bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
BRAIN LATERALIZATION RESEARCH: EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOMETRIC IMPLICATIONS
Authors: Bejar Isaac I. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this report is to distill curricular and testing implications of brain research. The report will focus on three topics. One topic is the possibility that brain lateralization–that is, the degree to which the two brain hemispheres specialize in different types of information processing–is an individual differences variable that should be measured, just as we measure individual differences in verbal and mathematical aptitudes. Second, since one of the better‐established findings is that verbal and spatial abilities tend to reside in different hemispheres, the possibility of incorporating spatial ability into admissions testing is explored. Third, the calls for curricular reform based on brain research are examined.
A GENERALIZATION OF ADJUSTMENT, WITH AN APPLICATION TO THE SCALING OF ESSAY SCORES
Authors: Rosenbaum Paul R. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTIn a subclassified finite population, the sample mean and the estimator based on direct adjustment are the two extreme representatives of a family of empirically weighted estimators derived from different logit models for selection probabilities or propensity scores. Other members of this family often have several advantages: (a) unlike the sample mean, they permit adjustment for subclasses, (b) unlike the directly adjusted estimator, they can often be calculated when there are no respondents in some subclasses, and (c) the weights assigned to the subclasses are less variable than the weights associated with the directly adjusted estimator. In conjunction with subclasses formed from an estimated balancing score, the empirically weighted estimator is applied to scale the scores of self‐selected essays on the College Board's 1982 Advanced Placement Examination in Biology.
A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF RATERS FOR THE TEST OF SPOKEN ENGLISH
Authors: Bejar Isaac I. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThe investigation was undertaken to provide information about the feasibility of reducing scoring costs by using one rater instead of the two that are now used for the TSE. It was concluded that because of the possibility of different standards among potential raters, it does not appear feasible to use a single rater as the sole determiner of speaking proficiency under the current system. Other possible alternatives to a single rating, relying on psychometric methodology and technology, are discussed. The approach was to first examine the possibility of developing a “quality control” index that would predict the extent of the disagreement between two raters. The index that was developed for this purpose could not be validated. It was found that the best predictors of rater disagreement were the identities of the raters. The disagreements, however, resulted from the differing standards used by different raters. That is, raters agree substantially about the ordering of examinees but vary slightly in the severity of their ratings.
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FEASIBILITY AND PRACTICAL OUTCOMES OF PRE‐EQUATING THE SAT VERBAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTIONS1,2,3
Authors: Eignor Daniel R. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTTest disclosure legislation, enacted and presently being considered in several states, has serious implications for testing programs relying on conventional equating methods to put new forms of exams on scale. Certain of the problems presented by this legislation can be circumvented by applying item response theory (IRT) based equating methods. Many of the problems can be circumvented if the IRT equating performed is pre‐equating, that is, establishing conversions from raw to scaled scores, through the use of pretest data, before the time the new test is administered operationally. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which item parameters estimated on SAT‐verbal and SAT‐mathematical pretest data can be used for equating purposes in a situation where intact final form SAT testing data has normally been used. More specifically, the items that appear in any final SAT form come from multiple pretests, and to the extent that the item statistics are sensitive to the context or position in which the items appear, there may be a lack of fit between the equating based on pretest data and final form data. In this study, the verbal and mathematical sections of two SAT forms were calibrated from pretest data, pre‐equated to existing SAT forms, and then the results of the pre‐equating compared in a number of ways to final form IRT equating and conventional linear equating methods.
MEASURING SOCIAL STATUS WITH OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION: A SIMPLE METHOD
Authors: Stricker Lawrence J. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTA measure of social status was devised: a multiple‐choice question that obtains occupational information and is scalable with both the Duncan Socioeconomic Index and the Siegel Prestige Scale. The correlations of this device with other measures of social status and with tests of general ability were assessed in a study of white and black Navy recruits. The correlations were similar to those obtained with a conventional measure that relies on judges scaling occupational information elicited by an open‐ended question. This multiple‐choice device may be a good prototype for a standardized measure of social status.
