Examined construct validity of Microcomputer Evaluation Screening and Assessment (MESA) Interest Survey. Administered MESA and United States Employment Service (USES) Interest Inventory to 74 volunteer rehabilitation clients. Evidence supported convergent and discriminant validity of MESA. Found fewer significant intercorrelations among MESA…

It was hypothesized that leisure behavior and perceptions of internal and external competence were positively related. Elderly subjects completed questionnaires measuring exercise activities, perceived competence, and intrinsic leisure motivation. Correlations between exercise behaviors and internal and external competence supported the validity…

Confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL computer program was performed on test scores from 500 workshop participants (adults) taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator--Expanded Analysis. Results, cross-validated with 500 other scores, support 4 factors as well-defined constructs. Improvements are suggested for subscale reliability. (SLD)

Item and factor analyses examined the psychometric characteristics of the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale based on data from 308 white college students. Then five trained judges assigned scale items to appropriate subscales. Results did not support the psychometric adequacy of the scale. (SK)

Examined construct validity of Shipko and Noviello's alexithymia scale (SNALEX), designed to assess one's difficulty identifying and expressing feelings, in 101 psychiatric inpatients. SNALEX scores correlated positively with Rorschach index of verbal productivity and negatively with subject age. Results do not support construct validity of SNALEX…

A practical theory is offered for probing external validity, the generalization of causal relationships. This alternative theory is built around five principles abstracted from research on construct validation. It emphasizes purposive sampling for theoretical ends rather than random sampling to represent a population. (SLD)

Describes a short-form assessment scale for drug involvement, providing information about its administration, scoring, and interpretation. Discusses the initial research conducted to validate the instrument and provides reliability data. Also details the development of a clinical cutting score that will help practitioners evaluate the significance…

Reanalysis of the factor analysis of S. Simpson, B. Licht, R. Wagner, and S. Stader (1996) of children's responses to four ability-related self-perceptions shows how applying a construct validity approach leads to conclusions opposed to theirs but still consistent with previous theory and research on academic self-concept. (SLD)

H. Marsh and A. Yeung have criticized the conclusions of the present authors with regard to academic self-concept as inconsistent with previous research. It is argued that this inconsistency is because items on the academic self-concept scales are not adequate for answering questions about children's differentiation of perceived ability and…

Data from 20 psychiatric clients were used to test the construct validity of the Occupational Performance History Interview, which gathers information on a person's past and present functioning. The instrument appears to measure three underlying constructs--occupational competence, identity, and environment--rather than occupational adaptation.…

Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Children measures an internally consistent, unidimensional construct. Construct validity (i.e., correlations with state anxiety, trait anxiety, and quantitative ability) was demonstrated. Discusses the importance of accurately assessing mathematics anxiety at the…

Effects that a creativity training program would have on divergent production subtests of the Structure-of-Intellect Learning Abilities Test were studied with 27 college students receiving training and 29 comparisons. Training appeared effective in increasing the production of units but not the production of relations or transformations. (SLD)

Two versions of the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire for adults were developed and tested with 407 smokers and nonsmokers. The version with probability items appeared to have greater construct validity than the version with subjective expected utility items. The scale reflects the refinement of smokers' outcome expectancies with experience. (SLD)

Added a sixth factor to the Dimensions of Self-Concept Scale-Form H (DOSC) (W. Michael and others, 1984), and examined its reliability and validity with a sample of 350 midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Results indicate satisfactory reliability for all six scales and an oblique six-factor model that supports the multidimensionality of the…

Examines testing practices in: (1) the past, in which the traditional paradigm left little room for cognitive psychology principles; (2) the present, in which testing research is enhanced by principles of cognitive psychology; and (3) the future, in which the potential of cognitive psychology should be fully realized through item design.…