An investigation of a criterion- referenced test using G-theory, and factor and cluster analyses

There has been relatively little research on analytical procedures for examin ing the dependability and validity of criterion-referenced tests especially when compared to similar investigations for norm-referenced ESL or EFL tests. This study used three analytical procedures, namely, G-theory, factor and cluster analyses, to investigate the dependability and validity of a criterion-referenced test developed at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1989. Dependability estimates showed that test scores are not equally depend able for all placement groups and are rather undependable for two out of the four placement groups. Factor analysis of test scores for the placement groups showed that though two-factor solutions were the best solutions for the different groups, there were differences in the way the subtests loaded in the different groups, with progressively fewer subtests loading on the second factor as ability increased. This finding led to the extension study with cluster analysis which showed that a number of students might have been differently placed if subtest scores were used to place them.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68766/2/10.1177_026553229200900104.pd

Field dependence and lateralization of verbal and configurational processing

With tachistoscopic presentation, relatively field-independent 18- to 30-year-old males were found to show a significant right-visual-field advantage in reaction-time in a letter discrimination task, while relatively field-dependent subjects did not show a significant hemifield difference. In a second study, relatively field-independent 18- to 30-year-old males again showed a significant right-visual-field superiority in reaction time to letter discrimination, and in addition showed a significant left-visual-field superiority in tachistoscopic face discrimination, while relatively field-dependent subjects showed no significant hemifield difference on either task. The results are interpreted as indicating a link between Witkin's concept of psychological differentiation and differentiation at the neural level, as manifested by specialization of function of the cerebral hemispheres