Results and Possible Implications of the National Board for Certified Counselors Examination

The National Board for Certified Counselors' (NBCC) National Counselor Examination (NCE) has become important in the counseling profession because of its critical role in NBCC's counselor certification process and its increasing use as a state counselor licensure examination. This importance exists in part because implications about and for the counseling profession can be drawn from results of NCE administrations. Data from the six previously administered minimum-criterion score forms of the NCE and some possible implications of those data are presented in this article.     

The National Board for Certified Counselors: The Good,the Bad,and the Ugly

The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) was a good idea whose time has come and gone. It no longer makes sense to promote the National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential when most states now have counselor licensure. It has yet to be established that the National Counselor Examination (NCE) differentiates between good and bad counselors, nor are there any data that suggest that NCCs are any better counselors than are non NCCs. For probably most of the current 16,020 NCCs, NCC status is redundant and useless: for everyone, it is costly. If NBCC is as great as its proponents would like us to believe, how come only 8% of American Counseling Association (ACA) members are also NCCs? Included are suggestions as to how counselors could better spend the money they would save by not becoming or renewing their certification.     

The Scope of WebCounseling: A Survey of Services and Compliance With NBCC Standards for the Ethical Practice of WebCounseling

A survey of 136 Web sites offering counseling through computer chat rooms and e‐mail revealed a wide range of credentials of providers, fees for service, and low levels of compliance with the ethical standards for WebCounseling published by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Eight months after the first data collection point, more than a third of the WebCounseling sites were no longer in operation. Credentialed professionals provided significantly higher levels of compliance with NBCC standards than did noncredentialed providers. Implications of Web services for professional practice and public confidence in the profession in this medium are discussed.     

National Board for Certified Counselors: History,Relationships, and Projections

The purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the history, relationships, and projections of the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), which was incorporated in July 1982 and now certifies over 14,000 counselors.     

Consequences of Repeated Critical Versus Neutral Body Checking in Women With High Shape or Weight Concern

Body checking is a repeated behavior conducted in an attempt to gain information about one’s shape, weight, size, or body composition. Body checking is associated with negative behavioral, emotional, and cognitive outcomes and may maintain body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. The precise function and consequences of body checking remain less well understood. Specifically, immediate and delayed impacts of repeated critical body checking (CBC) have not been determined. The current study randomly assigned 142 young women with high shape/weight concern to daily 10-min CBC, neutral body checking (NBC), or a non-body critical checking (NBCC) comparison condition, examining their immediate and delayed (one-week follow-up) effects on body satisfaction, self-esteem, and negative affect. Multilevel modeling and follow-up planned comparisons found that compared to NBCC, CBC participants’ body satisfaction and self-esteem immediately decreased, but negative affect improved from baseline to follow-up. Compared to CBC, NBC participants’ self-esteem and negative affect improved immediately, and their self-esteem improved over time compared to NBCC. Over time, all participants’ state body satisfaction improved, regardless of condition. Our findings suggest a 10-min CBC session may function differently than typical (harmful) in vivo body checking. However, reasons for this difference are unclear. Additional research is needed to distinguish (harmful) in vivo body checking from CBC procedures such as this and other mirror exposure interventions. Research is needed to examine the effects of varying CBC duration and instructions during body exposure to further clarify mechanisms of change during body exposures.     

Simple Versus Complex Factor Analyses of Responses to Multiple Scale Questionnaires

Some effects of using inappropriate criteria for sufficiency of factors are discussed, and examples from the literature used to show how procedures leading to the rotation of large numbers of factors may result in fragmentation and difficulty in interpretation. Analyses of two psychometrically equivalent matrices containing an imposed scale structure led to dissimilar solutions, neither of them revealing the imposed structure, when a minimum eigenvalue of 1.00 was used as a criterion for sufficiency of factors. More conservative (two and three-factor) solutions revealed the imposed scale structure in both matrices. Comparisons with higher-order solutions showed considerable similarity between two-factor solutions and between three-factor solutions at different levels. These contrasted with substantial dissimilarities found in equivalent four-factor solutions. Though the main purpose of the paper is to outline procedures which might reasonably reduce factor fragmentation with its consequent problems of replication and interpretability, the implications of the alternative problem of Underfactoring are also briefly discussed and some solutions suggested.     

The Ethics of Counseling: A National Survey of Certified Counselors

National survey data were collected from 579 counselors certified by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Participants indicated their beliefs about whether each of 88 behaviors was ethical and also the degree to which they were confident of their judgment about the behavior. Systematic patterns in responding emerged in regard to age, sex, primary work setting, and degree. Participants also indicated their evaluation of 16 sources of ethical information or guidance. Highest ratings were given to American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD; now the American Counseling Association [ACA]) Ethical Standards, AACD ethics committee, the Journal of Counseling & Development, state licensing boards, and colleagues. The lowest ratings were given to local ethics committees, published clinical and theoretical work, court decisions, state and federal laws, and agencies for which participants had worked.     

The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis

An analytic criterion for rotation is defined. The scientific advantage of analytic criteria over subjective (graphical) rotational procedures is discussed. Carroll's criterion and the quartimax criterion are briefly reviewed; the varimax criterion is outlined in detail and contrasted both logically and numerically with the quartimax criterion. It is shown that thenormal varimax solution probably coincides closely to the application of the principle of simple structure. However, it is proposed that the ultimate criterion of a rotational procedure is factorial invariance, not simple structure—although the two notions appear to be highly related. The normal varimax criterion is shown to be a two-dimensional generalization of the classic Spearman case, i.e., it shows perfect factorial invariance for two pure clusters. An example is given of the invariance of a normal varimax solution for more than two factors. The oblique normal varimax criterion is stated. A computational outline for the orthogonal normal varimax is appended.Part of the material in this paper is from the writer's Ph.D. thesis. I am indebted to my committee, Professors F. T. Tyler, R. C. Tryon, and H. D. Carter, chairman, for many helpful suggestions and criticisms. Dr. John Caffrey suggested the namevarimax, and wrote the original IBM 602A computer program for this criterion.I am also indebted to the staff of the University of California Computer Center for help in programming the procedures described in the paper for their IBM 701 electronic computer. Since their installation is partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the assistance of this agency is acknowledged.     

Empirical Keying of Biographical Data: Cross-Validity as a Function of Scaling Procedure and Sample Size

In recent years, the military has devoted considerable effort to the develop- ment of empirically keyed biodata instruments for use in selection. Although studies using empirical keying procedures are common in the personnel selection literature, relatively few studies have compared these procedures. Using data collected from Naval Academy midshipmen, we compared nine empirical keying procedures: vertical percent (five strategies), horizontal percent, mean criterion, phi coefficient, and rare response. For each keying procedure, five different sample sizes were used to determine the minimum sample size needed to obtain stable results. For the three largest samples, all of the criterion-based methods yielded scales with significant cross-validities. Among these methods, two vertical percent strategies generally produced the most valid scales for the four largest samples. Without exception, the cross-validities for the only noncriterion-based method (rare response) failed to reach significance. The effects of unit versus differential weighting and scale length versus item-alternative validity are discussed.     

Admissible values of γ in direct oblimin rotation

It is shown that for nonpositive values of the parameter in the oblimin criterion, the criterion achieves a minimum on the manifold of all possible oblique rotations of any given full rank initial loading matrixA. For every positive value of , on the other hand, it is shown that there exists a full rank initial loading matrixA for which the oblimin criterion does not achieve a minimum over the manifold of all oblique rotations ofA. These results help explain the sometimes divergent behavior that results from using direct oblimin algorithms with set to a positive value.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant RR-3.     

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CRITERION‐RELATED VALIDATION OF SELECTION PROCEDURES: A CRITICAL REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The use of validated employee selection and promotion procedures is critical to workforce productivity and to the legal defensibility of the personnel decisions made on the basis of those procedures. Consequently, there have been numerous scholarly developments that have considerable implications for the appropriate conduct of criterion‐related validity studies. However, there is no single resource researchers can consult to understand how these developments impact practice. The purpose of this article is to summarize and critically review studies published primarily within the past 10 years that address issues pertinent to criterion‐related validation. Key topics include (a) validity coefficient correction procedures, (b) the evaluation of multiple predictors, (c) differential prediction analyses, (d) validation sample characteristics, and (e) criterion issues. In each section, we discuss key findings, critique and note limitations of the extant research, and offer conclusions and recommendations for the planning and conduct of criterion‐related studies. We conclude by discussing some important but neglected validation issues for which more research is needed.     

Figure-Ground Phenomena in the Perception of Physical and Social Stimuli

An instrument, the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS), was developed to assess six student learning styles. These styles are Independent, Dependent, Avoidant, Participant, Collaborative, and Competitive. A “rational approach” was used to develop the GRSLSS and evaluate its construct validity. The process included professional and student inputs in special procedures for selecting scale items and designing criterion items. The utility of this approach is considered and problems critiqued. The rational approach yielded relatively high temporal reliability coefficients (range across scales r = .76 to r = .83; N = 269) and numerous meaningful correlations between criterion items and scale scores.     

