Several alternatives to the Kuder and Richardson formula number 20 (KR20) were compared for accuracy using simulated and actual data sets. Coefficients by Loevinger (1948), Horst (1954), Raju (1982), and Cliff (1984) as well as the Kuder and Richardson formulae numbers 8 and 14 were examined. These alternative reliability coefficients were compared by (1) simulation of tests with varying degrees of item difficulty dispersion, subject proficiency, reliability, and length, and (2) use of the norming samples of the Curriculum Referenced Tests of Mastery (Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., publisher) for grades four, six, and eight. Most of the coefficients examined proved no more accurate than the KR20 and several were decidedly worse. All coefficients, with the exception of Loevinger's, were affected by item difficulty dispersion. Two coefficients, the KR8 and Horst, were found to have potential as KR20 substitutes. These two coefficients are discussed with recommendations made as to the appropriate use of each one.

Most misinformation studies have tested memory for altered details of an event (e.g., stop sign, wrench, swing set). This study varied the type of misleading information to include consistent gist, inconsistent gist and consistent details as well as inconsistent (or altered) details. Misinformation studies follow a three-stage procedure: an initial event, misleading information, and a final memory test. Here, too, adult participants initially observed a slide sequence. Misinformation was embedded in a comprehension test and memory was tested with a recognition test. The timing of the misleading information and the timing of the final memory test resulted in three between-subjects levels: Immediate misinformation and Immediate recognition test, Immediate misinformation and Delayed recognition test, Delayed misinformation and Delayed recognition test. The delay was one week after the initial slide observation. The final recognition test queried memory for what subjects saw (a Yes-No "verbatim" task) and what they believed to be true (a True-False gist-based judgment). All subjects judged misleading items (lures) and original items for each kind of misleading information. Subjects also rated confidence for each answer. Descriptions and examples of all stimuli are provided in the Appendices. An analysis of variance conducted on the signed confidence data (judgment combined with confidence) revealed significant differences among the types of misleading information (gist consistent had highest rates of recognition, inconsistent items were rejected but less so when subjects were misled), differences between Yes-No "verbatim" and True-False judgments (truth ratings were greater than the verbatim ratings but were equally high for consistent gist), different effects of forgetting (decreased recognition of originals, increased recognition of lures), and significant misinformation effects. Memory dependency analyses revealed that the relationship between memory for an event and memory for misleading information depends on the type of information, whether gist or detail in nature. Results are discussed in terms of storage explanations (e.g., discrepancy detection, misinformation acceptance), retrieval accounts (e.g., coexistence, blocking, discrimination) and fuzzy-trace theory. The conclusions support, in general, predictions from fuzzy-trace theory. Implications for eyewitness testimony include the importance of early, neutral questioning.

This study described how 25 subjects experienced time and mood during a waiting experience for relatives undergoing open heart surgery. Using the 40 Second Production Method to measure "time estimation", sixty percent of the total group "overestimated" waiting time. Significant differences found between groups were associated with education, gender and prior waiting experience in the setting. Using the Time Metaphor Test, 22 subjects perceived time passage as "static". No significant correlation was found between Time Metaphor scores and reading time. The mood for the group as a whole tended to be more negative as compared to normative samples. Subjects who perceived time as passing more swiftly, scored significantly higher on "confusion" and "fatigue", and lower on "vigor" compared to "static" subjects. While findings are interpreted with caution given the small sample, the results of the study suggest that altered time perception may be adaptive to the stress associated with anticipated crisis.

No description available.

