The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) is an empirically validated assessment tool for assessing the learning ability of persons with intellectual disabilities and children with autism. During the administration of an ABLA, an examiner attempts to teach an examinee to perform six individual tasks, called levels, using standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures until either a pass or fail criterion is met on each task. The majority of studies investigating the ABLA have been conducted with adults with intellectual disabilities. Research has demonstrated that the six levels of the ABLA are hierarchical in terms of difficulty, and that pass/fail performance on the levels is highly predictive of the ease or difficulty with which examinees will learn a variety of training tasks (Vause, Yu, & Martin, 2007). The present study examined the predictive validity of the ABLA with 9 children with autism, assessed at ABLA levels 2 and 3. A parent of each child was asked to predict the child’s pass-fail learning performance on 20 criterion tasks. In addition, according to the child’s ABLA performance, I predicted that each child would pass the criterion tasks that corresponded to his/her previously passed ABLA levels, and would fail the criterion tasks that were corresponded to his/her previously failed ABLA levels. I then attempted to individually teach each criterion task to each child, using standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures, until each child met either the pass criterion or the fail criterion of the ABLA. Ninety-two percent of the predictions based on the children’s ABLA performance were confirmed, and the ABLA was significantly more accurate than the parents for predicting the children’s performance on the criterion tasks.

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities (ABLA) is an empirically validated assessment tool for assessing the learning ability of persons with intellectual disabilities and children with autism. During the administration of an ABLA, an examiner attempts to teach an examinee to perform six individual tasks, called levels, using standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures until either a pass or fail criterion is met on each task. The majority of studies investigating the ABLA have been conducted with adults with intellectual disabilities. Research has demonstrated that the six levels of the ABLA are hierarchical in terms of difficulty, and that pass/fail performance on the levels is highly predictive of the ease or difficulty with which examinees will learn a variety of training tasks (Vause, Yu, & Martin, 2007). The present study examined the predictive validity of the ABLA with 9 children with autism, assessed at ABLA levels 2 and 3. A parent of each child was asked to predict the child’s pass-fail learning performance on 20 criterion tasks. In addition, according to the child’s ABLA performance, I predicted that each child would pass the criterion tasks that corresponded to his/her previously passed ABLA levels, and would fail the criterion tasks that were corresponded to his/her previously failed ABLA levels. I then attempted to individually teach each criterion task to each child, using standardized prompting and reinforcement procedures, until each child met either the pass criterion or the fail criterion of the ABLA. Ninety-two percent of the predictions based on the children’s ABLA performance were confirmed, and the ABLA was significantly more accurate than the parents for predicting the children’s performance on the criterion tasks.

The era of globalisation calls for a flexible, multi-skilled, knowledgeable, inter-changeable and adaptable healthy workforce. Employee wellness is essential to ensure an effective and efficient workforce. It is important. however. to measure wellness before it can be developed. Currently there is a need for a measuring instrument in South Africa which can measure all the dimensions of wellness as conceptualised in the literature. However, it is risky to apply psychometric instruments developed in other cultures to the South African contest without validating it. The objective of this study were to validate the Perceived Wellness Survey (PWS) in the South African Police Service (SAPS) The specific objectives of the study. included to conceptualise perceived wellness and the dimensions thereof from the literature to access the internal consistency and construct validity of the PWS in a sample of police personnel and to investigate differences in the perceived wellness of biographical groups. A cross-sectional survey design with an accidental sample (N=840) of police personnel was used. The sample was composed of personnel from multiple divisions in the SAPS, including Functional as well as Public Service Act personnel. The Perceived Wellness Survey (PWS) and a biographical questionnaire were administered. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, target rotations, alpha coefficients and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyse the data. Exploratory factor analysis with target rotations failed to confirm the construct equivalence or the PWS for Afrikaans and Setswana language groups. Two reliable factors. namely wellness and illness were extracted in a random sample (n = 335) of the Setswana group and in a replication sample (n=338) However. an alternative interpretation was also possible. Statistically significant differences were found between perceived wellness of employees in terms of age and rank. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The present study evaluates the criterion validity and efficacy of the PEAK-E Promoting the Emergence of Advanced Knowledge Relational Training System Equivalence Module (PEAK-E) through a single case design across 3 individuals with autism. Validity, reliability, and efficacy were all addressed in the study. The study showed that the PEAK-E assessment was an effective measure for skills which were not in the individuals’ repertoires. All participants demonstrated derived responses using the PEAK-E curriculum. After training all three participants using the PEAK-E curriculum, there was an overall increase in the participants’ abilities to derive relations when reassessed again using the PEAK-E assessment.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The purpose of the present study was to gather further external validity evidence towards the validity argument for an instrument designed to measure individual and contextual factors associated with adolescent substance use in low socio-economic status communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. The South African Substance Use Contextual Risk Instrument (SASUCRI) measures adolescents’ subjective experiences of their own psycho-social and their communities’ functioning. The present study uses secondary data analysis in order to further evaluate its external validity. Both content and structural evidence for the instrument has been gathered in the larger study in which the present study is located. Validity theory was used as the theoretical framework for the gathering of the different types of evidence in support of the validity argument for this instrument. The study employed non-probability purposive sampling to select schools from three education districts from which twenty-six schools were selected where the sample total was N=1959. English and Afrikaans versions of the instrument were administered to English- and Afrikaans home language, school-going adolescents, aged 12 to 21 years. All ethical standards were maintained throughout the research process. External evidence procedures were conducted using Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) to evaluate the extent to which the instrument could discriminate between substance using and non-using adolescents. The DFA revealed that nine SASUCRI sub-scales totals can act as significant predictors to substance use among adolescents based on the predictive validity of sub-scales.

