Previous knowledge of the difficulty index and the intercorrelations of the items will allow group results to be predicted and manipulated. A compound bionomial probability function of a testscore is established for which a computer program has been written. Three item selections and the appropriate probability distributions are given which give…

Data quite clearly indicated that students should be allowed and encouraged to reconsider and evaluate their responses to objective test items. (Author)

Results indicate that extremeness response sets at the two ends of the continuum differentially contribute to scale validity. (MS)

Effects of item presentation mode on degree of leniency bias in responses to field research questionnaires were studied. Two modes were examined: first with items measuring the same dimensions grouped together and second with such items distributed randomly. The random mode showed substantially less leniency response bias. (Author/BW)

The empirical evidence does not support the prevailing conventional wisdom that it is advisable to mix positively and negatively worded items in psychological measures to counteract acquiescence response bias. An experiment, evaluating subjects' ability to respond accurately to both positive and reversed items on a questionnaire, analyzed post-hoc…

Explores response styles and sets capable of altering a person's responses in the thinking portion of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS). Constructs and incorporates into the PICTS validity scales to measure confusion and defensiveness. Results reveal that internal consistency, reliability, and validity of these two…

Past practice of operationalizing the concept of fakeability of psychological tests is reviewed. The strengths and weaknesses of these indices are discussed in the light of a proposed new definition of fakeability based upon Naylor's model of measurement accuracy. (Author/JKS)

Compared self-reports from 215 adults to the external criterion of spouse ratings of personality traits to separate substance from style in social desirability (SD) scales. Results showed that correcting self-reports for SD failed to improve correspondence with an external, objective criterion and in several cases lowered agreement. (LLL)

Primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various scoring methods on the reliability and validity of the Primary Test of Economic Understanding (PTEU). the PTEU was designed to be scored using the matched pair procedure. (Authors)

Study was designed to provide some indication as to whether the gain in test reliability from confidence scoring results from relevant or irrelevant sources. If the increase in reliability is the result of a gambling response style, it is conceivable that validity could actually decrease even though reliability is increased. (Authors/CB)

Subjects were given positive, negative, or neutral information concerning an attitudinal questionnaire. The positive information group obtained the lowest scores, followed by the negative information group, with the neutral information group obtaining the highest mean score. (Author/GK)

Presented for 64 subjects a replication of the Family Environment Scale's maximum likelihood factor structure for which the two-factor, Varimax-rotated solution was found to be stable when the correlations among the subscales were corrected for the effects of social desirability response bias. (Author)

Evaluations of experimental interventions which employ self-report measures are subject to contamination known as response-shift bias. Response-shift effects may be attenuated by substituting retrospective pretest ratings for the traditional self-report pretest ratings. This study indicated that the retrospective rating more accurately reflected…

The validity and utility of the stratified adaptive computerized testing model (stradaptive) developed by Weiss are empirically investigated. The model presents a tailored testing strategy based upon Binet IQ measurement theory and Lord's modern test theory. (Author/RC)