A comparison of three methods for scoring figure drawings

Figure drawings obtained from 758 white male medical students were scored using three different methods. Method I involved 16 different physical size measurements; Method II involved six separate sophistication of body concept ratings; and Method III involved 42 separate aspects of the drawings weighted in direct proportion to their relative frequency of occurrence in the sample studied (conventionality scoring). Separate factor analyses of the scores derived from each method revealed that Methods I and II each reflect only a single underlying factor, and that these factors are uncorrelated in the population studied. Method III yielded eight meaningful factors, each of which may be construed as an independent area of conventionality/deviancy. An overall conventionality/deviancy score was also derived. It is believed that these three methods of scoring capture most of the variance inherent in existing figure drawing scoring systems, but that use of all three is necessary for a comprehensive analysis.     

A review and empirical comparison of motivation scoring methods: An application to self-determination theory

Motivation and Emotion - Self-determination Theory differentiates various types of motivation, each of which have different consequences for well-being and behavior. Despite broad agreement...     

A comparison of two psychophysical methods using animals

A discrimination box containing two levers with a light above each was used to train eight rats to press beneath the brighter light for a milk reinforcer. The brighter light was held constant and the comparison light was varied to produce 12 brightness differences. The animals were run under two experimental methods: the block method in which each brightness level comparison was presented for a block of 11 contiguous trials, and the staircase method in which the sequence of brightness comparisons was determined by the correctness of the response on the preceding comparison. The block method produced a smaller differential brightness threshold and a larger change in discrimination performance for stimulus magnitude changes than did the staircase method.     

Qualitative analysis of verbal fluency output: review and comparison of several scoring methods

We compared three approaches to scoring qualitative aspects of verbal fluency performance in 88 healthy young adults. Phonemic and semantic fluency output was scored for word clustering and switching between clusters. Convergent validity analyses using other tests presumed to tap into strategy use (California Verbal Learning Test, Ruff Figural Fluency Test) support scoring of phonemic and semantic clusters on both fluency tasks. Task-discrepant clustering (e.g., semantic clustering on phonemic fluency) may index intentional strategy use on both fluency tasks, whereas task consistent clustering (e.g., phonemic clustering on phonemic fluency) appears strategic only on semantic fluency. Switching can be decomposed into subtypes that appear to reflect different cognitive processes on phonemic versus semantic fluency. Principal components analyses suggest that earlier scoring methods do not fully capture the "process" aspects of verbal fluency performance.     

The simultaneous and independent measurement of penile circumference and length

It has been recently shown that in the early stages of erection, the human penis undergoes a substantial length change that is not detected using circumferential measurement devices. The present report introduces a relatively simple device that can assess changes in both length and circumference. The device promises to provide a low-cost alternative to the precision and sensitivity associated with plethysmography.     

A stage is a stage is a stage: a direct comparison of two scoring systems

L. Kohlberg (1969) argued that his moral stages captured a developmental sequence specific to the moral domain. To explore that contention, the author compared stage assignments obtained with the Standard Issue Scoring System (A. Colby & L. Kohlberg, 1987a, 1987b) and those obtained with a generalized content-independent stage-scoring system called the Hierarchical Complexity Scoring System (T. L. Dawson, 2002a), on 637 moral judgment interviews (participants' ages ranged from 5 to 86 years). The correlation between stage scores produced with the 2 systems was .88. Although standard issue scoring and hierarchical complexity scoring often awarded different scores up to Kohlberg's Moral Stage 2/3, from his Moral Stage 3 onward, scores awarded with the two systems predominantly agreed. The author explores the implications for developmental research.     

A comparison of two methods for the administration of paradoxical intention

Recent research in the treatment of insomnia by paradoxical intention has utilized two different methods of instruction. Studies utilizing the random assignment of subjects to treatment groups employ a procedure in which clients are provided with a straight-forward explanation based on the present authors' understanding of the use of paradoxical intention with insomnia (type A administration). In contrast, controlled case studies have employed reframing, a procedure which explains the need for the paradoxical intention in a manner which best suits the specific understanding of the individual client (type B administration). The present study employed the type B method in a design employing the random assignment of clients to groups. Three additional groups (type A administration, placebo control, no-treatment control) completed the design. The results indicated that the type A method was superior to the type B procedure when the same method for administering paradoxical intention was applied to a randomized group of individuals.     

Capturing and testing perceptual-cognitive expertise: A comparison of stationary and movement response methods

Numerous methods have been used to study expertise and performance. In the present article, we compare the cognitive thought processes of skilled soccer players when responding to film-based simulations of defensive situations involving two different experimental conditions. Participants either remained stationary in a seated position (n = 10) or were allowed to move (n = 10) in response to life-size film sequences of 11 versus 11 open-play soccer situations viewed from a player’s perspective. Response accuracy and retrospective verbal reports of thinking were collected across the two task conditions. In the movement-based response group, participants generated a greater number of verbal report statements, including a higher proportion of evaluation, prediction, and action planning statements, than did participants in the stationary group. Findings suggest that the processing strategies employed during performance differ depending on the nature of the response required of participants. Implications for behavioral methods and experimental design are discussed.     