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Tennis is a competitive sport attracting millions of players and fans worldwide. During a competition, the physical component crucially affects the final result of a match. In field sports such as soccer physical demand data are collected using the global positioning system (GPS). There is question regarding the validity and reliability of using GPS technology for court sports such as tennis. The purpose of this study is to determine the validity and reliability of GPS to determine distances covered during simulated tennis movements. This was done by comparing GPS recorded distances to distances determined with a calibrated trundle wheel. Two SPI HPU units were attached to the wheel Four different trials were performed to assess accuracy and reliability: distance trial (DIST), shuttle run trial (SHUT), change of direction trial (COD) and random movement trial (RAND). The latter three trials are performed on a tennis court and designed to mimic movements during a tennis match. Bland-Altman analysis showed that during all trails, there were small differences in the trundle wheel and GPS derived distances. Bias for the DIST, SHUT, COD and RAND trails were -0.02±0.10, -0.51±0.15, -0.24±0.19 and 0.28±0.20%, respectively. Root mean squared (RMS) errors for the four trials were 0.41±0.10, 1.28±0.10, 1.70±0.10 and 1.55±0.13%. Analysis of paired units showed a good reliability with mean bias and RMS errors <2%%. These results suggest that SPI HPU units are both accurate and reliable for simulated tennis movements. They can be confidently used to determine the physical demands of court sports like tennis. / Master of Science / Wearable technology, including global positioning system (GPS) devices, are becoming increasingly popular among athletes and sports teams. These devices offer a quick and simple method of determining distances covered, movement speeds and accelerations during training and competition. Such data are then used to determine match or training load and help the athlete maximize training benefits while minimizing injury risk. However, in order for these devices to be successfully used, their validity and reliability must be determined. GPS has been shown to be valid and reliable for field based sports, like soccer, but not for court based sports, such as tennis. In this study, the GPSports SPI HPU unit was found to be both valid and reliable for simulated tennis movements. The error between the unit distances and distances determined by a running wheel were less than 6% and typically within 2%. The results of this study indicate that the SPI HPU devices can be used to determine work load during tennis. Coaches and trainers can be confident that the data generated by these units are both reliable and valid.

Measures of psychological attributes abound in the social sciences as much as measures of physical properties do in the physical sciences. However, there are crucial differences between the scientific underpinning of measurement. While measurement in the physical sciences is supported by empirical evidence that demonstrates the quantitative nature of the property assessed, measurement in the social sciences is, in large part, made possible only by a vague, discretionary definition of measurement that places hardly any restrictions on empirical data. Traditional psychometric analyses fail to address the requirements of measurement as defined more rigorously in the physical sciences. The construct definitions do not allow for testable predictions; and content validity becomes a matter of highly subjective judgment. In order to improve measurement of psychological attributes, it is suggested to, first, readopt the definition of measurement in the physical sciences; second, to devise an elaborate theory of the construct to be measured that includes the hypothesis of a quantitative attribute; and third, to test the data for the structure implied by the hypothesis of quantity as well as predictions derived from the theory of the construct. (author's abstract)