Recent evidence suggests that the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) is composed of two orthogonal factors, one representing traits such as dominance and low anxiety (PPI-I) and a second that reflects more socially deviant aspects of psychopathy (PPI-II). To assess whether response sets differentially affect these factors, the present…

A total of 1,247 college students participated in this study on the effect of scale format on the reliability of Likert-type rating scales. The number of response categories ranged from 3 to 9. Anchor labels on the scales were provided for each response option or for the end points only. The results indicated that the scales with few response…

The Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS), the most commonly used social desirability bias (SDB) assessment, conceptualizes SDB as an individual's need for approval. The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) measures SDB as two separate constructs: impression management and self-deception. Scores on SDB scales are commonly…

Preference structures that underline a survey or experimental responses may systematically vary during the administration of such measurement. Maturation, learning, fatigue, and response strategy shifts may all affect the sequential elicitation of respondent preferences at different points in the survey or experiment. The consequence of this…

When response set is present, instead of responding to the intent of the question, the subject appears to be responding to a variable emanating from some personal characteristic. This threat to measurement reliability and validity warrants investigation of the source of response set so that questionnaire designers can minimize its occurrence. This…

Results of a study examining how social work students view creativity, how various student characteristics correlate with creativity scores, and how social work students' scores compare with other undergraduate majors are discussed. (Author/KM)

Performance on standardized figural analogy tests is considered highly predictive of academic success. While information-processing models of analogy solution attribute performance differences to quantitative differences in processing parameters, the problem-solving literature suggests that qualitative differences in problem representation and…

The booklet offers techniques to help language learning disabled college students and their tutors improve test-taking performance. The importance of mastering time management and study skills is stressed. Basic notetaking guidelines are presented, including use of a two-column system so that material on the right may be consolidated and…

Males (24) and females (24) viewed the videotaped professional self-presentation of a presumed counselor who was either physically attractive or unattractive. Subjects then indicated their impressions of the counselor on 12 traits and their expectancies of the counselor's helpfulness for 15 personal problems. (Author)

Matching test (MT) construction techniques were compared. These included: (a) MT instruction that limit the number of times responses can be selected to once, rather than more than once; (2) MTs that are organized in groups of five premises, or stems, rather than in groups of ten premises; and (3) MTs designed to measure knowledge, rather than a…

The Randominzed Response Technique was used with 83 undergraduate students in an Introductory Statistics course to: (1) demonstrate a means by which information of a sensitive nature can be obtained in a confidential manner; and (2) illustrate to a group of somewhat skeptical students an application of statistics to an interesting, real-world…

Three related experimental studies analyzed rate and accuracy of test response under time-limit and no-time-limit conditions. Test instructions and multiple-choice vocabulary items were administered by computer. Student volunteers received monetary rewards under both testing conditions. In the first study college students were blocked into high-…

Students were asked to make forecasts of fourteen quantities where true values would not become known for five or six months. The quantities were selected to be typical of the subjects which would be of interest to a decisionmaker in business or government, and included GNP, consumer prices, draft calls, deaths in South Vietnam, and election…

Presents a pilot study on student thinking in chemistry. Verbal comments of a group of six college students were recorded and analyzed to identify how each student arrives at the correct answer in fixed response items in chemisty. (HM)

Using task choice to measure information-seeking behavior, two studies examined situational determinants of choice among anagram tests varying both in difficulty and diagnosticity (information about one's ability). Subjects took a preliminary test before choosing. Study 1 manipulated pretest performance level. Study 2 varied payment for pretest…