Lack of sufficient accessible community-based health care services for individuals with developmental disabilities has led to disparities in health outcomes and an overreliance on expensive models of care delivered in hospitals and other safety net or state-subsidized providers. A functioning community-based primary health care model, with an…

Intuitive eating is characterized by eating based on physiological hunger and satiety cues rather than situational and emotional cues and is associated with psychological well-being. This study reports on the development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Intuitive Eating Scale (IES) with data collected in 4 studies from 1,260 college…

Examines evidence presented for the validity of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) rating scales in "Foreign Language Annals" (1990), "System" (1992), and "Proficiency Guidelines" (1982, 1986). The article argues that this evidence is insufficient to support a claim for validity. (36…

Counseling psychology researchers devote little attention to theory-based measurement validation, as evidenced by cursory mention of validity issues in the method and discussion sections of published research reports. Especially, many researchers appear unaware of the limitations of correlations between pairs of self-report measures as evidence of…

Discussion of user satisfaction with computers focuses on a study that tested the construct validity and reliability of the End User Computing Satisfaction Instrument. Highlights include the relationship of user satisfaction and computer attitudes, computer anxiety, computer skill, and computer usage; and implications for the management of…

Examines testing practices in: (1) the past, in which the traditional paradigm left little room for cognitive psychology principles; (2) the present, in which testing research is enhanced by principles of cognitive psychology; and (3) the future, in which the potential of cognitive psychology should be fully realized through item design.…

This article reports on the generalizability, reliability, and construct validity of the Parent Situation Inventory (PSI), a role-play measure of coping skills in parents experiencing problems from an adolescent's drug and alcohol use. Generalizability was robust (.80) and alternate form and test-retest reliability were satisfactory. PSI…

This article is concerned with characterizing literacy activity as it is practiced in professional workplaces. Its starting point is activity theory, which grew out of the work of Vygotsky and has been subsequently elaborated in Russia and elsewhere. First, the authors propose that existing versions of activity theory are unable to account…

One of the most salient requirements for international educational research is the use of comparable measures. For the comparison of student performance across countries the use of item response theory (IRT) scaling techniques facilitates the collection of cross-nationally comparable measures. But there is also a need for valid and comparable…

Presents an overview of the applications of microcomputer-based assessment and diagnosis for both educational and psychological placement and interventions. Advantages of computer-based assessment (CBA) over paper-based testing practices are described, the history of computer testing is reviewed, and the construct validity of computer-based tests…

The psychometric properties of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales Survey Form were studied in a total population of children and adolescents with MR, and in the specific levels of functioning (n=826, age 4-18 years). The original division into (sub)domains, as assigned by the authors, was replicated in the total population and in the mild and…

Smith's article "On Construct Validity: Issues of Method and Measurement" is a fine tribute to L. J. Cronbach and P. E. Meehl (1955) that clarifies the current state and future directions in the understanding of construct validity. Construct validity is a dynamic process, and fit indices need to be used at the service of understanding, not in…

We converted the Teacher Behaviors Checklist (TBC; Buskist, Sikorski, Buckley, & Saville, 2002) to an evaluative instrument to assess teaching by adding specific instructions and a Likert-type scale. Factor analysis of the modified TBC produced 2 subscales: caring and supportive and professional competency and communication skills. Further…

Describes the development of the Religious Occupations and Stress Questionnaire (ROS), which attempts to fill the need for an appropriate measure of the stress experienced by individuals in religious occupations. Results of reliability and validity studies indicate high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity.…

Criterion and construct validation analyses support the use of both retrospective questions in lieu of a pretest and a methodological innovation to compensate for the absence of a control group in a program evaluation that calls for an unavailable experimental design. The findings obtained with this method present evidence that study abroad…