Inferential procedures for multifaceted coefficients of generalizability

A two-facet measurement model with broad application in the behavioral sciences is identified, and its coefficient of generalizability (CG) is examined. A normalizing transformation is proposed, and an asymptotic variance expression is derived. Three other multifaceted measurement models and CGs are identified, and variance expressions are presented. Next, an empirical investigation of the procedures follows, and it is shown that, in most cases, Type I error control in inferential applications is precise, and that the estimates are relatively efficient compared with the correlation coefficient. Implications for further research and for practice are noted. In an Appendix, four additional models, CGs, and variance expressions are presented.The research reported herein formed part of a doctoral dissertation conducted by Marsha Schroeder (Schroeder, 1986), under the direction of Ralph Hakstian, at the University of British Columbia. We acknowledge with thanks the contributions to this research of Todd Rogers and James Steiger. We are also very indebted to an mous reviewer who provided some important clarifications in connection with two of the models considered. Some support for this research was provided by a grant to Ralph Hakstian from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Modeling item responses when different subjects employ different solution strategies

A model is presented for item responses when different subjects employ different strategies, but only responses, not choice of strategy, can be observed. Using substantive theory to differentiate the likelihoods of response vectors under a fixed set of strategies, we model response probabilities in terms of item parameters for each strategy, proportions of subjects employing each strategy, and distributions of subject proficiency within strategies. The probabilities that an individual subject employed the various strategies can then be obtained, along with a conditional estimate of proficiency under each. A conceptual example discusses response strategies for spatial rotation tasks, and a numerican example resolves a population of subjects into subpopulations of valid responders and random guessers.The first author's work was supported by Contract No. N00014-85-K-0683, project designation NR 150-539, from the Cognitive Science Program, Cognitive and Neural Sciences Division, Office of Naval Research. We are grateful to Murray Aitkin, Isaac Bejar, Neil Dorans, Frederiksen, and Marklyn Wingersky for their comments and suggestions, and to Alison Gooding, Maxine Kingston, Donna Lembeck, Joling Liang, and Kentaro Yamamoto for their assistance with Example 2.     

The Future of Psychology in Family Medicine

Psychology has been integral to the field of family medicine since its inception as a medical specialty in the 1960s. Psychologists and other behavioral scientists contribute to family medicine in teaching clinical skills, in defining research questions, in developing research methodology, and in creating integrated physical/mental health care delivery systems. Future developments in the field of psychology in family medicine are likely to emphasize development and evaluation of screening measures which identify mental health problems in primary care, development of early intervention for those mental health problems, and more precise measurement of process and quality of care and health outcomes. Psychologists have an important role to fulfill in educating physicians on alternatives to pharmacologic and medical interventions for common presenting problems in primary care. However, current economic forces shaping the practice of medicine may work against further enhancing the efficacy of the physician in dealing with psychosocial issues. The future role of psychology in family medicine is not yet delineated, and while the move toward parity of reimbursement for mental and physical health care delivery may enhance this collaboration, there is a need to continue to evaluate how the psychological well-being of patients is influenced in the evolution of new models of care delivery.     

Whose Gene Is It? A Case Discussion About Familial Conflict over Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer

A multidisciplinary group of genetic and other professionals discuss a complex case of familial conflict over access to genetic information. One twin wishes to know the results of her deceased mother's tests for BRCA1 mutations; a second twin objects to researchers making this information available. As the case discussion unfolds, the apparent facts of this case are called into question and the lines of ethical certainty become less clear.     

Termination of Mental Health Services for Children

In this paper, we examine the termination of children's mental health services. Analyses were based on the 901 families in the Fort Bragg Evaluation Project who participated at Wave 1 and Wave 2 six months later. The project compared a full continuum of care provided at a demonstration site with traditional care at two comparison sites. The results showed that in most cases families and providers were partners in decisions to terminate treatment. About half of the clients self-terminated or were terminated solely at the discretion of the provider. Providers tended to play a more dominant role in terminating restrictive services; families played a more central role in terminating outpatient care. Regardless of initial psychopathology, children in single-headed households, whose parents were dissatisfied with services, did not expect their child to cooperate with treatment and did not expect treatment to help their child, were more likely to terminate care than others. While the Demonstration site had significantly fewer terminations, the sites did not differ with regard to the reasons for termination, who participated in termination decisions, or the factors that affected the likelihood to terminate care. Of most interest, mental health outcomes among children who had terminated all care did not vary by reasons for termination or by who participated in the termination decision.     

Toward a theory of verbal behavior

This paper is a reply to an accompanying set of six commentaries by Sidman; Hayes and Barnes; Schusterman, Kastak, and Reichmuth; Tonneau and Sokolowski; Lowenkron; and Moerk. Those commentaries were prompted by our article “On the Origins of Naming and Other Symbolic Behavior” (1996), which was, in turn, followed by 26 commentaries and a reply. In the course of the present reply, we further develop the naming account to embrace more complex verbal relations such as same, different, more, and less. We also examine what we see as the lack of conceptual coherence in equivalence theories, including relational frame theory, and the disparities between these accounts and the findings from empirical research.     

Separability of item and person parameters in response time models

This paper discusses two forms of separability of item and person parameters in the context of response time (RT) models. The first is separate sufficiency: the existence of sufficient statistics for the item (person) parameters that do not depend on the person (item) parameters. The second is ranking independence: the likelihood of the item (person) ranking with respect to RTs does not depend on the person (item) parameters. For each form a theorem stating sufficient conditions, is proved. The two forms of separability are shown to include several (special cases of) models from psychometric and biometric literature. Ranking independence imposes no restrictions on the general distribution form, but on its parametrization. An estimation procedure based upon ranks and pseudolikelihood theory is discussed, as well as the relation of ranking independence to the concept of double monotonicity.I am indebted to Wim van der Linden for bringing Thissen's (1983) paper to my notice, and to Martijn Berger, Frans Tan, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Intuitionistic Autoepistemic Logic

In this paper we address the problem of combining a logic with nonmonotonic modal logic. In particular we study the intuitionistic case. We start from a formal analysis of the notion of intuitionistic consistency via the sequent calculus. The epistemic operator M is interpreted as the consistency operator of intuitionistic logic by introducing intuitionistic stable sets. On the basis of a bimodal structure we also provide a semantics for intuitionistic stable sets.