考试自我效能感是考试焦虑影响考试成绩的中介变量

本文采用结构方程的统计分析技术．依据Baron(1986)提出的确定中介变量的规则和标准．对265名中学生的特质考试焦虑、考试自我效能感、数学期末考试成绩的关系进行了探讨。考试焦虑,考试自我效能感和数学考试成绩是三个潜变量。结果表明,考试焦虑通过考试自我效能感这一中介变量对考试成绩产生影响,考试自我效能感对考试成绩有直接的影响作用,是考试焦虑影响考试成绩的中介变量。     

Test Preparation Activities and Employment Test Performance

This study examined the relation among motivational factors, test preparation activities (metacognition and learning strategies), and employment test scores using data from 493 actual job applicants to a state law enforcement agency. Results showed that motivational factors are related to metacognition and the learning strategies in which applicants engage. Use of these activities was in turn associated with higher test performance.     

测试特异人娜达莎

娜达莎的特异功能美国探索频道(Discovery Channel)导演和制片莫尼卡·盖塞(Monica Garnsey),做了一期电视节目——“一个具有X射线眼的女孩”。为了这个电视片,她向CSICOP的理查德·怀斯曼(RichardWiseman),安德鲁·斯库尔尼克(Andrew Skolnick)和我提出,希望对自称能“阅读”(透视)人们身体内部器官的一个17岁的俄罗斯女孩——娜达莎·戴金娜(Natasha Demkina)进行相关的测试,来检验她的声称是否确实。据了解最近世界很多地方流传,一个17岁俄罗斯女孩娜达莎有一双能够透视的X射线眼,可以看到人体内部。她10岁的时候,做了一个修道…     

考试焦虑影响考试成绩的基本模式

以整合的思路、建构包括九个中介变量的考试焦虑影响考试成绩的结构方程模型。用AM和MG两种路径分析方式相结合的方法．发现考试焦虑对中介变量的影响甚于中介变量对考试成绩的影响。考试自我效能感、成绩-接近目标、认知干扰是受考试焦虑影响和影响考试成绩程度比较一致的中介变量(简称为“一致性”的中介变量),成绩-回避目标定向、担忧、学习和考试技能变量屑于“非一致性”的中介变量。掌握目标定向、情绪性和应付反应作为中介变量不具有实际意义。     

钟面画测试及其在ADHD儿童中的研究

钟面画测试被广泛用于研究和测试老年人群中的各种认知缺陷和认知老化,是一种有用的筛选老年痴呆症病人的工具。近年来它也被用于研究正常儿童和ADHD儿童。该文回顾了钟面画测试所涉及的内部认知过程以及影响钟面画测试的各种因素、钟面画测试与执行功能测试之间的相关,并且重点回顾了钟面画测试在正常儿童和ADHD儿童中的研究。由于钟面画测试本身简便、快捷,可以迅速地大规模筛选障碍儿童,在这方面的研究具有重大的实践意义。     

The Influence of Mode of Test Administration on Test Performance

This study examined the influence of mode of test administration (paper based or computer-based) on anxiety levels and test performance. Participants were 44 learners (males = 22, females = 22) from three schools in Johannesburg, South Africa who completed both a computer and paper version of the Differential Aptitude Test—Form K Non-Verbal Reasoning test, the Computer Attitude Scale, the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale and Sarason's Test Anxiety Scale. Test anxiety was significantly related to both computer and paper based testing.     

Uniform Test Assembly

In educational practice, a test assembly problem is formulated as a system of inequalities induced by test specifications. Each solution to the system is a test, represented by a 0–1 vector, where each element corresponds to an item included (1) or not included (0) into the test. Therefore, the size of a 0–1 vector equals the number of items n in a given item pool. All solutions form a feasible set—a subset of 2 ⁿ vertices of the unit cube in an n-dimensional vector space. Test assembly is uniform if each test from the feasible set has an equal probability of being assembled. This paper demonstrates several important applications of uniform test assembly for educational practice. Based on Slepian’s inequality, a binary program was analytically studied as a candidate for uniform test assembly. The results of this study establish a connection between combinatorial optimization and probability inequalities. They identify combinatorial properties of the feasible set that control the uniformity of the binary programming test assembly. Computer experiments illustrating the concepts of this paper are presented.     

The Role of Bayesian Concepts in Test Development and Test Interpretation

Column Editor's Note. Among Robert L. Thorndike's many contributions is his use of Bayesian thinking in test construction and his dissemination of information about Bayesian concepts. Thorndike's ability to render complex technical material comprehensible to nonspecialists prompted your editor to invite him to develop a series of three articles. In the first, readers are introduced to central tenets of Bayesian reasoning and are led to appreciate that it is not an esoteric approach reserved for specialists; rather, it is closely related to common sense. In the second article, to appear in next month's issue, Thorndike sketches some Bayesian approaches to test development. In the final installment, which will appear in November, Thondike illustrates how Bayesian thinking can and should be used to interpret test scores. When we interpret a score, we usually have prior test or nontest information about the examinee. “We should neither ignore nor overvalue this prior information but should skillfully use it to govern our interpretation of the new data. It is hoped that this trilogy will not only provide some interpretive skill but will also enhance commonsense thinking in a wide variety of professional and personal applications.—Gerald S. Hanna     

Random Walker Test: A computerized alternative to the Road-Map Test

The Road-Map Test (RMT) is a popular neurological assessment of left-right orientation, using a simplified road map. Inspired by the RMT, we developed a new computerized navigation test, the Random Walker Test (RWT), for further quantitative assessment of left-right orientation ability. RWT provides verbal or nonverbal instructions for the direction (left, right, or front) in which to proceed, and participants must judge the spatially correct direction. Perspectives rotate by 90° during navigation. Verbal judgments demand verbal-to-spatial mapping of left/right/front and, if necessary, egocentric perspective rotation. Using the RWT, we evaluated the left-right orientation of normal male participants. The RWT reliably recorded the response times and error rates for participant performance and also revealed egocentric perspective rotation as an unreliable mental process with large intra- and interpersonal variability. These results indicate that the RWT may be useful in investigating left-right orientation and/or egocentric perspective rotation in both normal participants and neuropathological patients.     

Studies of Family Relations Test Patterns: 1. Test Inhibition

An empirical investigation of Bene and Anthony's (1957) “tenderness vs. toughness” hypothesis of inhibition in boys was conducted. Examination of the Family Relations Test (FRT) protocols of 217 boys (age range, 7 years 2 months to 12 years 10 months; IQ range, 80 to 132) referred to Calgary School Board psychologists, showed Bene and Anthony's hypothesis to be valid in this sample. Evidence is given to suggest that each of the eight scoring categories should be viewed separately for inhibition trends and not summed over any of the three dimensions, intensity, direction, and valence. The relation of FRT Inhibition to reason for referral was examined but only in the eight-year-old group was any significant relationship found.