The purpose of this study was to explore various ways to predict and measure extreme response style, or overuse of endpoint categories in rating scales. Data was collected from a total of 913 regular participants and 240 peer participants, who completed an online battery of self-report and peer report questionnaires respectively. In addition to verifying the stability and generality of extreme responding, extreme response style was related to two personality predictors: intolerance of ambiguity and decisiveness. Both main effects and interactive effects with speed of survey completion were uncovered. Extreme response style was measured with several simple proportional methods, which were all shown to tap a latent factor of response extremity, and a latent class method, which did not achieve significant relationships with the personality predictors.

A study was conducted to examine the relationship between work experience and job knowledge. The data used came from the United States Air Force job performance measurement system (JPMS) database. Data on the cognitive ability and job tenure for two hundred seventy-two aerospace ground equipment specialists (AGE) were used. In addition two measures of task experience were obtained for a sample of 24 AGE tasks. These tasks were subsequently quantified in terms of their difficulty. Hypotheses that work experience predicts job knowledge, and that a task-level measure of work experience, as compared to a job level measure, would be more predictive of job knowledge were supported. In addition, it was shown that both cognitive ability and the difficulty of the task moderates the task experience--job knowledge relationship. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

This report describes a methodological study in which an interviewer-administered questionnaire was developed for use among incarcerated injection drug users (IDU) and assessed for reliability. A conceptual framework postulating psychosocio-behavioural determinants of condom use intention based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985) and the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (Catania et al., 1990) is presented first. This framework is specifically designed to include elements deemed relevant for the planning of HIV/AIDS preventive interventions targeted at incarcerated IDU. Questionnaire elaboration then involved a qualitative elicitation study, content validation, pilot testing, assessment of the internal consistency of eighteen additive scales defined a priori, and test-retest analyses. Results indicate that it is possible to obtain reliable data from incarcerated IDU. This sets the stage for eventual assessment of construct validity to assist in the choice of relevant measures and findings for consideration in the design of HIV/AIDS preventive public health interventions.

Quality of life is a key issue in disabling conditions like stroke. Unfortunately, quality of life is often difficult to quantify in a comprehensive measure that can be used in cost analyses. Preference-based health status measures meet this challenge. A health outcome generated by a preference-based measure is assigned one single value that captures and weighs the various losses and gains on the different attributes or domains covered by the measure. Possible scores on a preference-based measure range from 0 (worst possible health state) to 1 (best possible health state). As there is no existing preference-based health status measure specific for stroke, this doctoral project aimed to develop one for use as an outcome in clinical and economic studies of stroke. / Several steps were required to develop the Preference-based Stroke Index (PBSI), a 10-item comprehensive measure of health status post-stroke. In order to ensure high content validity, major efforts were placed to select items that were known to be impacted by a stroke and had been identified by stroke survivors as important to their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A pilot study among long-term stroke survivors indicated good discriminative ability of the PBSI. Scaling properties and preference-weights obtained from individuals with stroke and their caregivers were used to develop a temporary summative score. There is evidence of convergent validity of the PBSI with the SF-36. Construct validation of the PBSI showed that the PBSI was able to differentiate HRQoL of individuals with stroke according to their level of functional independence and to their stroke severity at onset. / The development of a multiattribute utility function will need to be undertaken in the near future for further refinement of the PBSI.

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a non-intrusive research instrument for children who have experienced war trauma and family separation that has the capacity to elicit verbal and non-verbal representations of their experiences in their play. A related objective was to explore the relationship between the family's disclosure of traumatic events and the children's play. The research was conducted among 21 Algerian and West and Central African children. The methodology was based on both qualitative and quantitative methods. The play of children from a community and a clinical group was compared to identify play indicators that were potentially indicative of positive mental health. / Results suggest that indicators of play structure may be more important than indicators of play content in identifying children with potential mental health difficulties as a result of trauma. In particular, a flexible approach to trauma and a modulated approach to the disclosure of traumatic events may be related to positive mental health. / These results suggest that this non-intrusive directed play interview is a valid and culturally sensitive instrument for assessing the verbal and non-verbal representations of war trauma in refugee children.

