Nonequivalence of on-line and paper-and-pencil psychological tests: The case of the prospective memory questionnaire

There is growing evidence that Internet-mediated psychological tests can have satisfactory psychometric properties and can measure the same constructs as traditional versions. However, equivalence cannot be taken for granted. The prospective memory questionnaire (PMQ; Hannon, Adams, Harrington, Fries-Dias, & Gibson, 1995) was used in an on-line study exploring links between drug use and memory (Rodgers et al., 2003). The PMQ has four factor-analytically derived subscales. In a large (N763) sample tested via the Internet, only two factors could be recovered; the other two subscales were essentially meaningless. This demonstration of nonequivalence underlines the importance of on-line test validation. Without examination of its psychometric properties, one cannot be sure that a test administered via the Internet actually measures the intended construct.     

Epistemology and School Counseling

Because a counselor's interactions with his clients should be an out-growth of his philosophical commitments, he must grapple with certain epistemological questions: (a) Can human beings know the extramental world or merely their own ideas? (b) Is human knowledge a valid representation of the extramental world? (c) Can human beings reach agreement about the nature of extramental realities? The counselor can assume two possible stances. First, there is the “realist” position which states that there is an extramental world, we can achieve valid knowledge of it, and the knowledge of various observers can agree. Second is the “phenomenalist” position: There is an extramental world, but no one can achieve valid knowledge of it, nor can various observers easily agree regarding its nature. The realist counselor should help his client perceive his problem situation as it “really” is and as it appears to others. The phenomenalist counselor cannot do this instead, he can only try to enter the client's subjectivity and to help him deepen and enrich his unique perception of the problem situation.     

Taking Ethical Disability Seriously

Aristotle's ethical theorizing contains resources for explaining what I call 'ethical disability'. In theories such as Kant's and Mill's it is important that criteria of right action be accessible to anyone. Aristotle's moral psychology yields a plausible account of how they are not available to everyone. Unless a correct appreciation of good is part of the agent's second nature, the agent will not recognize ethical requirements, and will not have the resources to alter his judgments. Often, bad action is not a matter of agents' flouting or violating criteria of right action that they recognize, but is a matter of agents' regarding as choiceworthy things that are in fact no good, and the agents are unable to appreciate this because of their vices. However, on the Aristotelian view, this is not a condition that diminishes responsibility, because of how voluntariness is interpreted. Some of the views of Susan Wolf and Bernard Williams are discussed in the development of this view of the moral landscape.     

'Questions, questions, questions!' A comparison of therapist inferences and parental responses to systemic questions

Using a specially designed questionnaire, we examined the relationship between parental responses to systemic questions, therapists'views based upon these responses and parental reports of dysfunction in a member of the family. The questionnaire was completed by parents of a randomly selected population sample of adolescents and by experienced family therapists. Therapists made inferences that were predictable, coherent and reliable. They gave most salience to the concept of'enmeshment'and least to'hostile-discordant'functioning. Some enmeshed answers were favoured by substantial proportions of parents, suggesting that they may reflect normal variants of family functioning. However no associations between total enmeshment scores and reported mental health problems were found. Hostile-discordant functioning, as assessed in this study, was rare in the general population sample, but was associated with reported problems.     

Review of family treatment studies in israel

Much of the culturally specific knowledge about helping families in Israel is not readily available; either it is not in English and often appears in local circulation publications or is interwoven in the larger fabric of family treatment literature. This paper attempts to present the knowledge about helping families that has emerged in Israel based on an extensive literature review of all known work in Hebrew and English since 1980 that is related to studying and treating family problems in Israel. Major works, particularly research findings are highlighted. Recommendations for future research in this broad area are given.Revised on October 13, 1994 forContemporary Family Therapy. The author wishes to thank Nomi Mey-Ami for her vital assistance in compling the source material. The complete bibliographic listing is available in Hebrew from the Information Retrieval Center for Research in Social Sciences Henrietta Szold Institute in Jerusalem.     

Public health concerns take center stage in Nuffield Council on Bioethics

Summary Nonhuman primates represent an important reservoir for the transmission of new infectious diseases to humans. While several working groups and international agencies have grappled with the ethics of xenotransplantation, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics have recently published a comprehensive and far-reaching series of recommendations that, while not eliminating the infectious disease risks, have nonetheless detailed the major points for concern and have developed a rational approach to minimizing these risks. This report should serve as the blueprint from which to proceed with xenotransplantation. Dr. Allan’s research focuses on simian retroviruses, including simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIV).