This study assesses the viability of the rating approach compared to the forced choice approach by use of the Activity Preference Questionnaire. (DEP)

The relationship between students' scores on a verbal meaning test and their degrees of confidence in item responses was investigated. Subjects were black undergraduate students and they were administered a verbal meaning test by following a confidence testing procedure. (Author/BJG)

A number of examples are presented to illustrate a common flaw in the published research on learning, memory, and instruction. Experimental subjects--often college students--have certain expectations about the problems they will be asked to solve and about the questions that will appear on reading comprehension or recall tests; these expectations…

In a 1977 review of the literature on test answer changing, Mueller and Wasser (EJ 163 236) cited 17 studies and concluded that students changing answers on objective tests gain more points than they lost by so doing. Higher scoring students tend to gain more than do the lower scoring students. Six additional studies not reported in the Mueller…

Determines the relationship of sex, answer-changing incidence, and total score to net changes in total score resulting from changing answers, by examining the answer-changing behavior of graduate students responding to achievement test items. (Author/RC)

Sociology students were administered two Thurstone-type attitude scales under two conditions (with or without a "cannot decide" option), and a measure of ambiguity tolerance. The "cannot decide" option was used by a slight majority of students when available, but usage was not related to ambiguity tolerance. (Author/JKS)

Describes a study of the accuracy of student responses on objective tests. Investigators examined the frequency of correctness on initial responses versus changed responses, and the relationship to degree of familiarity of the content. Results show that changing test answers tends to produce more right than wrong answers by more students.…

Two experiments using undergraduates confirmed the hypothesis that external statements in the Rotter Internal External Locus of Control Scale are more depressing in tone than internal statements. Thus, depressed subjects may respond to external items due to item mood level rather than locus of control. (Author/JKS)

The effect of cheat-sheets on later test performance was investigated. Results indicated poorer test performance when a cheat-sheet was made and not used, compared to when it was made and used, not made, or made with the awareness that it could not be used during testing. (Author/MH)

The effect on examinee performance of the rule that multiple-choice (MC) test items require the acceptance of 1 choice was examined for 106 dental students presented with choices in MC and multiple true-false formats. MC items force examinees to select one choice, which causes artificial acceptance of correct/incorrect choices. (SLD)

Presents three studies on development of Scientist-Practitioner Inventory (SPI) designed to measure career specialty interests of psychology students. Reports factorial validity of scales, test-retest reliability, freedom from response-set biases, and construct validity; cross-validation evidence of second-order factor structure, internal…

This study examined the effects of different types of computer-assisted feedback strategies (knowledge of correct response, knowledge of response, and elaborative) and different types of information (facts, concepts, and principles) on student achievement and response confidence. Findings indicated a positive correlation between achievement and…

Self-report, pre/post testing is a frequently employed measure of therapeutic change. To investigate whether expectation of change might be an alternative explanation to the scale shift explanation of response shift bias in a self-report measure, a two-session assertiveness training intervention for college women was evaluated under manipulated…

This inquiry was conducted to examine influences on perceptions of survey subjects regarding ideographic characteristics of the subjects, incentives to enhance mail returns, and multiple requests for information. A mail survey sent to 297 former education students from a large university produced responses from 48.3% of the sample. The ideographic…

In a study to determine whether a shift from Formula scoring to Rights scoring can be made without causing a discontinuity in the test scale, the analysis of special administrations of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and Chemistry Achievement Test and the variable section of an operational form of the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is…