A research note on deviant behavior and declining scholastic aptitude test scores

Much to the disappointment of American educators, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have shown a steady national decline for about the last twenty years. Various investigations have attempted to explain this decline by examining such factors as the changing racial and sexual composition of the examinees, high school grade inflation, declining academic standards in general, excessive television viewing, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, water gate, and nuclear fallout. These investigations show a higher level of theoretical abstraction than is necessary to understand the SAT score decline.

Essays were solicited from college freshman enrolled in introductory sociology courses under my instruction. The essays were to describe their physical and mental condition and the perceived condition of others while taking the SAT examination.

Representative quotes from the essays suggest that many of the examinees are drunk, stoned, hungover, indifferent or sleepy during the examinations. It is suggested that future research concerned with declining SAT scores take these factors into account. A hypothesis and research strategy are suggested.     

Computer-assisted implementation of the MMPI test

In a research programme lasting one year a computer-supported technique for the MMPI-Test has been developed in co-operation of the Clinical-Psychology and the Bio-Medical. Engineering Departments. The use of the microelectronically operated test apparatus has proved extremely economic.     

A factor analysis and item response theory analysis of an employee honesty test

Although paper and pencil tests of employee honesty are becoming increasingly widespread in industry, a paucity of research exists regarding them. In a recent review of this literature, Sackett and Harris (1984) noted that scant psychometric evidence is available as to their merits or weaknesses. The aim of this paper is to report on the factor and item analysis of one such test. A principal axis solution and item response theory model (1-parameter) were used to examine the data. The factor analysis revealed four readily interpretable factors. With regard to the item analysis, the results indicated that on the whole most of the 40 items showed a reasonable fit to the model. The implications of this research are addressed.     

The relation of self-reported competencies to aptitude test scores

The scales of the Self-Directed Search were correlated with the scales of the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery for a sample of 192 high school girls. The two devices have small to moderate correlations that indicate that self-reported abilities and competencies have some concurrent validity.     

A significance test for minimum rank in factor analysis

This paper presents a new method of determining the minimum rank in factor analysis, appropriate to the principal axes solution. The new method is compared with a former method which, with some adjustment, is more convenient for the centroid approach. Both methods are applied to two familiar examples.     

A common factor in the MMPI scales of married couples.

Using canonical analysis, a common factor in the MMPI scales of husbands and wives was found. The Sc, Pd, and Hs scales for both the husbands and the wives contributed heavily to the relationship. Other scales contributing to the correlation between the personality components of the pairs were F, Hy Pt, and Si for the husbands and Pa for the wives. The results were interpreted as indicating areas of homogeneity and heterogeneity in the personalities of married couples.     

A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis

It is suggested that if Guttman's latent-root-one lower bound estimate for the rank of a correlation matrix is accepted as a psychometric upper bound, following the proofs and arguments of Kaiser and Dickman, then the rank for a sample matrix should be estimated by subtracting out the component in the latent roots which can be attributed to sampling error, and least-squares capitalization on this error, in the calculation of the correlations and the roots. A procedure based on the generation of random variables is given for estimating the component which needs to be subtracted.I wish to acknowledge the valuable help given by J. Jaspers and L. G. Humphreys in the development of the ideas presented in this paper.