A PHYSIOGNOLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO READING ASSESSMENT: AN ALTERNATE FORM OF MISCUE ANALYSIS

This article is a good natured parody of an area of controversy, informal classroom reading assessment, which has been receiving a great deal of journal coverage in recent years. Any similarity between this article and actual research being conducted is completely gratuitous.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A JOB ANALYSIS-BASED PROCEDURE FOR WEIGHTING AND COMBINING CONTENT RELATED TESTS INTO A SINGLE TEST BATTERY SCORE

By definition, content-related approaches to test validation do not rely on criterion data. As a consequence, regression and other statistical procedures for weighting and generating a composite score from a test battery are not applicable when a content-related validation strategy is used. This paper presents a procedure for determining the component weights for a test battery that has been developed on the basis of a content-related validity strategy. The Relative Content Contribution (RCC) weighting procedure is a logical extension of the conceptual basis underlying the rational developmental process used to demonstrate the validity of content-related tests. Results from field implementations of the procedure in the development of two promotional test batteries (fire and police) and an entry-level test battery (police) in two large metropolitan cities are presented to illustrate the procedure.     

AN EVALUATION OF ALTERNATE SCORING METHODS FOR THE MIXED STANDARD SCALE

This study investigated the psychometric properties of three methods of scoring a Mixed Standard Scale (MSS) performance evaluation: the patterned procedure as corrected by Saal (1979); a simple nonpatterned scoring procedure suggested by Prien, Jones, and Miller (1977), which gives equal weights to the performance statements; and a procedure that assigned differential weights to each statement on the basis of scale values provided by a panel of subject matter experts. Interrater reliabilities, scale variances for averaged ratings, and a convergent/discriminant validity analysis, which included an alternate method of job skill ratings, indicated no difference in the score distribution variance, interrater reliability, or validity of different method scores.     

AN ANALYSIS OF A GROUP TEACHING PROCEDURE FOR PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

This study evaluated whether a concurrent group teaching procedure, in which all students respond simultaneously, could be used for persons with moderate or severe mental retardation. The teaching procedure used was the Task Demonstration Model, a program based on stimulus-control research and the fading techniques of behavioral psychology. Three teachers and three groups of students participated. Results showed that the teachers increased their rates of questions and instructions, positive feedback, and use of functional materials, but they reduced their rate of prompts to almost zero. Students increased their percentage and rate of correct responding as well as their engaged time. In addition, maladaptive responding, for which there were never any direct consequences, decreased from 45% to 10% for 8 of the 14 students. Results are discussed primarily in two areas: (a) changing stimulus control from teacher prompts to critical elements of the items being taught, and (b) reasons for the reduction of maladaptive behavior for 8 of the subjects.     

CONTINGENT OBSERVATION: AN EFFECTIVE AND ACCEPTABLE PROCEDURE FOR REDUCING DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR OF YOUNG CHILDREN IN A GROUP SETTING1

Since a major task of childhood is learning to get along in a group without disrupting other children's activities, caregivers need explicit guidelines for gentle but effective procedures for dealing with disruptive behaviors in child-care settings. In a day-care center for normal 1- and 2-yr-old children, an effort was made to develop a procedure that appeared sufficiently humane and educational to be acceptable to parents and daycare workers, and yet effective in reducing disruptive play behaviors. Caregivers used the occasion of disruptive behavior to instruct the child in appropriate alternatives, then had the child sit on the periphery and observe the appropriate social behavior of the other children, “sit and watch”, for a brief period before inviting him or her to rejoin the play activities. The effectiveness of this procedure was compared with a method commonly recommended for use with young children: instructing the child, then distracting or redirecting the child to an alternative toy or activity. Contingent observation, combining instruction with a brief timeout (from being a participant in an activity to becoming an observer of the activity), proved considerably more effective in maintaining low levels of disruptions and was considered by caregivers and parents to be an appropriate and socially acceptable method of dealing with young children's disruptive behaviors. Therefore, contingent observation can be recommended for general use in day-care programs for young children.     

INTERSPERSED REQUESTS: A NONAVERSIVE PROCEDURE FOR REDUCING AGGRESSION AND SELF-INJURY DURING INSTRUCTION

Interspersed requests are simple commands, with a high likelihood of being followed correctly, that are interspersed among instructional trials to increase the probability that a learner will attempt to perform new or difficult tasks without engaging in aggression or self-injurious behavior. This report presents two assessments of the effect of interspersed requests on aggression and self-injury during instruction. The participants were individuals with severe mental retardation who used aggression and self-injury to avoid difficult instructional situations. Results from both studies indicate that interspersed requests were effective at increasing the responsiveness of the learners to instructions and reducing levels of aggression and self-injury.     

AN EXTENSION AND FIELD TEST OF THE RETRANSLATION METHOD FOR DEVELOPING RATING SCALES

The retranslation method for rating scale development was used to develop a scale to evaluate an educational television series designed to teach basal reading skills. This extension of the method, outside the context of job performance rating, was evaluated using both developmental and actual field use data. The results during the developmental stage of the method are generally supportive of the use of the technique in this situation; the results from the field test yielded mixed support.     

THEFT REVERSAL: AN OVERCORRECTION PROCEDURE FOR ELIMINATING STEALING BY RETARDED PERSONS1

To deal with the problem of stealing, an overcorrection procedure was designed in which the thief was required to give his victim an item identical to the stolen one in addition to returning the stolen item. This procedure was compared with the more commonly used simple correction procedure (restitution) in which the thief is required to return the stolen item. Under the simple correction procedure, an average of 20 thefts per day had been occurring among 34 retarded residents of an institution. The overcorrection procedure reduced the thefts by 50% on the first day, by 75% on the second day, and eliminated thefts by the fourth day, after which no further stealing occurred. The overcorrection procedure was a rapid and effective method of eliminating stealing, it provided special consideration for the victim, and it should be applicable to the nonretarded.     

