Reliability of the peabody picture vocabulary test: A review of 32 selected research studies published between 1965 and 1974

This report is a review of reliability data on the PPVT obtained from 32 research studies published between 1965 and 1974. Much of the research was done on Head Start children. Overall, the median of reliability coefficients reported here (0.72) has remained remarkably close to the original median of 0.77 found in standardizing the test. Unexpectedly, elapsed time between test and retest had only a slight effect on the reliability coefficients. However, as expected, the greater range in ages and ability levels of subjects, the higher were the reliabilities. For average children in the elementary grades, and for retarded people of all ages, PPVT scores remained relatively stable over time and there was close equivalence between alternate forms. Scores were least stable for preschool children, especially from minority groups. Black preschool girls were more variable in their performance on the PPVT than boys, and preschool girls generally were more responsive than boys to play periods conducted before testing was begun. A number of variables associated with examiners and setting affected the scores on the test. As expected, raw scores tended to yield slightly higher reliabilities than MA and considerably higher reliabilities than IQ scores.     

FOSTERING PRO SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE SPANISH SCHOOL SYSTEM: A WHOLE SCHOOL APPROACH

This study is an attempt to offer the teacher an approach to help deal with the problem of boys underachievement which is frequently linked with misbehaviour and a negative attitude towards school. It looks at the extent working in pairs can help boys’ performance on a class test. 96 boys in their first year of an ‘A‐level’ course were included in the study. They worked and were tested either in pairs or alone. It was found that those who ONLY worked in pairs did better on the test and were more confident of their answers, than the pupils who had worked alone for some or all of the tasks. This occurred regardless of whether they rehearsed. It was suggested that encouraging boys to work harder is not very effective. More can be achieved by providing an opportunity to work with others and enhance their self‐confidence.     

A validational study of the structured interview of symptoms associated with sexual abuse (SASA) using three samples of sexually abused, allegedly abused, and nonabused boys

Objective: With the rapid rise of sexual abuse allegations, there is a growing need to develop instruments to help clinicians determine the likelihood that sexual abuse has occurred.Method: This study evaluated the discriminant validity of a structured parent interview regarding emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms by comparing results among three subsamples of age matched boys: 22 sexually abused boys whose perpetrator confessed, 47 boys evaluated in a sexual abuse clinic but without a history of perpetrator confession and 52 nonabused boys selected after rigorous screening.Results: In comparison with the nonabused (NA) boys, the sexually abused boys were significantly more likely to demonstrate sudden emotional and behavioral changes, frequent stomachaches, more knowledge about sex and sexual activities than expected for age, unusual agressiveness toward playmate or toy's private parts, crying easily, difficulty getting to sleep, and a change to poor school performance. The internal reliability of the SASA was determined to be .83 and scoring of an abbreviated 12-item scale demonstrated a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 88.5%.Conclusions: The findings suggest that Structured Interview of Symptoms Associated with Sexual Abuse (SASA) is an effective tool which may help in the comprehensive assessment of boys who may have been sexually abused.     

Meta-Parenting: An Initial Investigation into a New Parental Social Cognition Construct

Objective. This article introduces the construct of meta-parenting, provides preliminary reliability information for a new instrument designed to measure the construct, and presents results from an initial empirical investigation. Design. One hundred and sixteen U.S. mothers participated. Maternal, child, and contextual characteristics were investigated as likely predictors of meta-parenting. In addition, meta-parenting was examined as a predictor of 3 parenting behaviors. Results. Five factors were extracted from the Meta-Parenting Profile Questionnaire with adequate internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Mothers reported that meta-parenting is a frequent occurrence in their daily lives. Mothers of younger children reported more assessing and anticipating and had higher total meta-parenting scores. Mothers of fewer children reported engaging in more problem solving. Mothers of boys anticipated more than mothers of girls. Higher levels of life stress were associated with more reflection. Mothers who engaged in more problem solving reported lower levels of overreactivity and laxness, but mothers who reported higher levels of reflecting were also high on overreactivity. Conclusions. Mothers commonly engage in multiple components of meta-parenting that are influenced by maternal, child, and contextual factors and are related to reported childrearing behaviors.     

Reliability of the Raven coloured progressive matrices for Anglo and for Mexican-American children

The present study investigated the internal consistency reliability estimates of the Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) for Anglo and Mexican-American third-grade boys from low socioeconomic status background. The results showed that the reliability estimates of the CPM for the two ethnic groups were acceptably high and extremely similar in magnitude. In light of these findings, plus previous cross-cultural reliability studies of the CPM, it appears that the CPM is a promising nonverbal intelligence measure when used with children of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.     

