When utilizing self-assessments to determine motives for health behaviors, it is essential that the resulting data demonstrate sound psychometric properties. The purpose of this research was to assess the reliability and construct validity of college students' responses to the Reasons for Smoking Scale (RFS). Confirmatory factor analyses and…

The purpose of the present study was to adapt the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale- Elementary Form (MARS-E, Suinn, 1988) into Turkish by first doing the translation of its items and then the preliminary psychometric investigation of the Turkish form. The study included four different samples: 30 bilingual language experts, 50 Turkish language…

Functional behavioral assessments can consist of indirect, descriptive and experimental procedures, such as a functional analysis. Although the research contains numerous examples demonstrating the effectiveness of functional analysis procedures, experimental conditions are often difficult to implement in classroom settings and analog conditions…

The challenges in teaching and learning of biological evolution continue to be documented (NAS, 2008). Developers of science standards continue their work to increase emphasis on evolution. Although gains have been made, many K-12 science curricula focus on microevolution (i.e., natural selection, genetic drift), and a more limited effort is in…

Case-specificity, i.e., variability of a subject's performance across cases, has been a consistent finding in medical education. It has important implications for assessment validity and reliability. Its root causes remain a matter of discussion. One hypothesis, content-specificity, links variability of performance to variable levels of relevant…

We assessed the reliability and validity of the discrete-trials teaching evaluation form (DTTEF), a 21-item checklist for assessing instructors conducting discrete-trials teaching (DTT). In Phase 1, six consultants in an applied behavior analysis program for children with autism rated the 21 components of the DTTEF with a mean of 6.2 on a 7-point…

This study focused on the development and application of a three-tier multiple-choice diagnostic test (or three-tier test) on the nature and propagation of waves. A question in a three-tier test comprises the "content tier", which measures content knowledge; the "reason tier", which measures explanatory knowledge; and the…

The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate an instrument assessing the moral orientation of physical education students. Three types of validity (content, construct, and criterion oriented) were used. Two hundred and sixty-nine physical education students (males n = 128 and females n = 141; M[subscript age] = 14.94) filled in 3…

Drawing conclusions from the literature regarding the moral development of people with intellectual disabilities (IDs) is difficult because of the use of unstandardised and idiosyncratic measures. In order to address this short-coming, a moral reasoning production measure (the Socio-Moral Reflection Measure-Short Form; SRM-SF) and a recognition…

This article considers the claim that machine scoring of writing test responses agrees with human readers as much as humans agree with other humans. These claims about the reliability of machine scoring of writing are usually based on specific and constrained writing tasks, and there is reason for asking whether machine scoring of writing requires…

Research on the predictors of 3 bully status groups (bullies, victims, and bully victims) for school-age children and adolescents was synthesized using meta-analytic procedures. The primary purpose was to determine the relative strength of individual and contextual predictors to identify targets for prevention and intervention. Age and how…

Imposed time limits on computer adaptive tests (CATs) can result in examinees having difficulty completing all items, thus compromising the validity and reliability of ability estimates. In this study, the effects of speededness were explored in a simulated CAT environment by varying examinee response patterns to end-of-test items. Expectedly,…

Objective: This is perhaps the first outcome study on the efficacy of ADHD coaching for adults with ADHD and its long-term effect. Method: Forty-five adults (30 women, 15 men) rated 22 areas of concern before and after the coaching experience. Factor analysis of the 22 areas of concern revealed five factors. Descriptive statistics and…

This investigation examined the listening comprehension (LC) performance of two groups of adolescent struggling readers, one group with word-finding difficulties (WFD) and one with no word-finding difficulties (NWFD). Of interest was whether the expressive language difficulties of the WFD group would interfere with their success on a LC assessment…

A questionnaire used in student evaluations of interdisciplinary courses during six semesters contained two Likert items stated in a direct negative mode which were embedded in a questionnaire (14-18 items) in which the remaining items were phrased in a direct positive mode. In the seventh semester and thereafter, the two negative items were…