Validation of an ipsative personality measure (DISCUS)

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validity of an ipsative personality test (DISCUS), and various effects of the ipsative format of the test. Both an ipsative and a normative version of the DISCUS test was administered to a sample of undergraduate students (N = 103), along with an adjective based personality test that measures the Big-Five personality traits (5PFa). The results indicated that the normative and the ipsative version of DISCUS are not equivalent, and caution is needed when using the ipsative version for psychometric evaluations as in validation studies. The four DISCUS dimensions (Dominance, Influence, Stability, and Carefulness) represented combinations of the Big-Five traits rather than independent traits as indicated by the correlations with the Big-Five measure.     

Rank‐based permutation approaches for non‐parametric factorial designs

Inference methods for null hypotheses formulated in terms of distribution functions in general non‐parametric factorial designs are studied. The methods can be applied to continuous, ordinal or even ordered categorical data in a unified way, and are based only on ranks. In this set‐up Wald‐type statistics and ANOVA‐type statistics are the current state of the art. The first method is asymptotically exact but a rather liberal statistical testing procedure for small to moderate sample size, while the latter is only an approximation which does not possess the correct asymptotic α level under the null. To bridge these gaps, a novel permutation approach is proposed which can be seen as a flexible generalization of the Kruskal–Wallis test to all kinds of factorial designs with independent observations. It is proven that the permutation principle is asymptotically correct while keeping its finite exactness property when data are exchangeable. The results of extensive simulation studies foster these theoretical findings. A real data set exemplifies its applicability.     

Reliability as a function of the number of item options derived from the “knowledge or random guessing” model

For (0, 1) scored multiple-choice tests, a formula giving test reliability as a function of the number of item options is derived, assuming the knowledge or random guessing model, the parallelism of the new and old tests (apart from the guessing probability), and the assumptions of classical test theory. It is shown that the formula is a more general case of an equation by Lord, and reduces to Lord's equation if the items are effectively parallel. Further, the formula is shown to be closely related to another formula derived from Lord's randomly parallel tests model.     

Prediction of driving ability after stroke and the effect of behind-the-wheel training

The aim of this study was to examine the predictive value of a neuropsychological test battery relating to an on-the-road driving evaluation and to determine whether patients who failed the driving test could improve their driving through behind-the-wheel training. Thirty-four stroke patients were compared with 20 healthy, matched controls. Patients who failed the driving test were offered driving practice at a driving school and were then reassessed (neuropsychologically and practically). On most of the cognitive tests, patients performed significantly less well than control subjects. Almost 50% of the controls and the patients failed the driving evaluation. None of the neuropsychological tests was able to predict the driving outcome. Of the patients who failed the first driving evaluation, 85% passed the second evaluation after driving practice. There are few controlled studies focusing on the stroke population and the effect of behind-the-wheel training. It is suggested that more controlled studies are needed with more homogenous patient-groups and reliable and quantitative outcome measures.     

Neuropsychological Performance in Gulf War Era Veterans: Motivational Factors and Effort

Assuming that the underlying etiology of unexplained health-related symptoms in returning Gulf War (GW) veterans is multifactorial, the possible role of feigning or exaggeration of symptoms is worth consideration as a contributing factor. The present study assessed the relationship between motivation to perform well during neuropsychological assessment and objective neuropsychological test performance. Motivation was measured as the score on a visual memory task (Test of Memory Malingering, TOMM) of low difficulty. Participants included 77 veterans from the cohorts of GW- (n = 58) and Germany-deployed (n = 19) GW-era veterans described in two other papers in this issue who were administered the TOMM. Most veterans earned perfect or near-perfect scores on the TOMM (48–50/50). Scores 47 were associated with lower scores on neuropsychological tasks assessing attention, executive functions, and memory. Variability in test performance within and between tasks measuring similar functions was also found in participants with lower TOMM scores.     

Models for the statistics and mechanisms of response speed and accuracy

Van Breukelen offers a promising method for modeling both response speed and response accuracy. However, the underlying conception of both dependent measures is somewhat flawed, leading the author to conclude that the approach possesses limitations that, under revised assumptions, may not hold. The central misconception, and a set of related misconceptions, is addressed, and it is suggested that this approach holds a good deal of promise for application in the perceptual and cognitive sciences.     

On a test of dimensionality in redundancy analysis

Lazraq and Cléroux (Psychometrika, 2002, 411–419) proposed a test for identifying the number of significant components in redundancy analysis. This test, however, is ill-conceived. A major problem is that it regards each redundancy component as if it were a single observed predictor variable, which cannot be justified except for the rare situations in which there is only one predictor variable. Consequently, the proposed test leads to drastically biased results, particularly when the number of predictor variables is large, and it cannot be recommended for use. This is shown both theoretically and by Monte Carlo studies.The work reported in this paper was supported by Grant A6394 to the first author from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

Assessment of Reading and Learning Disabilities A Research-Based Intervention-Oriented Approach

Assessment practices for children with learning disabilities (LD) in reading are driven by the three primary components of the federal definition of LD: discrepancy, heterogeneity, and exclusion. This article reviews the implications of these three components for the assessment of children with reading disabilities and other forms of LD. We propose a rationale and procedures for more efficient approaches to the identification of children as learning disabled in reading or at-risk for these disabilities that are aligned with research on reading disabilities and other forms of LD. This approach emphasizes the assessment of academic skills and their components in an effort to develop intervention plans. Intelligence tests are not necessary for the identification of children as learning disabled and do not contribute to intervention planning.     

Validation of the Chinese version of the Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire

The Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ) is one of the most widely used and strong theory-based measurement tools of family resilience. This study aimed to develop and psychometrically test the Chinese version of the WFRQ (WFRQ-C). The WFRQ was translated following Brislin's translation model. Psychometric testing, combining classical theory test and item response theory, was conducted with a sample of 800 community adult residents. The Connor-Davidson resilience scale-10 (CD-RISC-10), Self-reported Family Happiness Scale (SFHS-1), and Family APGAR (Adaption, Partnership, Growth, Affection, Resolve) Scale (Family APGAR-5) were applied for convergent validity. Six items were deleted at the item analysis level. The minimum average partial test and a parallel analysis supported a three-factor structure, which was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. The three factors were named “Family belief system,” “Organization, communication and problem solving,” and “Utilization of external resources.” The WFRQ-C was significantly correlated with CD-RISC-10, SFHS-1, and Family APGAR-5, with r values ranged from 0.51 to 0.56. The Cronbach's α was 0.97 for the scale and 0.93, 0.95, and 0.72 for the three factors, respectively. The ICCs of 0.96 for the whole scale, and 0.95, 0.75, and 0.95 for the three factors, respectively. The mean score for the WFRQ-C was 97.00 ± 17.94, of which per capita monthly income and education level were predictors. The 26-item WFRQ-C is a stable, concise, and validated tool to measure family resilience. It is applicable for Chinese community adults in nonspecific stressful settings and has potential utility in the health care domain.     

人才甄选中的人格测验作假研究的深入与拓展

企业人才甄选情境下求职者很容易在人格测验中作假。至今有关作假的研究已包含作假的内涵、来源和识别等多个方面,也诞生了多种心理模型尝试解释作假产生的心理机制,如作假动机与作假能力交互作用理论、作假计划行为理论、作假整合模型、一般作假行为模型以及作假的VIE模型,为后续理论研究点明方向。此外,作假应用领域中新兴的网络人格测验作假受到关注,在此介绍网络与纸笔测验两种形式下,人格测验作假行为、作假意向的不同。