<p> Factor H is a newly identified phenomenon which describes a constellation of attributes of the new graduate nurse reflecting personality traits, intellectual abilities, and clinical judgment. In a previous pilot study conducted by this researcher nurse managers and experienced Registered Nurse (RN) preceptors described characteristics demonstrated by new graduate nurses demonstrating Factor H and the new graduate nurse's ability to transition quickly and successfully into the RN role in the acute care environment. There is currently no instrument available to measure this phenomenon. The specific aim of this research was to develop and psychometrically test a scale designed to identify the presence of attributes of Factor H in the new graduate nurse. The Sims Factor H Assessment Scale (SFHAS) was developed and piloted with a sample of one hundred one new graduate nurses within three months of completing the their nursing program at one of three nursing schools in central and south central Indiana. Evidence of content validity was demonstrated through the use of the Content Validity Index conducted with a panel of four experts. Evidence of face validity was demonstrated through interviews with a group of new graduate nurses, nurse managers, and experienced RN preceptors. Principle Axis Factoring with Varimax rotation was used to demonstrate evidence of construct validity and the scale was found to have a single component which was identified as nursing personality. Evidence of criterion-related validity was demonstrated utilizing analysis of the SFHAS and the criterion scale for personality traits (NEO-FFI). Evidence of internal consistency reliability was demonstrated through analysis of inter-item correlations, Cronbach's coefficient correlations, and item-total correlations. Test re-test reliability using interclass correlation was also conducted to demonstrate stability of the scale. The SFHAS was found to be reflective of nursing personality and not general mental ability or clinical judgment. Use of the SFHAS will allow organizations to evaluate the nursing personality of the new graduate nurse for fit into the work environment. Further study is recommended to gain clarity around the attributes which support successful transition of the new graduate nurse into practice in the acute care environment, also known as Factor H.</p>

Naval Aviation has been known for over half a century as being one of the most fascinating professions. Although aircrew may always play a role in the mishap rate, the Navy has shifted its focus to aviation maintenance safety climate as a possible indicator of a future mishap. The School of Aviation Safety developed and implemented a survey, the Maintenance Climate Assessment Survey (MCAS), to assess the safety climate of Naval Aviation squadrons. Researchers have begun reviewing the possible direct relationship between the maintainer, how they view their squadron's climate and aviation mishaps. This thesis examines the construct of squadron maintenance safety climate survey and its relationship to aviation mishaps. The raw data employed includes MCAS responses from 126,058 maintainers between August 2000 and August 2005. This study finds that the MCAS survey construction needs to be revised. The findings are substantial to verify that most questions are formulated to focus on the same factor. Since the survey requires reconstruction, the question of whether it can determine the likelihood of mishaps was never visited. Revising the survey, based on psychometrics, may produce more significant results and gauge maintenance safety climate based on separate and distinct factors.

In the general population, psychosis-like experiences have been extensively studied under the psychometric rubric of schizotypy (psychosis-proneness). As such, Phase 1 of this thesis aimed to assess the distribution of schizotypal traits and associated personality correlates displayed within a quota sample of the general population stratified by Gender and Ageband, the emphasis being upon anomalous experiences (positive schizotypy). Respondents (N = 130) completed a battery of established self-report measures assessing thirteen areas of personal experience. Correlational analysis revealed that eleven of the measures of ostensibly anomalous experiences possessed significant intercorrelations. Subsequent principal components analysis identified three factors accounting for 64.91% of the total variance; the factor accounting for the greatest proportion of variance (42.97%) was interpreted as representing a psychological disposition towards reporting ‘Anomalous Cognitions’. The other two factors are named ‘Lifeview System’ (12.60% of total variance) and ‘Social Adaptation Skills’ (9.34% of total variance). From the principal factor inclusion criteria for Phase 2 of the research are explicated. No significant mean Gender differences were revealed for the six self-report measures that provided unique contributions toward anomalous cognitions, the two self-report measures that uniquely contributed toward a lifeview system, or for the single self-report measure that uniquely contributed toward social adaptation skills. Additionally, four of the nine self-report measures which provided unique factorial contributions generated significant mean differences between Agebands, with a further three providing trends toward significant mean differences. Implications for the role of anomalous cognitions, a framework for a lifeview system, and social adaptation skills with regard to psychosis-proneness are discussed. From the primary factor (anomalous cognitions), three experimental groups were identified for cognitive testing: respondents scoring 1) ≤ 20th percentile; 2) 10% ± the mean; and 3) ≥ 80th percentile. This procedure provided a total of 78 participants (three x 26) for Phase 2 testing. Phase 2 of this thesis sought to identify some of the cognitive mechanisms underpinning subclinical anomalous cognitions with a view to deciphering which measures best predicted experimental group membership. A comprehensive literature review highlighted six domains of cognition, five accompanying self-report measures, and two measures of intelligence functioning (verbal and fluid/visuoconstructive), which, following previous research, were utilised as covariate measures. Based on prescribed delineation points, participants were allocated, according to scores on the primary factor from Phase 1, to one of three experimental groups (low-, mid, and high-anomalous cognitions). Of the six cognitive domains—1) sustained visual attention; 2) false (illusory) memory; 3) probability reasoning (decision making); 4) object recognition; 5) reality monitoring; and 6) self-monitoring—four succeeded in eliciting significant mean differences between experimental groups with the noted exceptions of sustained visual attention and self-monitoring. Subsequent canonical discriminant analyses identified that the best predictors of XPG membership were the number of critical lures recognised on the false memory test, the number of correct responses and confidence when uncertain on the object recognition test, plus two self-report measures pertaining to comorbid psychopathology and the vividness of visual imagery. In light of previous research, the inclusion of fasle (illusory) memory biases, the comorbidity of mental pathology (especially, depressive and anxiety-related symptoms), and the vividness of visual imagery are unsurprising; however, the two object recognition variables (the ‘number of correct responses’ and ‘confidence when uncertain’) offer exciting avenues for future research into the continuum of psychosis. Moreover, the ‘confidence when uncertain’ data from the object recognition test (perceptual) and the probability reasoning (decision making) data from the Beads test suggest that cognitive underconfidence may well be an enduring personality disposition in those reporting elevated levels of anomalous cognitions, including positive and disorganised schizotypal personality traits. The results of Phase 2 add confirmatory evidence to previous research suggestive of memory and perceptual biases plus comorbid psychopathology and the vividness of visual imagery as being integral to the psychogenesis of psychosis-like (anomalous) symptomatology.

