The major purposes of this study were (1) to construct a reliable and valid scale for measuring writing self-efficacy levels in adult basic education students, (2) to further test the scale's validity and reliability by administering it to a second selected group of adult basic education students, and (3) to demonstrate its utility by showing its use in correlational analyses. In the first of three phases, 156-item statements were initially developed. These statements were evaluated by a Delphi panel and reduced to a 77-item writing self-efficacy scale and administered to 490 adult basic education students from ten community colleges located in Oregon. A systematic procedure of statistical analyses was used that resulted in 25 item-statements meeting criteria for acceptance into the revised writing self-efficacy scale. The revised 25-item scale was administered to a second group of 239 ABE students from six other community colleges in Oregon. The same statistical procedures, as in phase one, resulted in a 25-item writing self-efficacy scale. Factor analyses resulting in a clustering of 21 out of 25 items on two factors argued for some evidence of unidimensionality, but further analyses were recommended. The scale's construct validity was demonstrated by showing a strong divergent correlation with the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Scale. Having established evidence of the scale's validity and reliability, the use of the writing self-efficacy scale in conducting correlational analyses was demonstrated. Nine variables were studied, with two variables showing strong relationships with writing self-efficacy, a negative one with writing apprehension and a positive one with writing improvement. It was concluded that the newly revised 25-item writing self-efficacy scale showed preliminary evidence of reliability and validity but it was recommended for further study with other selected groups of adult basic education students. The scale's unidimensionality was also suggested for further study, in order to analyze the underlying factors that make up the construct of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students. Moreover, the development of this scale offered a first step in assessing the important construct of writing self-efficacy in adult basic education students and provided a useful tool in assessing such a construct. / Graduation date: 1995

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable, instrument for determining the mathematics subject matter knowledge of Thai preservice elementary teachers at eight (8) teachers' colleges in eight (8) provinces in northern Thailand. The focus of the content of interest was the operation of division of rational numbers in the context of an appropriate taxonomy of the cognitive domain categories suggested by Wilson (1971). The Delphi technique, item analysis, and "known group" techniques were utilized in the instrument development phases of the study. Hypotheses were tested to determine whether significant differences existed between colleges and between teachers with different backgrounds. The dependent variable was the mean test score for preservice teachers at eight Thai teachers' colleges. The study included the testing of significance for colleges, background, and whether there was significant interaction between colleges and teachers' backgrounds (liberal arts and science). The pilot instrument consisted of 52 items representing four cognitive levels (computation, comprehension, application, and analysis). Based on an analysis of pilot test data, 10 items were eliminated. The final draft instrument consisted of 42 items and was administered to 272 preservice elementary teachers. When field test data were analyzed and compared to "known group" data, 10 items were found to be outside of the acceptability range for difficulty. Item difficulty was used for selecting items for inclusion in the final instrument to measure the operation of division of rational numbers with Thai college preservice elementary teachers. This step in the research served to reduce the number of test items to 32, which constituted the content for the final instrument. The internal consistency reliability was .81 for the 42-item instrument. Content and construct validity were verified by various procedures. / Graduation date: 1994

The problem examined in this study was the relationship between the SAT and NLN-PNG scores and success rate on SBTPE. This predictive study utilized an ex post facto approach. This investigator obtained administrative permission to utilize the data from the files at this diploma school of nursing. The convenience method of nonprobability sampling included the scores of graduates in the years 1977 through 1981. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the predictor variables with each of the five SBTPE and the mean, indicating a moderate positive linear relationship. Correlation coefficients and simple regression analysis indicated that the SAT combined score and NLN-PNG combined score was somewhat of a predictive measure of SBTPE success at the time of admission to the program, while the multiple regression analysis indicated that a better combination of predictor variables for SBTPE success was the SAT combined score and the NLN-PNG composite score.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

Individual differences on complex memory spans predict a variety of higher-order cognitive tasks (e.g. reading comprehension, reasoning, following direction) as well as low-level attention tasks (e.g. Stroop, dichotic listening, antisaccade). The current study attempted to better determine the role of individual differences in complex memory span and episodic retrieval. Specifically, two experiments explored the possibility that individual differences in complex memory span reflect differences in the ability to successfully retrieve items from secondary memory via a cue-dependent search process. High and low complex span participants were tested in delayed (Experiment 1) and continuous distractor (Experiment 2) free recall with varying list-lengths. Across both experiments low spans recalled fewer items than high spans, recalled more previous list intrusions than high spans, and recalled at a slower rate than high spans. It is argued that low spans search through a larger set of items than high spans and, thus low spans episodic retrieval deficits are associated with an inability to use cues to guide a search and retrieval process of secondary memory. Implications for dual-component models of memory are discussed.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Not available / text

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy