This study evaluated personality variables that underlie hypnotic susceptibility. It was correlational, did not require ongoing contact with participants, and included a validation study as an integral component. The subjects were 359 college students (250 in the original sample and 109 in the cross validation study) taking undergraduate courses…

Item bias has been a major concern for test developers during recent years. The Mantel-Haenszel statistic has been among the preferred methods for identifying biased items. The statistic's performance in identifying uniform bias in simulated data modeled by producing various levels of difference in the (item difficulty) b-parameter for reference…

A comparison of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) indicates that the two should be used interchangeably only with caution and understanding of the differences. While there is a moderate to high correlation between the test scores, nevertheless, the two have distinctly different strengths and…

The study compared the relationships of more easily administered intelligence screening instruments with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to determine the validity of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, the Slosson Intelligence Test, and the Raven Progressive Matrices among reading disabled children. The screening measures were…

The Mantel-Haenszel (MH) procedure has become one of the most popular procedures for detecting differential item functioning (DIF). One of the most troublesome criticisms of this procedure is that while detection rates for uniform DIF are very good, the procedure is not sensitive to non-uniform DIF. In this study, examinee responses were generated…

The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI) has recently undergone a major revision and restandardization to update its 20-year-old norms, extend the age range down to age 3 and up to age 7 years, update and revise its test items, and increase its appeal to young children. This paper presents the results of a concurrent…

The verbal organizing abilities of the bilingual, multilingual, and monolingual, as measured by four subscales of the Goyer Organization of Ideas Test (GOIT), were investigated. A total of 163 subjects from 5 universities having high populations of multilingual students were administered the GOIT. Bilinguals were not as effective on the sequential…

This paper highlights the need for a systematic, content aware, and theoretically-based approach to test design. The cognitive components approach is endorsed, and is applied to the development of a computerized perceptual speed test. Psychometric literature is reviewed and shows that: every major multi-factor theory includes a clerical/perceptual…

The concurrent validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was examined by comparing K-ABC scores and Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised (WISC-R) scores for 58 school children in primary and intermediate grades. Thirty-seven of these children had either educable mental retardation, learning disabilities, or…

Of the many short forms of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) that have been developed, the MMPI-168 is among the most promising. To determine whether clinical judgments based on the MMPI-168 are comparable to judgments based on the standard MMPI, 30 clinical psychologists participated in a randomized block, repeated treatment…

A method of automatically selecting items for inclusion in a test with constraints on item content and statistical properties was applied to real data. Tests constructed manually from the same data and constraints were compared to tests constructed automatically. Results show areas in which automated assembly can improve test construction. (SLD)

How the susceptibility perceptions of diverse health risks are reflected in a variety of commonly used likelihood scales (dichotomous, 5-point, 7-point, 9-point, 11-point, and 100-point scales) was examined. Undergraduates (N=103) were asked to rank 12 health risks in the order of likelihood that each problem would happen to them (direct ranking).…

Scores were compared for two experimental assessment instruments constructed as examples of the techniques used by the Sentence Verification Technique (SVT) of J. M. Royer and others (1979) and the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) of the Michigan Department of Education (1987, 1988) to measure reading comprehension as an interactive…

The adequacy of mean length of utterance (MLU) as a criterion for matching retarded and normally developing children was investigated. Six normally developing and four retarded subjects were matched on MLU. Although matched on MLU, these two groups of children demonstrated both quantitative and qualitative differences in their use of language.…

The role of money and other types of feedback on motivation to do a task or job has long been of interest to managers in business. To examine Deci's hypothesis concerning the effects of contingent rewards on intrinsic task interest, 42 high school students worked puzzles involving the solution of mazes and anagrams. Competence in task was made…