In an attempt to assess a person's orientation toward death, a self-administered form of the Threat Index (TI) was introduced and compared to the original interview form along dimensions of validity, reliability, internal consistency, and independence from social desirability response sets. Results supported theoretical and psychometric soundness…

Investigated the stabilities and construct validities of the Career Salience Questionnaire (CS) and the Central Life Interests Questionnaire (CLI) after minor modifications. Results indicated the modified CS and CLI are reliable for experimental use and that the CS and CLI tap different aspects of an "importance of work" construct. (RC)

In this naturalistic study of essay marking, 15 university lecturers graded an examination paper and completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. A significant positive correlation was found between the marks given and the grader's lie score, indicating possible effects of staff-student interactions or social desirability on biases in grading.…

Children identified for specific reading retardation were tested at initial contact and after two years on a variety of measures including seat activity, and cognitive and motor steadiness tasks. Speed of response and motor steadiness showed moderate to very high consistency over the two years. (Author/SJL)

Although the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) involves modifications and a complete restandardization, the literature suggests that it remains very similar in nature to its predecessor, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). Individuals perform on the WISC-R largely the same as they do on the WISC. (Author)

With an understanding of the rules of scoring and an appreciation of the need for correctness, the scoring of the Adaptive Behavior Scale, Public School Version, will result in fewer errors. Lacking adequate preparation in scoring, the practitioner should be aware of the potential unreliability of results. (Author)

Fifty mildly handicapped students (learning disabled or emotionally disturbed) mainstreamed in secondary classrooms were Ss of a study to investigate conditions for acquiring textbook content through listening and reading utilizing simulated classroom assignments. (Author/PHR)

The relative efficacy of content-appropriate, orally administered true/false and multiple-choice testing was examined with retarded adolescents. Both approaches demonstrated utility and psychometric adequacy. Implications regarding test development for retarded students are briefly discussed. (Author)

A 40-item Likert type attitude scale was developed and validated for students, ages 13-18. It contains four distinct subscales of attitude toward technology and technologists, careers in industry, technical education, and technology as a new school subject. The scale is appended (f=fiche number). (CP)

Evaluations were made of 46 mentally retarded residents (mean age=18.32 years) in a central Ohio state institution using part one of the American Association on Mental Deficiency's Adaptive Behavior Scale. A significant overall setting effect was not revealed in the multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures. (Author)

Analysis of variance methods were used to investigate the reliability of scores on open ended items in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The study was designed to determine their stability over seven different scorers and time of scoring during a three-month interval. (Author/CTM) Aspect of National Assessment (NAEP) dealt with in…

Two estimation procedures for the Rasch Model of test analysis are reviewed in detail, particularly with respect to new developments that make the more statistically rigorous conditional maximum likelihood estimation practical for use with longish tests. (Author/JKS)

Multiple-choice tests composed entirely of two-, three-, or four-choice items were investigated. Results indicated that number of alternatives per item was inversely related to item difficulty, but directly related to item discrimination. Reliability and standard error of measurement of three-choice item tests was equivalent or superior.…

Construct validity of the six scales of the Career Development Inventory was investigated with 312 tenth-grade students. The subscales were found to demonstrate adequate discriminant validity except for certain cognitive subscales. (Author/CP)

Test-retest correlations can lead to biased reliability estimates when there is instability of true scores and/or when measurement errors are correlated. Using three administrations of the Test of Standard Written English and essay ratings, an analysis is demonstrated which separates true score instability and correlated errors. (Author/BW)