Some effects of response-correlated increases in reinforcer magnitude on human behavior

After training under short or long fixed-interval schedules, humans responded under a modified fixed-interval schedule in which magnitude of reinforcement (X or 2X) was minimally correlated with response frequency. Response frequencies that equaled or exceeded a minimum response criterion were followed by the larger reinforcer at the end of the interval; otherwise, the smaller reinforcer was delivered. The modified schedule alternated with the baseline schedule across conditions. In a control condition, the reinforcer magnitudes produced by control subjects were yoked to those of experimental subjects. Experimental subjects, but not control subjects, showed increased responding. In addition to the baseline and modified fixed-interval schedules used in Experiment 1, subjects in Experiment 2 also responded under a second modified fixed-interval contingency in which increases in reinforcer magnitude were more highly correlated with response frequency. Experimental subjects, but not control subjects, showed increased responding under both procedures. Direct comparison of these two procedures showed that the high-correlation procedure produced greater increases in responding than did the low-correlation procedure.     

The comparative effectiveness of two modes of observer training on the Staff-Resident Interaction Chronograph

The comparative effectiveness of two time-limited modes of training observers to code activity on the Staff-Resident Interaction Chronograph (SRIC) in residential treatment programs for mentally disabled adults was evaluated. The susceptibility of training procedures for consensual observer drift was also examined, as was the predictability of SRIC mastery from trainee characteristics. Two equated groups of undergraduate student trainees (N=15 each) participated in full-time training for 27 days, followed by two weeks of criterion testing in vivo and on videotapes. One group received training by experience personnel using procedures known to be effective (original method). The other group received training via a previously untested set of written and videotaped procedures that do not rely on experienced personnel (package method). Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance found both methods to be equally effective in the degree of mastery achieved by trainees, without evidence of observer drift. No meaningful predictions of coding mastery were found, but conceptual mastery was predictable from individual characteristics. Differences were obtained for both groups between in vivo versus videotaped criterion tests. The results document procedures that are both efficient and resistant to invalidity for complex observational methodology as well as feasible for standardizing assessment of staff functioning across residential settings.This article is based on a thesis submitted to the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in psychology by the first author under direction of the second author. The third and fourth authors also participated as supervisors. Appreciation is extended to other members of the thesis committee, Fred Kanfer, W. Robert Nay, Julian Rappaport, and James Wardrop, for their comments and recommendations. This study was partially supported by Public Health Service Grants MH-25464 and MH-14257 from the National Institute of Mental Health, and by grants from The Joyce Foundation and the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.     

Predicting Freshman Grades and Counselors' Prediction Style

This study attempted to assess 2 questions: (1) What cognitive procedures, as suggested by the use of case data, do counselors use to arrive at a specific prediction? (2) Are the cognitive procedures used by counselors related to actual predictive accuracy? The predicted criterion was freshman grades. 66 counselors were classified into 4 groups on the basis of their typical styles of using case data to predict this criterion. The results showed that counselors varied markedly in their approach to this task. Regardless of the amount of case data available, some counselors appeared consistently to apply a prediction equation of some kind to every case while others attempted to develop independent models for each case. However, the style with which data were used was not significantly related to predictive accuracy.     

Alpha if item deleted: A note on loss of criterion validity in scale development if maximizing coefficient alpha

This note is concerned with a validity‐related limitation of the widely available and routinely used index ‘alpha if item deleted’ in the process of construction and development of multiple‐component measuring instruments. Attention is drawn to the fact that this statistic can suggest dispensing with such scale components, whose removal leads to loss of criterion validity while maximizing the popular coefficient alpha. As an alternative, a latent variable modelling approach is discussed that can be used for point and interval estimation of composite criterion validity (as well as reliability) after deletion of single components. The method can also be utilized to test conventional or minimum level hypotheses about associated population change in measurement quality indices.     

Research Notes

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to conduct a preliminary criterion validity assessment of the Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI). Subjects were 649 ice hockey players who were eligible for the National Hockey League (NHL) entry draft. Each player was rated for the dependent measure, psychological strength, by at least one of three NHL scouts from one team. This criterion measure was based on the observation of on-ice play. The data were analyzed using three independent multiple regression analyses, one for each scout, with the eleven AMI subscales as predictor variables. The results show that less than four percent of the variance in scout ratings was accounted for by AMI scores. The data are interpreted as showing that on-ice behaviors inferred by NHL scouts to represent psychological strength have little relationship to what the AMI measures. Finally, the data are discussed for their relevance to current NHL entry draft screening procedures and to future validity research.     