Transfer of Grapheme Discrimination from Cued to Traditional Orthography

This study was conducted to help settle a major controversy in spelling instruction concerning the phonetic generalization hypothesis. It utilized Solomon’s Four-Group Experimental Design for 2x2x2 factorial analyses-girls versus boys, pretesting versus nonpretesting, and phonetic instruction versus no phonetic treatment. Dependent variables were two spelling test scores of pupils in 106 Grades 2-6 classes: (1) spellings consistent with two phonetic generalizations taught to treatment groups and (2) spellings unrelated to the two phonetic generalizations. In order of most significant effects found, results showed girls superior to boys, pretesting better than nonpretesting, and questionable advantage for phonetic instruction over no phonetic instruction. Test-Study methods appear to be more promising than phonetic approaches. Further research is necessary to ascertain the definite value of Test-Study methods.     

大学生英语四、六级考试成绩的性别差异

对3239名学习者的CET4、CET6考试成绩调查显示,男、女生在四、六级考试的总成绩上有明显差异,女生明显高于男生。女生在四级考试的听力、阅读、写作与综合测试四个分项的成绩上明显高于男生。女生在六级的阅读与写作两个分项的成绩上明显高于男生,但双方在听力与综合测试两个分项上的成绩差异不显著。     

Are boys discriminated in Swedish high schools?

Girls typically have higher grades than boys in school and recent research suggests that part of this gender difference may be due to discrimination of boys in grading. We rigorously test this in a field experiment where a random sample of the same tests in the Swedish language is subject to blind and non-blind grading. The non-blind test score is on average 15% lower for boys than for girls. Blind grading lowers the average grades with 13%, indicating that personal ties and/or grade inflation are important in non-blind grading. But we find no evidence of discrimination against boys in grading. The point estimate of the discrimination effect is close to zero with a 95% confidence interval of ±4.5% of the average non-blind grade.     

男女生在线英语学习动机对比分析

在线英语学习动机在一定程度上影响在线英语学习效果,研究男女生在线英语学习动机的差异性具有十分重要的意义。问卷调查法是研究男女生在线英语学习动机差异性的有效方法。运用学习动机理论。设计了在线英语学习动机相关因素调查问卷;并对男女生问卷调查结果的差异性进行了深入全面的分析,调查结果显示女生在线英语学习动机更强烈。增强男生在线英语学习动机,提高男生以及全体学生在线英语学习积极性．提高在线英语学习效率势在必行。     

Bullying in Mixed Sex Groups of Children

A sample of 192 8‐ to 10‐year‐old children were asked in individual interviews to say which classmates bully other pupils and who they selected as victims. They were provided with a well‐known definition of bullying devised by Olweus. Test‐retest reliability of bully nominations was shown to be good. The data were analysed to reveal the number of male and female victims of male and female children viewed by their peers as bullies. Consistent with previous research, many boys were shown to bully an appreciable number of girls and boys, but they selected significantly more same‐sex than other‐sex victims. However, our finding that there was not a significant difference in the number of same‐sex and other‐sex children selected as victims by girls was not consistent with the results of earlier studies. Thus, more boys may be bullied by girls than has been suggested by the extant literature.     

Steps for the Application of the Johnson-Neyman Technique-A Sample Analysis

A number of mental-test theorists have called attention to the fact that increasing test reliability beyond an optimal point can actually lead to a decrement in the validity of that test with respect to a criterion. This non-monotonic relation between reliability and validity has been referred to by Loevinger as the “attentuation paradox,” because Spearman’s correction for attenuation leads one to expect that increasing reliability will always increase validity. In this paper a mathematical link between test reliability and test validity is derived which takes into account the correlation between error scores on a test and error scores on a criterion measure the test is designed to predict. It is proved that when the correlation between these two sets of error scores is positive, the non-monotonic relation between test reliability and test validity which has been viewed as a paradox occurs universally.     

Gender and science achievement: A case study

Upon completion of a science unit on heat and temperature, the students in a Canadian 9th grade science class wrote two different achievement tests. On a unit test which required students to answer questions that were based on facts students had studied, grades obtained by girls and boys were not significantly different. Conversely, on a post‐test, which required that students apply their knowledge to novel situations, boys achievement was significantly greater than that of the girls, particularly on higher level questions. Classroom observations revealed that few girls contributed to class discussions, whereas most of the boys participated in discussions. It is suggested that the more active class participation by boys may have contributed to their making greater gains in the understanding of heat and temperature concepts.     

Coefficient alpha: A basic introduction from the perspectives of classical test theory and structural equation modeling

This article is a pedagogical piece on coefficient alpha (α) and its uses. The classical approach to test reliability is explained. Test‐retest, alternative‐forms, and internal‐consistency methods of approximating test reliability are described, equations are derived for each method, and α is shown to be a lower‐bound internal‐consistency approximation to test reliability. Emphasis is placed on the effects of violations of model assumptions on reliability estimation. The classical models are conceptualized as structural equation models and are displayed in path diagrams. Special emphasis is placed on the failure of α to meet certain basic criteria as an index of test homogeneity.     

