The validity of five methods of estimating the reliability of criterion-referenced tests was evaluated across nine conditions of variability among item means. The results were analyzed by analysis of variance, the Newman-Keuls test, and a nonparametric procedure. There was a tendency for all of the methods to be conservative. (Author/JKS)

Examines the Personal Health Survey methodology and suggests that in studying the factorial composition of physical and mental health complaints in limited populations, the data provides normative information "only" for the samples tested on one occasion. States further that it would require large-scale normative studies to make any…

Latent partition analysis is shown to be useful in determining the conceptual homogeneity of an item population. Such item populations are useful for mastery testing. Applications of latent partition analysis in assessing content validity are suggested. (Author/JKS)

This research simulated responses of 75 subjects to 30 items under the Birnbaum model and attempted a fit to the data using the Rasch model. When item discriminations varied from a variance of .05 to .25, there was only a slight increase in lack of fit as the variances increased. (Author/CTM)

Investigates empirically, for a sample of university examinations in engineering, the influence of examination length on reliability and discrimination. (Author)

Measures of consistency and completeness of order relationships derived from test data such as Guttman scales are proposed. The measures are generalized to apply to incomplete data such as data from tailored testing. (Author/JKS)

Urry's procedure for approximating latent trait test models is shown to tend to underestimate item discriminatory power and overestimate item difficulty. A method for correcting these biases is provided, and implications of the procedures are discussed. (Author/JKS)

A set of computer programs, which performs necessary item analysis and related procedures for developing new scales for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, is described. (Author/JKS)

Response changes on multiple-choice items tend to improve test scores of elementary school children. (Author/MJB)

Comparisons are made between BILOG version 2.2 and LOGIST 5.0 version 2.5 in estimating the item parameters, traits, item characteristic functions, and test characteristic functions for the three-parameter logistic model. Speed and accuracy are reported for a number of 10, 20, and 40-item tests. (Author/GDC)

Three methods were used to test the factor structure of the Eysenck Personality Inventory administered to 583 Australians. The preferred method was to extract factors by the minimum residual method, use the Tandem Criteria Method, and then rotate that number of factors by the Tandem Criteria I method. (SLD)

Item response theory (IRT) is having a major impact on the field of testing. This special issue presents an introduction and seven papers concerning developments in IRT applications. Some important IRT research being conducted outside the United States is highlighted. (SLD)

Considered techniques to assess self-reported drug use. Evaluated the effects of different response options on the distribution, reliability, and validity of scores on drug-use items. Suggests that more quantitative measures are not necessarily more reliable or valid than less quantitative measures of drug use. (Author/KS)

Administered Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) to clinically depressed and nondepressed inpatients, and compared scores from its Depression scale with scores from the Beck Depression Inventory. Demonstrated a positive linear relationship between the two measures and their ability to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed…

This article organizes models for categorical item response data into three distinct classes. "Difference models" are appropriate for ordered responses, "divide-by-total" models for either ordered or nominal responses, and "left-side added" models for multiple-choice responses with guessing. Details of the taxonomy…