CONTRIBUTION OF VERBAL ITEM TYPES IN THE GRE GENERAL TEST TO ACCURACY OF MEASUREMENT OF THE VERBAL SCORES
Authors: Lord Frederic M. , Wild Cheryl L. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThe main purpose of this study is to compare the contribution to measurement accuracy of the verbal score of each of the four verbal item types included in the GRE General Test. Comparisons are based on item response theory, a methodology that allows the researcher to look at the accuracy of individual points on the score scale. This methodology is based on the assumption that the four verbal item types measure the same verbal ability. Since the results of the study do indicate that the reading comprehension item type measures something slightly different from what is measured by sentence completion, analogy, or antonym item types, only tentative conclusions may be drawn.The antonym item type contributes the most accuracy of the four item types for scores above about 550. Analogy items contribute to the measurement accuracy of verbal ability throughout the score range. This is especially true when item types are matched on verbal difficulty. These results suggest that the analogy and antonym item types are useful for maintaining accuracy of the verbal score scale at the upper levels. Eliminating these items might have a serious impact on the validity of the GRE verbal score in the upper regions of the scale. Studies of the validity of item types at the upper score range using external criteria would be necessary to understand the exact contribution of the item types to the validity of the test.
BAYES MODAL ESTIMATION IN ITEM RESPONSE MODELS*
Authors: Mislevy Robert J. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThis article describes a Bayesian framework for estimation in item response models, with two‐stage prior distributions on both item and examinee populations. Strategies for point and interval estimation are discussed, and a general procedure based on the EM algorithm is presented. Details are given for implementation under one‐, two‐, and three‐parameter logistic IRT models. Novel features include minimally restrictive assumptions about examinee distributions and the exploitation of dependence among item parameters in a population of interest. Improved estimation in a moderately small sample is demonstrated with simulated data.
STATISTICS AND CAUSAL INFERENCE*
Authors: Holland Paul W. , Glymour Clark , Granger Clive 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTProblems involving causal inference have dogged at the heels of Statistics since its earliest days. Correlation does not imply causation and yet causal conclusions drawn from a carefully designed experiment are often valid. What can a statistical model say about causation? This question is addressed by using a particular model for causal inference (Rubin, 1974; Holland and Rubin, 1983) to critique the discussions of other writers on causation and causal inference. These include selected philosophers, medical researchers, statisticians, econometricians, and proponents of causal modelling.
CONDITIONAL ASSOCIATION AND UNIDIMENSIONALITY IN MONOTONE LATENT VARIABLE MODELS
Authors: Holland Paul W. , Rosenbaum Paul R. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTLatent variable models represent the joint distribution of observable variables in terms of a simple structure involving unobserved or latent variables, usually assuming the conditional independence of the observable variables given the latent variables. These models play an important role in educational measurement and psychometrics, in sociology, in population genetics, and are implicit in some work on systems reliability. We study a broad class of latent variable models, namely the monotone unidimensional models, in which the latent variable is a scalar, the observable variables are conditionally independent given the latent variable, and the conditional distribution of the observables given the latent variable is stochastically increasing in the latent variable. All models in this class imply a new strong form of positive dependence among the observable variables, namelyconditional(positive) association. This positive dependence condition may be used to test whether any model in this class can provide an adequate fit to observed data. Various applications, generalizations, and a numerical example are discussed.
A SURVEY OF HANDICAPPED STUDENTS TAKING SPECIAL TEST ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE SAT AND GRE
Authors: Ragosta Marjorie , Kaplan Bruce 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThis study examined the responses of disabled people to questionnaires on special testing accommodations both for college testing and for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). The questionnaires were developed to help evaluate testing accommodations for disabled people and to obtain additional information on the severity or kinds of disabilities within categories of handicap.After discussing the limitations of the study due to a poor response rate and small subgroups of respondents, the study reported on the high level of overall satisfaction with special testing accommodations and covered extensively the complaints of a small minority. These complaints involved the test itself and the conditions of testing, including time and space considerations.A second major section of the report dealt with a comparison of accommodations made for the SAT or GRE with accommodations provided for college testing. The standardized tests were offered in special versions and with extra time more frequently than were college tests.A tentative look within the four disability groups of hearing impaired, learning disabled, physically handicapped, and visually impaired test takers found subgroups worthy of more extensive study.
EXPLOITING AUXILIARY INFORMATION ABOUT EXAMINEES IN THE ESTIMATION OF ITEM PARAMETERS
Authors: Mislevy Robert J. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThe precision of item parameter estimates can be increased by taking advantage of dependencies between the latent proficiency variable and auxiliary examinee variables such as age, courses taken, and years of schooling. Gains roughly equivalent to two to six additional item responses can be expected in typical educational and psychological applications. Empirical Bayes computational procedures are presented, and illustrated with data from theProfile of American Youthsurvey.
THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF THE GRE GENERAL TEST FOR DISABLED STUDENTS
Authors: Braun Henry , Ragosta Marjorie , Kaplan Bruce 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTFrom the fall of 1981 through June, 1984, more than 850 disabled examinees took special administrations of the GRE. Through efforts involving more than 400 graduate schools, grade point averages were obtained on 278 of these disabled students, about 236 of whom had data complete enough to be included in the study. Disabled students earned lower mean GRE scores than their nonhandicapped counterparts, but, except for visually impaired students, they earned overall graduate grade point averages very close to those of nonhandicapped students. Differences in the GRE performance of blind students compared to students with other visual disabilities raised questions for further research.The predictive validity of the GRE scores obtained in nonstandard administrations was estimated with empirical Bayes procedures. The differences between actual and predicted grade point averages were more negative for disabled students, and the correlations between predicted and actual scores more modest than results for nonhandicapped students. In addition a distinctive pattern was observed for disabled students: higher predicted FYA scores were accompanied by increased overprediction. However, considerable caution was recommended in interpreting the results of the study because of the lack of information on nonhandicapped students in the same departments as disabled students.
PATTERNS OF TEST TAKING AND SCORE CHANGE FOR EXAMINEES WHO REPEAT THE TEST OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Authors: Wilson Kenneth M. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThis study was principally concerned with the analysis of patterns of test taking and score change for examinees who repeated the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in an International or Special Center Testing (I&SC) administration within 24 to 60 months after initial testing. Data for examinees who repeated TOEFL within 1 to 12 months following initial testing by institutions participating in the TOEFL Institutional Testing Program (INST) were also analyzed. In both the I&SC and INST samples, TOEFL repeaters registered substantial average net gains in performance. Findings suggested that there may be differences among national‐linguistic groups in typical rate of acquisition of proficiency in English. The magnitude of the average score changes found to be associated with test repetition for repeaters, combined with relatively strong differences among national‐linguistic groups in both incidence of test repetition and mean score change, indicates that for purposes of summary reporting on TOEFL performance (e.g., in defining basic reference groups), it is important to specify the test‐repetition status of the groups of examinees involved.
FISHER SCORING ALGORITHM FOR VARIANCE COMPONENT ANALYSIS WITH HIERARCHICALLY NESTED RANDOM EFFECTS
Authors: Longford Nicholas T. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTWe discuss several issues arising in applications of variance component analysis for data with multilevel structure, with specific reference to the Fisher scoring algorithm of Longford (1987). An adaptation of the algorithm for the exponential family, with particular relevance to discrete data, is presented.
UNIVARIATE VS. BIVARIATE SMOOTHING IN FREQUENCY ESTIMATION EQUATING
Authors: Livingston Samuel A. , Feryok Nancy J. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThis study compared four variations of frequency estimation equating: (1) without smoothing; (2) with smoothing of the estimated distributions to be equated; (3 and 4) with smoothing of the observed joint distributions on the anchor test and each test to be equated. The tests consisted of 50 items, with an internal anchor of 19 common items. The criterion was accuracy in reproducing the results of equating in the population of 50,000 students. Smoothing the observed joint distributions substantially improved the equating in samples of 100 and 300 students. Smoothing offered little or no improvement in samples of 1000 and 3000 students.
THE STATUS OF RESEARCH ON THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST (SAT) AND HISPANIC STUDENTS IN POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION1,2
Authors: Pennock‐Roman Maria 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTIn this review of research studies on differences between Hispanic‐American and White, non‐Hispanic groups on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), four questions are addressed: (1) What factors are associated with ethnic group mean differences on the SAT? (2) What types of item format or content are identified as being differentially easier or more difficult for Hispanic vs. White, non‐Hispanic students? (3) How accurately do selective admissions tests predict the performance of Hispanic students in college? and (4) Do Hispanic students have equal access to information necessary for long‐term and short‐term preparation for selective admissions tests?