Attitudes toward male roles among adolescent males: A discriminant validity analysis

This study investigates the discriminant validity of a measure of attitudes toward male roles, i.e., beliefs about the importance of men adhering to cultural defined standards for masculinity. Using data from the 1988 National Survey of Adolescent Males, the Male Role Attitude Scale (MRAS) is evaluated in terms of (1) its independence from measures of attitudes toward female roles, and of attitudes toward gender roles and relationships, and (2) its differential correlates with and incremental ability to explain variance in criterion variables compared to measures of these two other gender-related attitudes. As predicted, the MRAS is unrelated to attitudes toward the female role, but is significantly associated with attitudes toward gender roles and relationships. As further predicted, the MRAS, but not attitudes toward women or attitudes toward gender roles and relationships, is associated with homophobic attitudes toward male homosexuality and with traditional male procreative attitudes. In addition, the MRAS explains significant incremental variance in these criterion measures when attitude toward female roles and attitude toward gender roles and relationships are controlled for. These results support the theoretical argument that attitudes toward male roles are conceptually distinct from the other gender-related attitudes examined here.This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. The authors wish to thank James Kershaw, Susan Wellington, and Elizabeth Crane for their assistance.     

Evaluation of self-contained training procedures for the Time-Sample Behavioral Checklist

The comparative effectiveness of two time-limited modes of training observers to code the behavior of clients in residential treatment programs on the Time-Sample Behavioral Checklist (TSBC) was evaluated. The susceptibility of training procedures to consensual observer drift and the predictability of TSBC mastery from trainee characteristics were also examined. Two equated groups of undergraduate students (N=15 each) participated in full-time training on the TSBC and another instrument for 27 days, followed by criterion testingin vivo and on videotapes. One group was trained by experienced personnel using procedures known to be effective but potentially subject to consensual observer drift. The other group was trained using a previously untested set of written and videotape procedures that do not rely on experienced personnel. Comparative effectiveness and observer drift were evaluated by multivariate and univariate ANOVAs on mastery scores reflecting both pattern agreement and level differences between each trainee and criterion codings. The new, more efficient training procedures were found to be as effective as the original training procedures in the degree of mastery achieved by trainees. Original training procedures were found to be resistant to consensual observer drift, with such a phenomenon appearing in only 1 instance of 156 opportunities. The high degree of mastery achieved by trainees during the time-limited training period was comparable to that previously achieved with the original training procedures. No meaningful predictions of coding mastery were found, with only one trainee characteristic being significantly related to one of six mastery criteria. The results document procedures that are both efficient and resistant to invalidity for training observers in the use of multidimensional observational systems, as well as providing guidelines for the development of standardized procedures.This article is based on a thesis submitted to the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree in psychology by the first author and under direction of the second author. The third and fourth authors also participated as supervisors. Appreciation is extended to other members of the thesis committee, Fred Kanfer, Ross Parke, and Julian Rappaport, and to John Gottman and W. Robert Nay for their comments and recommendations. This study was partially supported by Public Health Service Grants MH-25464 and MH-14257 from the National Institute of Mental Health and by grants from the Joyce Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.     

THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN CRITERION VALUE ON DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT OF LOW RATE SCHEDULE PERFORMANCE

The differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) schedule is commonly used to assess impulsivity, hyperactivity, and the cognitive effects of pharmacological treatments on performance. A DRL schedule requires subjects to wait a certain minimum amount of time between successive responses to receive reinforcement. The DRL criterion value, which specifies the minimum wait time between responses, is often shifted towards increasingly longer values over the course of training. However, the process invoked by shifting DRL values is poorly understood. Experiment 1 compared performance on a DRL 30‐s schedule versus a DRL 15‐s schedule that was later shifted to a DRL 30‐s schedule. Dependent measures assessing interresponse time (IRT) production and reward‐earning efficiency showed significant detrimental effects following a DRL schedule transition in comparison with the performance on a maintained DRL 30‐s schedule. Experiments 2a and 2b assessed the effects of small incremental changes vs. a sudden large shift in the DRL criterion on performance. The incremental changes produced little to no disruption in performance compared to a sudden large shift. The results indicate that the common practice of incrementing the DRL criterion over sessions may be an inefficient means of training stable DRL performance.