The Children's Self-Report Social Skills Scale (CS4), a 21-item instrument, was developed to measure children's perspectives on their own social skills. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency reliability of CS4 scores were .74 and .96, respectively. Principal component analysis revealed 3 reliable components: Social Rules, Likeability,…

Evaluates the stability of the Relational Dimensions Instrument (RDI) as a measure of people's general beliefs about the characteristics of the ideal marriage. Shows little stability for these judgments in college students who took the test twice, one year apart. Casts doubt on whether college students' implicit theories of marriage are tapped by…

Presents an 11-item alternative to the longer 25-item measure of teacher affinity seeking. Indicates that the measure is both reliable and valid for use with appropriate research questions. Presents broad guidelines for use. (SR)

Attempted to clarify whether fear is related to distorted cognitive processing of fear-related information. Administered card and single-trial formats of Stroop task to spider-fearing and control children. Found bias for spider words in both, regardless of format; further, processing biases assessed by the formats did not correlate, suggesting…

Examines burnout and engagement among college students from Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands using the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey (MBI-SS) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for students. Overall, these two instruments may be used for such a purpose, but both instruments, particularly the MBI-SS, do not pass a rigorous test of…

Research evaluated psychometric properties of College Alcohol Problem Scale (CAPS) using a sample of African American college students. CAPS was evaluated for reliability and accuracy in identifying potential abusive drinkers. Results indicate that CAPS is a reliable and effective device for identification of abusive drinking among African…

The Individualism-Collectivism Vocational Attitudes Questionnaire (ICVAQ) was developed to assess cultural attitudes and behaviors that may be important in the provision of vocational rehabilitation services to people with disabilities from diverse cultural backgrounds. Results of study were mixed but provided some support for the reliability and…

Describes the development and validation of the Standards Performance Continuum (SPC) for assessing teacher performance of the Standards for Effective Pedagogy. Three studies involving Florida, California, and New Mexico public school teachers provided evidence of inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity, and criterion-related validity…

Examined frequency of reports of psychometric properties for scales in 1967, 1977, and 1987 volumes of "Journal of Counseling Psychology." Found that researchers increasingly provided reference citations for scales and reliability estimates as well as reliability estimates for samples, but majority of 1987 scales had no reported sample…

Examined Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) scores of 100 learning-disabled and 60 mildly retarded children retested on 3 separate occasions at 3-year intervals. Different results were obtained depending upon criterion considered. (Author/ABL)

Outlines some practical procedures for assessing test quality. Tests are relevant when learning outcomes have been correctly defined, when test content is aligned with instructional objectives, and when test and instructional formats are similar. Reliable tests follow administration, scoring, and interpretation procedures and consider difficulty…

Describes development of Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), self-report inventory for measuring severity of anxiety in psychiatric populations. Describes study results which showed BAI to have high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and to discriminate anxious diagnostic groups from nonanxious diagnostic groups. (Author/NB)

Data are presented on the validity and reliability of a new form of employee honesty testing: "The Integrity Interview." Results indicated that this instrument was a reliable alternative to commonly used written measures, although further study is needed to establish normative data across different employee populations and settings.…

Research findings were reviewed on the Auditory Visual Combined Discrimination Test, which can be used with severely and profoundly mentally retarded persons to assess basic position, visual, and auditory discriminations. The test was found to be reliable and predictive of client performance in classroom learning, language, and vocational tasks.…

Investigates the marker-marker reliability of an examination for a third-year degree course in circuit theory. Reports that the coefficient of correlation between markers fell within the range 0.94 to 0.98. (YP)