Selecting items for interest inventory keys.

Several methods of scoring an interest inventory so as to maximize the separation of workers in an occupation from workers in general were applied to samples of electricians (compared with civilian workers) and aviation machinists' mates (compared with Navy men-in-general.) Criteria of a good key were (a) its ability to separate groups (per cent overlap), and (b) its test-retest reliability. It was found that (1) using unit item weights an optimum number of items can be found for scoring, (2) units weights with an optimum number of items yielded more discriminating keys than Strong scoring weights, (3) selecting items by a method designed to increase item heterogeneity, the validity of the key is increased but test-retest reliability is somewhat decreased. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The content of personality inventory items.

Four aspects of the item content of personality inventories were studied: (1) the area of psychological functioning addressed (cognitive, preferences, feelings, behavioral), (2) degree of reference to situational factors, (3) degree of reference to response frequency, and (4) the nature of reference to time. Three judges rated items of the California Psychological Inventory, Eysenck Personality Inventory, Maudsley Personality Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Personality Research Form, and Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). Behavioral acts were found infrequently addressed in inventory items, and the other areas of functioning were approximately equally represented. More than half of the items referred to situation characteristics, 39% included the notion of frequency of behavior or experience, and most referred to the present. Rating reliabilities were also presented, and results for individual inventories were compared. Data suggest that the realm of personality is broadly defined by inventory authors, encompassing not only behaviors but also cognitions, preferences, and feelings. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Description and validation of a procedure for the interpretation of an interest inventory score profile.

The rationale underlying a formal procedure to interpret interest inventory score profiles is discussed, and the procedure is described. I validated the proposed procedure by comparing its interpretation of the interests of 100 high school seniors and 50 young adults with the interpretations of 5 career counselors. The average agreement between the interpretation of the formal procedure and that of the counselors (about 90%) was almost as high as the agreement among the career counselors themselves (about 91%). The implications of this result are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Good and poor interest items.

Interest items may be evaluated in terms of unfamiliarity, ambiguity, differentiation between men-in-general and criterion group, number of scales on which the items are weighted, reliability, and extent to which they contribute to total score. These characteristics are utilized in the elimination of inferior items and addition of new items in revising the Vocational Interest Blank for Men. Like, indifference, dislike (L-I-D) items are contrasted with preference between items in Parts VI and VII and ratings of present abilities in Part VIII. In general, good items are located midway between the interests of criterion groups and are liked distinctly more than the average by some criterion groups and distinctly less by other criterion groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of background items on responses to personality inventory items.

3 questionnaires were constructed. 1 consisted of just items from the MMPI Social Introversion (Si) Scale. The 2nd had these items intermingled with items (from the MMPI L and K scales) which usually evoke a "true" response. The 3rd questionnaire had the Si items intermingled with items (from the F scale) which usually evoke a "false" response. There were 6 groups (45 Ss each), a male and female group for each form. The experimental hypothesis was that Ss would respond differentially to the Si items depending on the background items. Analysis of variance showed no significant effects associated with the different forms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrative interpretation of vocational interest inventory results.

Examined the effectiveness of 3 procedures for interpretation of vocational interest inventory results. After completing the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory, 83 undergraduates participated in a 1-hr test interpretation and responded to 2 sets of dependent measures—(a) Counselor Evaluation Inventory and the Counselor Rating Form, and (b) the Career Choice Inventory and the Career Decision Scale. Three different approaches to relate test information to clients were represented by the experimental groups: (a) traditional individual interpretation (with test materials), (b) integrative individual interpretation (without test materials), and (c) traditional group interpretation (with test materials). Two control conditions were also employed. The dependent measures assessed clients' self-knowledge of vocational interest patterns, degree of vocational choice certainty, and ratings of counselor performance and of the counseling experience. The data provide limited support for the hypotheses that (a) integrative interpretation would be most effective and (b) significant interactions would exist between counselors and interpretation procedures. Failure to find significant differences between the traditional–individual and traditional–group approaches suggests that the more economical group technique could be used effectively. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repeating items to estimate the test-retest reliability of task inventory ratings.

