Test-retest stability of the Task and Ego Orientation Questionnaire

Establishing stability, defined as observing minimal measurement error in a test-retest assessment, is vital to validating psychometric tools. Correlational methods, such as Pearson product-moment, intraclass, and kappa are tests of association or consistency, whereas stability or reproducibility (regarded here as synonymous) assesses the agreement between test-retest scores. Indexes of reproducibility using the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992) were investigated using correlational (Pearson product-moment, intraclass, and kappa) methods, repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance, and calculating the proportion of agreement within a referent value of +/-1 as suggested by Nevill, Lane, Kilgour, Bowes, and Whyte (2001). Two hundred thirteen soccer players completed the TEOSQ on two occasions, 1 week apart. Correlation analyses indicated a stronger test-retest correlation for the Ego subscale than the Task subscale. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated stability for ego items but with significant increases in four task items. The proportion of test-retest agreement scores indicated that all ego items reported relatively poor stability statistics with test-retest scores within a range of +/-1, ranging from 82.7-86.9%. By contrast, all task items showed test-retest difference scores ranging from 92.5-99%, although further analysis indicated that four task subscale items increased significantly. Findings illustrated that correlational methods (Pearson product-moment, intraclass, and kappa) are influenced by the range in scores, and calculating the proportion of agreement of test-retest differences with a referent value of +/-1 could provide additional insight into the stability of the questionnaire. It is suggested that the item-by-item proportion of agreement method proposed by Nevill et al. (2001) should be used to supplement existing methods and could be especially helpful in identifying rogue items in the initial stages of psychometric questionnaire validation.     

Water-repellent and biocide treatments: Assessment of the potential combinations

It is a common practice to use several chemical products during restoration projects of monuments or sculptures. However, care must be taken when combining the products to avoid a misuse. For example, it is well-known that applying a biocide on stone before a water-repellent leads to a diminishment of the hydrophobic effect of the treatment. But the application of biocide after a water-repellent treatment has been poorly analysed, although studies have proven that the stone looses its hydrophobicity after the application of the biocide. Henceforth, this study investigates the effects of biocide application on a water-repellent film and focuses on the possibilities to restore the efficiency of the previous water-repellent treatment (after the application of the biocide). At first, the tests were performed on glass slides to understand the mechanisms, with the subsequent results revealing that the biocide product deposits on the water-repellent film. Then, the study focuses on determining methods to remove the remains of biocide on limestone samples, previously treated with a water-repellent. The water-repellent used in the study is an alkylpolysiloxane, Rhodorsil H224 from Rhodia.