The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the construct validity, the inter-rater reliability and the prognostic potential of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). The analysis was carried out in a cohort of 111 children with cerebral palsy who participated in the HBO Study for children with cerebral palsy; a randomized multicentre clinical trial. Construct validity was examined by correlating the results from the GMFCS with that of the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM), the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI) and the JEBSEN test of hand function. The inter-rater reliability of the GMFCS was explored by comparing the GMFCS values calculated by one therapist, using the HBO Study pre-trial patient charts, with those of another physical therapist who was blinded to the initial scores done earlier on the same records, and who was well-versed in the GMFCS. The prognostic properties of the GMFCS were examined by comparing, within each of the GMFCS levels, the mean change over time, for the GMFM, the PEDI, and the JEBSEN.

<p> The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) define performance targets which will require assessment tasks that can integrate discipline knowledge and cross-cutting ideas with the practices of science. Complex computerized tasks will likely play a large role in assessing these standards, but many questions remain about how best to make use of such tasks within a psychometric framework (National Research Council, 2014). This dissertation explores the use of a more extensive cognitive modeling approach, driven by the extra information contained in action data collected while students interact with complex computerized tasks. Three separate papers are included. In Chapter 2, a mixture IRT model is presented that simultaneously classifies student understanding of a task while measuring student ability within their class. The model is based on differentially scoring the subtask action data from a complex performance. Simulation studies show that both class membership and class-specific ability can be reasonably estimated given sufficient numbers of items and response alternatives. The model is then applied to empirical data from a food-web task, providing some evidence of feasibility and validity. Chapter 3 explores the potential of using a more complex cognitive model for assessment purposes. Borrowing from the cognitive science domain, student decisions within a strategic task are modeled with a Markov decision process. Psychometric properties of the model are explored and simulation studies report on parameter recovery within the context of a simple strategy game. In Chapter 4 the Markov decision process (MDP) measurement model is then applied to an educational game to explore the practical benefits and difficulties of using such a model with real world data. Estimates from the MDP model are found to correlate more strongly with posttest results than a partial-credit IRT model based on outcome data alone.</p>

Mindfulness is increasingly recognized as an important phenomenon in both clinical and empirical domains, though debate regarding the exact definition of mindfulness continues. Selfreport mindfulness measures have begun to appear, which is important as each measure represents an independent attempt to conceptualize mindfulness. Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer, and Toney (2006) recently identified five facets of mindfulness (observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) and developed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) to assess them. They also provided preliminary evidence that the five facets were aspects of an overall mindfulness construct, demonstrated support for the convergent and discriminant validity of total mindfulness and its facets, and provided evidence to support the utility of the facets in understanding the relationships of mindfulness with other constructs. Their research raised interesting questions, especially as findings for the observe facet were not entirely consistent with current conceptualizations of mindfulness. The current study attempted to build upon and clarify the results of Baer et al. (2006) by examining the factor structure of mindfulness and the patterns of relationships between total mindfulness and its facets with already examined and newly investigated (absorption, rumination, reflection, and psychological well-being) constructs in a sample of individuals with meditation experience. One hundred ninety-three individuals completed packets including multiple self-report measures. Results indicated that a model conceptualizing the five facets as aspects of an overall mindfulness construct had good fit to the data, that the observe facet was almost entirely consistent with the conceptualization of mindfulness, that total mindfulness and its facets were related to previously examined constructs in a manner overall consistent with Baer et al. (2006), though some important differences in the strength of facet relationships with other constructs emerged, that the facets related to newly investigated constructs in conceptually consistent ways, and that mindfulness and its facets are strongly related to psychological well-being. These results support the current conceptualization of mindfulness and the adaptive nature of mindfulness in individuals with meditation experience.