Little is known about the test–retest reliability of task inventories. Because they typically take hours to complete and require rating hundreds of job tasks, repeating an entire inventory after a short interval is unlikely to produce motivated raters; conversely, increasing the time interval between administrations may result in actual changes in job content that would underestimate the true reliability. By repeating only a portion of the inventory with a very small test–retest interval, rater motivation should not be seriously affected, and changes in job content can be ruled out as a determinant of the results. The repeated item approach was used on 207 respondents and 3 task inventories. For most of the rating scales studied, reliabilities were slightly lower (.70s to .80s) than those reported in a previous study (.90s). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the pain response inventory for children.

The Pain Response Inventory (PRI) was developed as a multidimensional instrument to assess children's coping responses to recurrent pain. The PRI assesses 3 broad coping factors—Active, Passive, and Accommodative—each with subscales representing specific strategies for coping with pain. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to derive and cross-validate the factor structure of the PRI in 3 different samples of children and adolescents: 688 9–16 yr olds in general population, 120 8–18 yr old abdominal pain patients who also completed followup interviews 2-wks and 6 mo after initial interview, and 224 11–23 yr old former abdominal pain and well patients. The subscales were found to be internally consistent and reasonably stable. Validity of the subscales was assessed by examining the relations of particular coping strategies to various outcome indicators, including functional disability, somatization symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that different types of health outcome were predicted by different patterns of PRI coping strategies, thus supporting the utility of a multidimensional approach to the assessment of coping responses to pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work satisfaction and scores on a picture interest inventory.

Men in 6 different occupational groups were given the Geist Picture Interest Inventory (GPII) and the Hoppock Job Satisfaction Survey. Correlations were computed between job satisfaction variables and scores on relevant scales of the GPII. Additional data were gathered in regard to satisfaction and dissatisfaction with work. With the exception of the Clerical and Outdoor scales, the scales of the GPII used in this study appear to be valid, using work satisfaction as a criterion of validity. Median correlations of the other groups range from .209 (social workers) to .866 (artists). "Freedom" and "intellectual stimulation" were the 2 most prominent reasons for satisfaction while "lack of appreciation by colleagues and administrators" and "bad physical working conditions" were most prominent for disliking work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of a heterosocial skills inventory: The survey of heterosexual interactions for females.

Describes the development of a self-report heterosocial skills inventory for females (SHI-F) based on C. T. Twentyman and R. M. McFall's Survey of Heterosexual Interactions. The new test, used with 256 female undergraduates, was found to have satisfactory test–retest reliability, excellent internal consistency, and significant correlations with self-reported assertiveness and anxiety measures. An initial validity study compared 15 high and 15 low SHI-F scorers in analog situations in which self-report, behavioral, and heart rate measures were taken. Although heart rate did not differ between groups, some behavioral and all self-report differences were significant. Additional data suggest that the SHI-F is more a measure of social skills and general negative self-evaluations and less a measure of interpersonal anxiety. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in assertive behavior: An empirical investigation.

Assertion training for women has been justified on the basis that women are generally less assertive than men or that women have unique problems in being assertive. A review of the literature for sex-related data from self-report measures of assertion indicated that without exception males report higher frequencies of assertive behavior than females. The means are significantly different, however, for only 4 (29%) of the 14 samples reviewed. Differential responding for males and females on individual items from the Adult Self Expression Scale was investigated using 4 samples of a total of 294 male and 408 female Ss. Men reported themselves as more assertive than women on items dealing with bosses and supervisors. Men also reported themselves as being more outspoken when stating opinions and as taking the initiative more readily in social contacts with members of the opposite sex. Women, on the other hand, reported themselves as more assertive in expressing love, affection, and compliments, as well as expressing anger to one's parents. The question of how these sex differences in assertive behavior are affected in assertion-training groups composed entirely of women is discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validating a double-press method for computer administration of personality inventory items.

