Current test anxiety theory suggests that achievement differences between high and low anxious students are due to differences in attention. In an attempt to investigate the interaction between various components of test anxiety, stress, and tasks measuring attentional flexibility, undergraduate students (N=45) completed Sarason's Test Anxiety…

The purpose of this study was to determine how cognitive style instructions to respondents of a survey instrument affected the resulting psychometric properties of the scale. It was hypothesized that a group which is instructed to carefully respond will have a mean score further from the neutral point, a larger standard deviation, and a higher…

Several possible faking predictor scores were related to a continuously measured index of faking based on differences between faked and normal records and also to a dichotomous criterion of faking on the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS). Correlational analysis revealed that a total CPS summary score best indicated fakery. (Author/BJG)

A new scoring procedure for multiple choice tests attempts to assess partial knowledge and to restrict guessing. It is a variant of Coombs' elimination scoring method, adapted for use with the carbon-shield answer sheets commonly used with answer-until-correct scoring. Examinees are directed to erase the carbon shields of choices they are certain…

The effects of option familiarity, length, and technicality on guessing or multiple choice items were investigated in two experiments. Generally, these college undergraduates tended to favor familiar, non-technical, and longer options when guessing on multiple choice tests. (JKS)

Students instructed on research findings regarding answer changing made gains comparable to those of uninstructed students when changing item responses. Most changed their answers because they rethought or reread items. Counselors should not discourage students from changing answers. (Author)

Explored utility of disguise in structured self-report assessment of psychopathology, using university students. Data indicated that under normal test-taking circumstances, use of disguised test items was not advantageous. This relationship was moderated by several dimensional parameters. Results supported rational strategy of test construction,…

The impact of answer changing on the test scores of students studying educational statistics is investigated. The results show that students who make changes in their original responses significantly improve their overall test performance, and high-scoring students make a greater number of changes than low-scoring students. (Author/GSK)

Examines social desirability responding (SDR) on surveys administered on the World Wide Web and on paper to graduate and undergraduate students. Discusses response bias; describes use of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding; and reports findings that reveal no differences in SDR between the Web-administered and paper-administered…

The major purpose of the three studies reported here was to investigate possible differences in agreement/disagreement with attitude statements as a function of their type (with regard to positivity/negativity) and personalism. In the first study, 90 students completed scales on energy conservation and on having good study habits. Agreement varied…

The Musical Aptitude Profile (MAP) and four levels of the Iowa Tests of Music Literacy (ITML) were administered to university non-music majors to investigate the use of the "in doubt" test item response. The "in doubt" response was not used indiscriminately by the university students on either test battery. (Author)

Individual differences in performance on figural analogy tests are usually attributed to quantitative differences in processing parameters rather than to qualitative differences in the formation and use of representations. Yet aptitude-related differences in categorizing standardized figural analogy problems between high and low scorers have been…

This investigation of the effect of making a set of alternatives conform grammatically to a test item stem showed there is subject sensitivity to such cues. Content-free versions of American College Testing Assessment Experimental Social Science items representing singular-plural and vowel-consonant agreement without inappropriate grammatical…

The effect of social desirability on the variance accounted for by the scales of the Adjective Check List (ACL) was investigated in a sample of 366 female college students. Social desirability as a response style was defined as the tendency to present oneself in a favorable manner. The ACL was scored according to 23 of the 24 keys in the test…