The purpose of the present article is to propose an alternative short form for the 199-item Arizona Life History Battery (ALHB), which we are calling the K-SF-42, as it contains 42 items as compared with the 20 items of the Mini-K, the short form that has been in greatest use for the past decade. These 42 items were selected from the ALHB, unlike those of the Mini-K, making direct comparisons of the relative psychometric performance of the two alternative short forms a valid and instructive exercise. A series of secondary data analyses were performed upon a recently completed five-nation cross-cultural survey, which was originally designed to assess the role of life history strategy in the etiology of interpersonal aggression. Only data from the ALHB that were collected in all five cross-cultural replications were used for the present analyses. The single immediate objective of this secondary data analysis was producing the K-SF-42 such that it would perform optimally across all five cultures sampled, and perhaps even generalize well to other modern industrial societies not currently sampled as a result of the geographic breadth of those included in the present study. A novel method, based on the use of the Cross-Sample Geometric Mean as a criterion for item selection, was used for generating such a cross-culturally valid short form.

Thesis (M.A (Psychology))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2016 / Cognitive assessment tests that were standardised in the US and UK continues to be used to assess South African populations, and those that are standardised in South Africa are standardised using urban populations. These facts draw a question to the validity of the cognitive assessments when administered in rural South African populations. A test battery was conducted, containing WAIS-IVSA, Stroop, Trail Making Test, Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, Ray Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Wechsler Card Sorting Test, Logic Memory and One Minutes Maths. Construct validity of South African standardised test (WAIS-IVSA) was therefore assessed with the use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and the results stipulated that the WAIS-IVSA structure was not measuring what it is supposed to. Thus further analysis on individually selected measures was done. The effects of Language, Education, Age and gender were also assessed with the use of Spearmen correlation. / MT2017

The field of psychometrics in South Africa faces many challenges. Among these are, that practitioners in the field of psychology do not always have access to standardised assessments for the South African context. Imported assessments pose various biases to South Africa’s multilingual and multicultural situations, hence the need for test adaptation. The Suffolk Reading Scale (2) (SRS2) is an English proficiency assessment that measures reading comprehension. English, being the language of learning and teaching in most South African schools, makes the SRS2 a significant gain to practitioners and the field of psychometrics. Consequently, this research aimed to narrow the gaps in this area of knowledge and contribute to it by evaluating the applicability of the SRS2 as a measure of reading comprehension for South African learners. Primary school learners in Kwa-Zulu Natal were administered the SRS2. The purpose of the study was to ascertain the degree of reliability of the SRS2. Of the 338 participants, 51.9 percent (n=140) of the sample were female, and 48.1 percent (n=130) were male. Sixty-six percent (n=164) of the participants spoke English as an Additional Language (EAL), while thirty-four percent (n=83) spoke English as a first language (EFL). Results indicated a significant difference in performance between EFL and EAL learners, whereby EAL learners performed lower than EFL learners. However there was no difference in performance between female learners and their male counterparts on individual items of the SRS2. The SRS2 proved to have a suitable internal consistency; however questions of bias do arise.