Two different formats for multiple-choice test items were compared in an experimental test given in a college class in introductory psychology. In one format, a question or incomplete statement was followed by four answers or completions, only one of which was correct. In the other format, the double multiple-choice version, the same questions…

In order to facilitate research on the construct of causal attribution, this paper details developmental procedures used to minimize previous deficiencies and proposes a new scale. The first version of the scale was in ipsative form and provided two basic sets of indices: (1) ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty indices in success and…

Previous research on the nature of aptitude processes had ignored the important differences between speed and level of performance. However, investigations of the relationship between individual differences in speed and level suggest that speed of solving simple spatial tasks is largely independent of level attained on more complex spatial tasks.…

Many combinations of a method and an approach for estimating the operating characteristics of the graded item responses, without assuming any mathematical forms, have been produced. In these methods, a set of items whose characteristics are known, or Old Test, is used, which has a large, constant amount of test information throughout the interval…

The application of latent trait theory to classroom tests necessitates the use of small sample sizes for parameter estimation. Computer generated data were used to assess the accuracy of estimation of the slope and location parameters in the two parameter logistic model with fixed abilities and varying small sample sizes. The maximum likelihood…

To investigate the effect of violating the assumption of equal item difficulty on Kuder-Richardson (KR) Formula 21 reliability coefficient, 670 eighth-and ninth- grade students were administered 26 short, homogeneous "tests" of mathematics concepts and skills. Both KR Formula 20 and KR Formula 21 were used to estimate reliability on each…

This paper analyzes Brainerd's work in assessing the developmental sequence or ordination and cardination concepts of number, and describes a study which investigated the hypothesis that task-specific difficulty could explain Brainers's data. Three new tasks were designed for the assessment of ordination and cardination and administered to a…

Aspects of syntax and semantics which affect sentence comprehensibility were investigated for their effects on children's understanding of the dependency relationship of subordinate to main clauses in sentences. Children in grades 2, 4, 6, and 8 were asked to select the main content from orally presented sentences by checking a picture which…

Two grammars (traditional and transformational) and two methods of teaching (direct and indirect) were measured to determine their effects upon the writing performance of students of low socioeconomic backgrounds. While the direct teaching of grammar was concerned with the correction of specific errors, the indirect teaching was concerned with a…

This study examined the responses of 10th-grade students of low, average, and high abilities to two levels of short stories: the complex, or adult, story and the less complex, or adolescent story. Students read four pairs of short stories and wrote their immediate and delayed responses to tests containing two open-ended questions and 10 objective…

The study constitutes a preliminary investigation of several important factors in the design and implementation of adaptive training research. The effects of using various adaptive stepping criteria upon performance were studied. Comparison of adaptive and nonadaptive training techniques were also made. The tested hypotheses were that: (1) there…

Evaluation of instructional programs involves the process of ascertaining the decisions to be made. The decision maker, not the evaluator, determines the questions to be asked or the decisions to be made. A second task of evaluation deals with the specification of required information in light of system objectives. The task of the evaluator…

This paper describes two studies conducted to investigate young children's manipulative responses to materials in a free play situation and to examine the resultant learning. Study I: Each child played with either a simple or a complex set of materials during three play sessions. Learning was measured on a posttest of classification ability.…

The three purposes of this study were (1) to examine the effect of the frequency of Latin-suffixed words on the cloze performance of readers, (2) to examine the effect of reading materials in different content areas on cloze performance, and (3) to determine whether general reading ability differentially affected cloze scores in various content…

Two aspects of motivation were investigated in this study: the use of individual incentives to enhance learning, and the effect of different levels of task difficulty on the effectiveness of these individualized incentives. One hundred-forty-two fourth and fifth grade students were subjects. Individual preferences for rewards that would serve as…