In health research, we depend heavily on the goodwill of study participants. However, the whole social contract of health research is based on the premise that everyone comes to the research table with honorable intentions. What course should we take if we doubt the authenticity of our participants' accounts? Through the use of an illustrative…

Objective: In the United Kingdom (UK), an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has replaced the individual patient assessment (IPA) for part 1 of the membership examination of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). The authors' assessment of the OSCE was conducted. Method: Residents completed and evaluated an OSCE designed…

Curriculum-Based Assessment for Instructional Design (CBA-ID) provides data used to ensure an appropriately challenging learning task. One aspect of appropriate challenge measured by CBA-ID, called the acquisition rate (AR), involves the amount of new information a student could acquire and retain during initial learning. Previous research…

The present study investigated the working memory abilities of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as measured by the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition (SBV). In a retrospective causal-comparative design, the archival data of 46 ADHD children were compared to 59 nondiagnosed children. The ADHD children…

Specialists in the field of large-scale, high-stakes writing assessment have, over the last forty years alternately discussed the issue of maximizing either reliability or validity in test design. Factors complicating the debate--such as Messick's (1989) expanded definition of validity, and the ethical implications of testing--are explored. An…

Students' perception of the instructor's personality and the evaluation of instruction were found to be strongly related. Students appear to be using a contaminated measure to establish personality and its relationship to the evaluations. The findings do not support the contention that the association reflects a valid measure of instruction.…

Empathy has been suggested to facilitate effective collaborative problem solving in children. The current study adapted the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI, Davis, 1980), a well-validated empathy measure for adults, for use with children aged 8 and 9 years. Four hundred and thirteen school children aged between 7;11 and 9;11 years completed…

The psychometric properties of the Self-Report Depression Questionnaire (SRDQ) were evaluated, extending a previous assessment of this instrument. Data from two independent studies (Esbensen, 2004; Seltzer & Krauss, 1989) were pooled to generate a sample of 192 individuals with primarily mild or moderate mental retardation. Reliability estimates…

This paper reports the results of three studies designed to test the nomological validity of a consumer well-being (CWB) measure in relation to personal transportation. The CWB measure was developed guided by the theoretical notion that the CWB in relation to personal transportation vehicles is significantly enhanced when the consumption of the…

School-wide behavior support has experienced recent interest among educators. This approach has been embraced because of its potential for decreasing school violence and improving school climate. In this paper we examine issues related to construct, internal, external, and social validity of school-wide support as it has been conceptualized in…

This paper reports the results of a two-year longitudinal study of the relationship between self-assessed intelligence (SAI) and academic performance (AP) in a sample of 184 British undergraduate students. Results showed significant correlations between SAI (both before and after taking an IQ test) and academic exam marks obtained two years later,…

We proposed a higher order latent construct of parenting young children, parenting quality. This higher-order latent construct comprises five component constructs: demographic protection, psychological distress, psychosocial maturity, moral and cognitive reflectivity, and parenting attitudes and beliefs. We evaluated this model with data provided…

A cognitive lab technique (n=156) was used to investigate interactions between individual factors and item factors presumed to affect assessment validity for diverse students, including English language learners. Findings support the concept of "access"--an interaction between specific construct-irrelevant item features and individual…

This article presents research methodologies and findings from a qualitative practitioner study that examined initial constructs of a new model of counseling supervision, tentatively named the Regenerative model (R. Neswald-McCalip, J. Sather, J. Strati, & J. Dineen, 2003). Findings include the emergence of cultural and spiritual awareness and…

Validation of a classroom observation measure for use with English Learners (ELs) in grade 1 was the focus of this study. Fourteen teachers were observed during reading and language arts instruction with an instrument used to generate ratings of instructional quality on a number of dimensions. In these classrooms we assessed the reading…