PREDICTORS OF EMPATHIC ABILITY IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING: A RESEARCH NOTE

This study examined the relationships between selected context variables and empathic ability. The specific purpose was to determine the relative strengths of association between intimacy, status difference, trust, and empathic ability. A correlational analysis was applied to the data collected from 29 pairs of supervisors and subordinates in a Denver financial organization. Results indicated that trust was the context variable most strongly associated with empathic ability. Intimacy and status difference were only slightly related to empathic ability. Discussion centered on the implications of the inverse relationship between trust and empathic ability.     

LOEVINGER'S SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST OF EGO DEVELOPMENT: A USEFUL TOOL FOR CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCHERS

This study examined the validity of Loevinger's ego development model and method from a cross-cultural perspective. Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test was administered to 171 Australian and 110 Indian tertiary students. The results strongly supported Loevinger's claims for the universality of her model.     

FICTIONAL FORM AND SYMPHONIC STRUCTURE: AN ESSAY IN COMPARATIVE AESTHETICS

It is agreed on all hands that both fictional narratives and the familiar genres of classical music possess an inner structure that both can be perceived and be appreciated aesthetically. It is my argument here that this inner structure plays a crucially different role in fictional narrative than it does in classical music, confining myself here to 'absolute music' (which is to say, pure instrumental music without text, programme, dramatic setting, or other 'extra-musical' content). The argument, basically, is that whereas the sophisticated listener to the absolute music repertory is keenly, consciously aware of the inner structure, the sophisticated reader of fictional narrative, the principal exemplar being the novel, is not so aware. Therefore, whereas musical structure directly contributes to aesthetic satisfaction, narrative structure contributes only indirectly (which is not to deny that, at times, the reader is consciously aware of narrative structure, and that, at such times, it does contribute directly to aesthetic satisfaction).     

RETEST EFFECTS IN OPERATIONAL SELECTION SETTINGS: DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF A FRAMEWORK

This study proposes a framework for examining the effects of retaking tests in operational selection settings. A central feature of this framework is the distinction between within-person and between-person retest effects. This framework is used to develop hypotheses about retest effects for exemplars of 3 types of tests (knowledge tests, cognitive ability tests, and situational judgment tests) and to test these hypotheses in a high stakes selection setting (admission to medical studies in Belgium). Analyses of within-person retest effects showed that mean scores of repeat test takers were one-third of a standard deviation higher for the knowledge test and situational judgment test and one-half of a standard deviation higher for the cognitive ability test. The validity coefficients for the knowledge test differed significantly depending on whether examinees' test scores on the first versus second administration were used, with the latter being more valid. Analyses of between-person retest effects on the prediction of academic performance showed that the same test score led to higher levels of performance for those passing on the first attempt than for those passing on the second attempt. The implications of these results are discussed in light of extant retesting practice.     

A COMMUNICATION MODEL OF PERSONAL SPACE VIOLATIONS: EXPLICATION AND AN INITIAL TEST

An earlier model of personal space expectations and their violations is expanded through specification of primitive terms, constitutive definitions, and the prepositional logic underlying the model. Five sample hypotheses are deduced and experimentally tested. Results generally support the model: violations by rewarding communicators produced more positive outcomes than violations by punishing communicators, and the relationships between distance and communication outcomes for each type of communicator were curvilinear.     

RESPONSE REPETITION AS AN ERROR‐CORRECTION PROCEDURE FOR ACQUISITION OF MATH FACTS AND MATH COMPUTATION

We used nonconcurrent and concurrent multiple baseline designs to evaluate the extent to which error correction with response repetition (RR) produced acquisition of math facts and correct math computation for four individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. The results show that RR increased correct responding on (i) targeted math problems for three of four participants and (ii) math problems presented in alternative formats for two of two participants. The results are consistent with prior studies that used RR to increase correct sight‐word reading for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The findings are discussed in terms of how RR might be implemented in typical classroom settings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

WHEN THE PSYCHOMETRICS OF TEST DEVELOPMENT MEETS ORGANIZATIONAL REALITIES: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE, EXAMPLES, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Our standards for the construction of psychological tests give scant attention to the organizational context in which the tests are to be used. This paper describes 10 Psychometric issues associated with the development of an electrical job knowledge test. The test was designed to replace seniority as a means of making promotional decisions within an organization. The 10 test-related issues are presented as a means to understand the underlying process of organizational change associated with the implementation of the new test. It is suggested that a closer link between the science and practice of our profession can be attained by achieving a greater understanding of issues associated with the practical implementation of theory-based interventions.     

WHAT MAKES EXTINCTION WORK: AN ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURAL FORM AND FUNCTION

We examined methods for determining how extinction should be applied to different functions of self-injurious behavior (SIB). Assessment data indicated that the head banging of 3 children with developmental disabilities was maintained by different reinforcement contingencies: One subject's SIB was positively reinforced by attention from adults, the 2nd subject's SIB was negatively reinforced by escape from educational tasks, and the 3rd subject's SIB appeared to be automatically reinforced or “self-stimulatory” in nature. Three functional variations of extinction—EXT (attention), EXT (escape), and EXT (sensory)—were evaluated, and each subject was exposed to at least two of these variations in reversal or multiple baseline designs. Reductions in SIB were observed only when implementation of “extinction” involved the discontinuation of reinforcement previously shown to be responsible for maintaining the behavior. These results highlight important differences among treatment techniques based on the same behavioral principle (extinction) when applied to topographically similar but functionally dissimilar responses, and further illustrate the practical implications of a functional analysis of behavior disorders for designing, selecting, and classifying therapeutic interventions.