This paper presents three different ways of computing the internal consistency coefficient alpha for a same set of data. The main objective of the paper is the illustration of a method for maximizing coefficient alpha. The maximization of alpha can be achieved with the aid of a principal component analysis. The relation between alpha max. and the…

A model is proposed for the description of ordinal test scores based on the definition of true score as expected rank; its deviations are compared with results from classical test theory. An unbiased estimator of population true score from sample data is calculated. Score variance and population reliability are examined. (Author/BJG)

Responses of male prisoners to the Personal Orientation Inventory were clustered, using hierarchical linkage analysis. Six second-order clusters accounted for all the items. Reliabilities of these clusters were comparable to those of the first-order clusters. Relative validity of cluster scores and scale scores remains to be determined. (RC)

This study investigated (a) interscorer reliability of the Bender-Gestalt Test by using more than one person to score the same test protocols; and (b) rate-rerate reliability of the Bender-Gestalt Test after a half-year interval. (Author)

This paper is aimed at demonstrating that Charles Spearman postulated neither a platonic true-error distinction nor a requirement for constant true scores under repeated measurement. (Author/RC)

Parallel merit reliability (PMR) indexes the same consistency of measurement that is reflected in a validity coefficient; it reflects the reliability of measurement across identical merit score cases. Research has identified the potential benefits of the PMR approach as providing item level and cut-score reliability indices without requiring…

To determine how many occurrences of a syntactic structure are necessary to provide sampling reliability, two one-half hour spontaneous language samples were elicited from each of 15 language disordered students (5 to 6 years old). Sessions were divided into two periods, one for the child's telling about pictures and toys and the other for…

A calibration of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) composite of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Forms 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, and 10b to the metric of the AFQT Form 7a (AFQT-7a) and a comparison of these outcomes to the operational calibration tables implemented 1 October 1980 are presented. A sample of applicants for…

An assessment of the differential effect of two pupil response procedures is presented. The two groups, half responding in test booklets, half using answer sheets, were matched by grade and general scholastic aptitude. The score reliabilities did not differ significantly for either pupil response mode. (Author/BB)

The study investigated the feasibility of adapting the coefficient k introduced by Cohen (1960) and elaborated by Swaminathan, Hambleton, and Algina (1974) to an internal consistency estimate for criterion referenced tests in single test administrations. The authors proposed the use of k as an internal consistency estimate by logically dividing…

Single-administration procedures for estimating the coefficient of agreement, a reliability index for criterion referenced tests, were recently developed by Subkoviak. The procedures require a distributional assumption for errors of measurement and an estimate of each examinee's true score. A computer simulation of tests composed of items that…

Estimates for the variances of empirically determined scoring weights are given. It is also shown that test item writers should write distractors that discriminate on the criterion variable when this type of scoring is used. (Author)