conducted to evaluate the dependability of the "T" index of unidimensionality developed by W. F. Stout and used in his DIMTEST procedure. DIMTEST was found to provide dependable indications of unidimensionality, to be reasonably robust, and to allow for practical demarcation between one and many dimensions. (SLD)

A quadratic curve test equating method for equating different test forms under a random-groups data collection design is proposed that equates the first three central moments of the test forms. When applied to real test data, the method performs as well as other equating methods. Procedures from implementing the test are described. (SLD)

Created an adaptation of the Digit Symbol subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Digit Symbol Rotation test, and evaluated its "g" loading with 54 adults. Results suggest the Digit Symbol Rotation test has more factorial validity than Digit Symbol, but remains equally easy to administer and score. (SLD)

Developed and validated the Ideal Mentor Scale (IMS), a new measure designed to help graduate students consider the qualities they as individuals most value in a potential mentor. Found that two universal qualities were central to students' definitions of a mentor: communication skills and provision of feedback. Three individual differences…

H. Levene (1960) proposed a heuristic test for heteroscedasticity in the case of a balanced two-way layout, based on analysis of variance of absolute residuals. Conditions under which design imbalance affects the test's characteristics are identified, and a simple correction involving leverage is proposed. (SLD)

Compared selected methods of assessing the structure of tests with dichotomous items using real data from a 62-item test of reading ability and computer-generated data for multiple unidimensional and multidimensional cases. All methods performed reasonably well over a relatively wide range of conditions. (SLD)

Proposes an analytic approach to standard error and confidence interval estimation of scale reliability with fixed congeneric measures. The method is based on a generally applicable estimator stability evaluation procedure, the delta method. The approach, which combines wide-spread point estimation of composite reliability in behavioral scale…