Social,emotional, and behavioral screening: A comparison of two measures and two methods across informants

The current study is a correlational design comparing a multiple-gate social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) screening system with a single-gate SEB screening system using a common criterion variable. Teachers and parents of 105 preschool students completed the multiple-gate Preschool Behavior Screening System (PBSS; Feeney-Kettler, Kratochwill, & Kettler, 2009) and the single-gate Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS; Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007). The measures were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlations with each other, and conditional probability indices to represent accuracy in predicting scores from the Achenbach System for Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). Results indicated the PBSS was internally consistent (α = 0.87 to 0.97), teacher-parent agreement for both measures was in the expected range (r = 0.05 to 0.40), and relations among scores from the measures were at the expected magnitudes and in the expected directions. Although both measures accurately predicted ASEBA results, the BESS was a better predictor for both groups of raters (i.e., teachers and parents) in most situations. The PBSS provided the advantage of also being a good predictor while providing internally consistent subscale scores that may be useful for intervention planning. The results are discussed including their implications for school psychologists seeking to select technically sound instruments that yield reliable scores from which valid inferences about SEB factors can be drawn.     

A comparison of two methods of measuring conditioned taste aversions

Two methods of measuring conditioned taste aversions were compared. Following adaptation to a daily 10-min water drinking schedule, rats were made ill with an injection of cyclophosphamide after presentation of a novel-tasting fluid. Three days after this treatment, Ss were tested by (1) measuring the amount of the novel fluid consumed on the continuing 10-min access schedule or (2) measuring their preference between plain water and the novel fluid. When the drinking behavior of the conditioned animals was compared with that of appropriate controls, the preference method proved to be the more sensitive.     

A comparison of two flash-card methods for improving sight-word reading

Flash cards have been shown to be useful for teaching sight-word reading. To date, the most effective flash-card instruction method is incremental rehearsal (IR). This method involves the instructor interspersing unknown stimulus items into the presentation of known stimulus items. In this study, we compared IR to a modified IR procedure-strategic incremental rehearsal (SIR)-to determine whether the effects of IR might be improved by incorporating variables likely to increase word acquisition. These included increased opportunities to respond to unknown stimuli, using learner responding as a basis for changing instructional items, and systematic prompting methods. An A-B-A-B design was used to compare the effects of IR and SIR for increasing sight-word reading with 4 elementary school students. Results indicated that students read more words correctly with SIR than with IR. In addition, similar patterns of responding were seen at a 2-week follow-up.     

A direct comparison of four methods for eliminating a response

Thirty-two rats pressed one lever (lever A) on a VI 30-sec schedule of food reinforcement and were then shifted to one of four procedures for eliminating the lever A response: extinction, differential reinforcement of other behavior, reinforcement of a different response (pole pushing), and reinforcement of a similar response (pressing lever B). Effectiveness of a response-elimination procedure was measured by (1) how quickly lever A response rate fell to a low level when the procedure was in effect, (2) how much lever A responding recovered when the procedure was discontinued, and (3) how resistant lever A responding was to reinstatement when the VI reinforcement schedule was reimposed. No one method was superior by all three measures. Extinction produced the most variable behavior, while differential reinforcement of other behavior produced the least. Reinforcing alternative behavior produced the greatest recovery in the original lever A response when the response-elimination procedure was discontinued.     

Interrater reliability of scores derived from two methods for scoring the clock drawing test

Scores on the Clock Drawing Test have long been considered a useful screening tool for neuropsychological dysfunction, and a number of scoring methods have been developed to evaluate various aspects of performance. This study compared quantitative and qualitative scoring by briefly trained students on 145 clock drawings produced by patients in a geriatric psychiatry outpatient clinic to estimate the interrater reliability of the methods, user's acceptance of the methods, and whether the methods provide differential diagnosis. Both systems showed acceptable interrater reliability. Using the quantitative method, raters scored drawings by patients with organic mental disease as more impaired than those patients diagnosed as depressed or schizophrenic. Results suggest that the Clock Drawing Test is a reliable screening tool for cognitive impairment in a geropsychiatric population, but the scoring methods examined do not yet appear psychometrically sound enough to provide a differential diagnosis.     

A comparison of two response time models applied to perceptual matching

Two models, a Poisson race model and a diffusion model, are fit to data from a perceptual matching task. In each model, information about the similarity or the difference between two stimuli accumulates toward thresholds for either response. Stimulus variables are assumed to influence the rate at which information accumulates, and response variables are assumed to influence the level of the response thresholds. Three experiments were conducted to assess the performance of each model. In Experiment 1, observers performed under different response deadlines; in Experiment 2, response bias was manipulated by changing the relative frequency ofsame anddifferent stimuli. In Experiment 3, stimulus pairs were presented at three eccentricities: foveal, parafoveal, and peripheral. We examined whether the race and diffusion models could fit the response time and accuracy data through changes only in response parameters (for Experiments 1 and 2) or stimulus parameters (for Experiment 3). Comparisons between the two models suggest that the race model, which has not been studied extensively, can account for perceptual matching data at least as well as the diffusion model. Furthermore, without the constraints on the parameters provided by the experimental conditions, the diffusion and the race models are indistinguishable. This finding emphasizes the importance of fitting models across several conditions and imposing logical psychological constraints on the parameters of models.