This study describes a double-press method for experimentally controlling item length and reading speed when measuring response latency to computer-administered personality items. Previous research has required several statistical transformations to control for item length and reading speed. Five approaches validated the new, double-press method. First, valid profiles showing reasonable read time and psychological response time resulted in few outliers. Second, read and psychological response times were internally consistent. Third, valid separation of read time from total response time was demonstrated by a positive relationship between read time and item length. Fourth, negatively stated items took longer to understand than positively stated items. Fifth, in accordance with schema research, items that were highly similar or dissimilar to the self-schema were answered more quickly than other items, resulting in an inverted-U effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of the effectiveness of four methods of reporting interest inventory results.

Compared 4 methods of test reporting (counselor, audiovisual, combination, and control) of the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory to 100 high school students. ANOVA showed all groups receiving test reporting methods were more accurate in recall of test information and had higher student satisfaction than the control group. Results support the use of an audiovisual device as an effective approach for disseminating and reporting test information. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subtle–obvious ratings of MMPI items: New interest in an old concept.

75 male and 63 female undergraduates rated all 566 MMPI items, answered true and false, on a 5-point subtle–obvious scale. Reliability of ratings was assessed via responses to duplicate items; the reliability coefficients were .98 for items answered true and .91 for items answered false. Males and females gave very similar ratings; correlations were .94 and .90 for true and false items, respectively. Mean ratings for all Ss showed that the F and Sc scales were most obvious and the Mf and Si scales were least obvious with regard to pathology. The correlation between obviousness ratings and desirability ratings was –.78. Analysis of previous measures of the subtlety–obviousness dimension in terms of the present item ratings indicated that previous measures did not adequately represent the very subtle or very obvious extremes of the distribution. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and standardization of a preliminary form of an activity experience inventory: a measure of manifest interest.

The development of the Activity Experience Inventory, a measure of manifest interest (interest expressed by actual participation in relevant activity) is described. The items were scored using the interest areas of the Kuder Preference Record, Form BB. Validity coefficients (against an Experience Data Blank) varied from .27 to .82, median .39. Experience patterns for boys and girls differed in the expected directions. Reliability coefficients are reported. Tentative norms, separate for males and females, were developed for 398 male and 438 female high school students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implications of empirical Bayes meta-analysis for test validation.

Empirical Bayes meta-analysis provides a useful framework for examining test validation. The fixed-effects case in which ρ has a single value corresponds to the inference that the situational specificity hypothesis can be rejected in a validity generalization study. A Bayesian analysis of such a case provides a simple and powerful test of ρ?=?0; such a test has practical implications for significance testing in test validation. The random-effects case in which ?2 ρ ?>?0 provides an explicit method with which to assess the relative importance of local validity studies and previous meta-analyses. Simulated data are used to illustrate both cases. Results of published meta-analyses are used to show that local validation becomes increasingly important as ?2 ρ increases. The meaning of the term validity generalization is explored, and the problem of what can be inferred about test transportability in the random-effects case is described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in perceived accuracy of falsified personality inventory feedback.

80 college freshmen who scored near the mean on the Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N) scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory were given falsified score reports stating that the Ss were either high E or low E and either high N or low N. Ss receiving low-E ("introverted") reports tended to rate the efficiency of the instrument and the accuracy of the report less favorably than did those receiving high-E reports. Females receiving low-E reports tended to make ratings signficantly lower than did males receiving low-E reports. Ss receiving high-N ("neurotic") reports rated the inventory less favorably than did those receiving low-N ("stable") reports. The lowest average ratings were made by females receiving low-E and high-N reports. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cluster analyses of interest inventory scales as tests of Holland's occupational classification.

Compared J. L. Holland's occupational categories with groups of occupations that resulted from the application of L. L. McQuitty and J. A. Clark's iterative intercolumnar correlational analysis to the scales of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, the Minnesota Vocational Interest Inventory, and the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey for men and women. Results indicate that clusters of occupations exist that are internally consistent, and these usually agreed with the groups of occupations in Holland's classification. The hierarchical structure of the clusters followed the hexagonal ordering of Holland's occupational categories suggested in other studies. In addition, the usefulness of all 3 letters in Holland's occupational classification was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)