The purpose of this study is to examine an option-weighting method as it affects pass-fail decisions in formative and summative evaluation of student achievement for instructional units, certification, advancement, licensure, admissions, placement, and selection. A database was constructed using high school achievement test data where a…

The predictive analysis approach to adaptive testing originated in the idea of statistical predictive analysis suggested by J. Aitchison and I.R. Dunsmore (1975). The adaptive testing model proposed is based on parameter-free predictive distribution. Aitchison and Dunsmore define statistical prediction analysis as the use of data obtained from an…

Traditional information processing (or high-involvement) models hold that cognitive change leads to attitude change which leads to behavior change. It has been suggested, however, that in many advertising situations, cognitive change can lead directly to behavior change, and that for many products advertising is a "low involvement"…

A study was designed to test predictability of actual occupation from expressed vocational choice when combined separately with measures of career development. Subjects were 1,994 members of a national study of high school career development who were working more than half-time three years later (1976). Expressed vocational choice and measures of…

The effectiveness of Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores in predicting success during the first phase of medical education is investigated. The process by which medical students are educated and evaluated, the nature and purpose of the MCAT, and the MCAT Interpretive Studies Program developed by the Association of American Medical…

Previous research has shown that students often overestimate their performance levels on course examinations. A model of motivation was applied to an individual's predictions and postdictions of his/her own performance levels in course examinations to obtain actual predictions and postdictions for 111 college students over a period of three…

The ecological validity of three spatial ability tests was studied: The Embedded Figures Test, the Shepard/Metzler Mental Rotations Test, and the Differential Aptitude Spatial Relations subtest. The Building Memory Test was also examined in an attempt to replicate a previous study which supported its validity. These four tests were administered to…

Research indicates that the media play a role in shaping the information that voters have about election options. Knowledge of those options has been related to actual vote, but has not been shown to be strongly related to uncertainty. Uncertainty, however, does seem to motivate voters to engage in communication activities, some of which may…

A study examined the extent of the role communication encounters play in helping people make accurate predictions about others, and what types of communicators (in terms of communicative reponsiveness and gender) seem to profit most from interaction with the subject of prediction prior to making predictions. Subjects, 118 college students,…

Using data collected in 95 Ohio school districts by Brock Hunt, this study reanalyzed those data, examined the reasons for Hunt's inability to predict a school board member incumbent's defeat, and developed a model that would have predicted those Ohio school board elections. Hunt attempted to develop a statistical model of socioeconomic-political…

Learned helplessness has recently incorporated attribution theory to predict the specific occurrence/nonoccurrence of the motivational, cognitive and affective deficits characteristic of helplessness. College students (N=50) participated in a study to investigate the effects of a personal-universal helplessness manipulation on subsequent task…

The predictive validity of the new Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) was examined; the validity coefficients were compared to those obtained from previous versions of the MCAT and from performance data gathered early in a first-year basic science program. Data were collected from about 400 medical students, including: (1) MCAT…

Certain conditions are investigated as to whether they are necessary or sufficient to indicate the fairness of a test, or predictor, in its role in the college admissions procedure. Eight general positions are considered that have claimed to provide sufficient conditions for the unbiasedness of a standardized test or predictor: (1) equal test…

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) and curriculum-based measurement (CBM) procedures are increasingly being utilized to assess student academic skills for educational decision-making, including screening, progress monitoring, entitlement and intervention planning. At the same time, school districts are increasingly compelled to administer local and…

Nearly a quarter of a century ago, John G. Nicholls proposed the four developmental levels of motivational reasoning that focused upon the roles that ability and effort play in academic success. These levels theoretically begin at early childhood and end at adolescence. This report attempts to validate the developmental and predictive nature of…