School context and gender differences in mathematical performance among school graduates in Russia

Gender differences in mathematical performance have received considerable scrutiny in the fields of sociology, economics and psychology. We analyse a large data-set of high school graduates who took a standardised mathematical test in Russia in 2011 (n = 738,456) and find no substantial difference in mean test scores across boys and girls. However, boys have a greater variance of scores and are more numerous at the top of the distribution. We apply quantile regression to model the association between school characteristics and gender differences in test scores throughout the distribution of test scores. Male advantage in test scores, particularly at the top of the distribution, is concentrated in cities and in the schools with an advanced curriculum. In other high schools, especially in the countryside, gender differences in all parts of the distribution are small. We suggest several mechanisms based on selection and school effects that account for our findings.     

Evidence for and characteristics of Dyslexia among Japanese children

In an attempt to determine the extent of developmental dyslexia in Japan, an oral reading test and a modified Bangor Dyslexia Test were administered to 125 fourth graders (69 boys and 56 girls). In this sample, four boys and four girls (6%) qualified as dyslexic, challenging the wide-spread belief that dyslexia is largely absent among Japanese children. Here we describe some characteristics of these Japanese dyslexics. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Japan Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture (Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research, No. 04808049).     

Child bodyweight and human capital: Test scores,teacher assessments and noncognitive skills

This papers adds to the literature on child bodyweight and human capital using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011. We examine how bodyweight is related to both children's test scores and teacher assessment of ability. We find bodyweight has little effect on math or reading for girls, but is negatively related to test scores and teacher assessments in science. Obese boys are found to have lower test scores in math and are assessed more negatively by teachers in all three academic areas. We also examine bodyweight and noncognitive skills, finding negative relationships for both girls and boys. Obesity-related differences in these skills mitigate observed disparities for boys between teacher assessment and test scores in the areas of reading and math but not science. Finally, we explore whether bodyweight differentially affects teacher and parent-assessment of children's noncognitive traits, finding a more negative effect on teacher-assessed skills.     

Test Stakes and Item Format Interactions

The effects of test consequences, response formats (multiple choice or constructed response), gender, and ethnicity were studied for the math and science sections of a high school diploma endorsement test. There was an interaction between response format and test consequences: Under both response formats, students performed better under high stakes (diploma endorsement) than under low stakes (pilot test), but the difference was larger for the constructed response items. Gender and ethnicity did not interact with test stakes; the means of all groups increased when the test had high stakes. Gender interacted with format; boys scored higher than girls on multiple-choice items, girls scored higher than boys on constructed-response items.     

多种测量信度观与自学考试信度分析

信度是衡量测量结果稳定性与可靠性的重要指标,反映了测量过程中对误差控制能力的大小。信度分析是自学考试试题评价的重要内容,包括测量分数信度分析与及格线决策信度分析。本文简要介绍了CTT信度观、GT信度观及IRT信度观的理论内容与信度分析方法,并对三种测量信度观进行比较。本文提出,自学考试的信度分析工作应结合具体课程的考试特点、试卷结构、考试作答数据类型等因素,同时考虑CTT、GT、IRT三种信度观的优势及信度估计方法的应用条件,根据具体研究目的选择最恰当的或综合运用不同的信度分析方法。     

SCHOOL ANXIETY INVENTORY: RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY EVIDENCE IN A SAMPLE OF SLOVENIAN ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the School Anxiety Inventory (SAI) using a sample of 646 Slovenian adolescents (48% boys), ranging in age from 12 to 19 years. Single confirmatory factor analyses replicated the correlated four‐factor structure of scores on the SAI for anxiety‐provoking school situations (Anxiety about School Failure and Punishment, Anxiety about Aggression, Anxiety about Social Evaluation, and Anxiety about Academic Evaluation), and the three‐factor structure of the anxiety response systems (Physiological Anxiety, Cognitive Anxiety, and Behavioral Anxiety). Equality of factor structures was compared using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses. Measurement invariance for the four‐ and three‐factor models was obtained across gender and school‐level samples. The scores of the instrument showed high internal reliability and adequate test–retest reliability. The concurrent validity of the SAI scores was also examined through its relationship with the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA) scores and the Questionnaire about Interpersonal Difficulties for Adolescents (QIDA) scores. Correlations of the SAI scores with scores on the SASA and the QIDA were of low to moderate effect sizes.     

Early number and arithmetic performance of Ecuadorian 4-5-year-olds

This study aimed at (a) constructing a reliable and valid test to assess Ecuadorian 4–5-year olds’ number and arithmetic skills; (b) providing empirical data on Ecuadorian 4–5-year olds’ number and arithmetic skills; and (c) confronting these children’s actual performances with the performances expected by national experts in this domain. We administered the Test of Early Number and Arithmetic (TENA), developed on the basis of the Ecuadorian mathematics standards to 86 Preschoolers and 127 Kindergartners and asked 10 experts to evaluate TENA’s validity and predict children’s performances on it. Results supported the overall reliability and validity of the TENA. Furthermore, we observed differences in number and arithmetic competencies between and within Preschoolers and Kindergartners, but not between boys and girls. Finally, experts overestimated children’s performances on the test. The scientific and practical implications of these results are discussed.