PREPARING FOR THE SAT®
Authors: Powers Donald E. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTTo document the extent of special test preparation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), we conducted two separate surveys—one of a stratified random sample of 1986–87 SAT takers and the other of a stratified random sample of secondary schools whose students take the SAT. The objectives were to (1) determine the availability, and incidence of use, of a variety of programs and resources designed to prepare students to take the SAT; (2) describe some of the salient features of these resources; (3) estimate the amount of time (and money) that students spend on these resources; and (4) obtain examinees' reactions regarding the effectiveness of these resources.The results of these surveys revealed that nearly half of all secondary schools offer special programs of preparation for the SAT. These programs differ somewhat in their availability according to the geographic region, locale, and degree to which schools also provide various other kinds of courses.Students participate, to varying degrees, in a variety of preparation activities. Test familiarization materials provided by the College Board are the most widely used. Other commercially available books and texts used in regular courses are also consulted relatively frequently. Engagement is much less frequent with test preparation software, special programs given either at school or outside school, books of practice tests from the College Board, or private tutoring. About 11 percent of all students in the survey said they had attended preparation or coaching sessions outside school, where this minority of students paid, on average, about $150.When particular programs were available, cost was cited less often than some other factor as a reason for not engaging in preparation. This was true for each of several resources, including coaching courses.On average, students spend a total of 10 hours preparing for the SAT. While about 10 percent of all students reported spending 58 hours or more, nearly as many did not devote any time at all to preparation. About two in every five test takers take time to review material from their regular mathematics courses, and a similar proportion review content from their English courses.Students were generally positive about each of the preparation activities in which they engaged. Coaching, tutoring, and the use of College Board–provided books of practice tests were judged—by the relatively small proportions of students who employed these resources—to be somewhat more helpful than were other methods.
SPECIFYING OPTIMUM EXAMINEES FOR ITEM PARAMETER ESTIMATION IN ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
Authors: Stocking Martha L. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTInformation functions are used to find the optimum ability levels and maximum contributions to information for estimating item parameters in three commonly used logistic item response models. For the three and two parameter logistic models, examinees who contribute maximally to the estimation of item difficulty contribute little to the estimation of item discrimination. This suggests that in applications that depend heavily upon the veracity of individual item parameter estimates (e.g. adaptive testing or test construction), better item calibration results may be obtained (for fixed sample sizes) from examinee calibration samples in which ability is widely dispersed.
WHEN DO ITEM RESPONSE FUNCTION AND MANTEL‐HAENSZEL DEFINITIONS OF DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING COINCIDE?*
Authors: Zwick Rebecca 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTA test item is typically considered free of differential item functioning (DIF) if its item response function is the same across demographic groups. A popular means of testing for DIF is the Mantel‐Haenszel (MH) approach. Holland and Thayer showed that under the Rasch model, identity of item response functions across demographic groups implies that the MH null hypothesis will be satisfied when the MH matching variable is test score, including the studied item. This result, however, cannot be generalized to the class of items for which item response functions are monotonic and local independence holds. Suppose that all item response functions are identical across groups, but the ability distributions for the two groups are ordered. In general, the population MH result will show DIF favoring the higher group on some items and the lower group on others. If the studied item is excluded from the matching criterion under these conditions, the population MH result will always show DIF favoring the higher group.
STANDARD ERRORS OF CORRELATIONS ADJUSTED FOR INCIDENTAL SELECTION
Authors: Allen Nancy L. , Dunbar Stephen B. 
Published: September 2014

ABSTRACTThis investigation examined the standard error of correlations which have been adjusted for selection with commonly used formulas developed by Pearson (1903). Specifically, it had three major purposes: (1) to provide large‐sample approximations of the standard error of a correlation adjusted using the Peason‐Lawley three‐variable correction formula; (2) to examine the standard errors of adjusted correlations under specific conditions; and (3) to compare various estimates of the standard errors under direct and indirect selection.Two theory‐based large‐sample estimates of the standard error of a correlation adjusted for indirect selection were developed using the delta method. These two estimates were compared to one another, to a bootstrap estimate and to an empirical standard deviation of a series of adjusted correlations generated in a simulation study.The simulation study manipulated factors defined by (1) sample size, (2) selection ratio, (3) underlying population distribution, and (4) population correlations, in situations that satisfied the basic assumptions of the Pearson‐Lawley procedures. The results indicated that the large‐sample and bootstrap estimates were very similar when the sample size was 500 and, in most cases, when the sample size was 100. On the basis of results of the simulation study, the simpler of the two large‐sample approximations appears to offer a reasonable estimate of the standard error of an adjusted correlation without resorting to complex, computer‐intensive approaches.