Enhancing relationship quality measurement: The development of the Relationship Flourishing Scale.

Relationship quality is the most frequently assessed construct in the intimate relationships literature. Dozens of assessment instruments exist, but the vast majority conceptualize relationship quality in terms of satisfaction (or a similar construct), which focuses on the hedonic (pleasure or happiness) dimension of the relationship. Some scholars question whether the richness and depth of adult intimate relationships can be captured by satisfaction ratings and suggest focusing on a complementary eudaimonic (human flourishing) dimension of the relationship. This study evaluates the development of the Relationship Flourishing Scale, a 12-item measure of eudaimonic relationship quality that assesses meaning, personal growth, relational giving, and goal sharing. The study supports the construct validity of the Relationship Flourishing Scale, including its content, concurrent, convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Its incremental validity and independence suggest that it provides information about deeper and richer aspects of relationship quality than do current hedonic relationship quality measures. (PsycINFO Database Record

Curriculum-based measurement of math problem solving: a methodology and rationale for establishing equivalence of scores.

The purpose of this article is to discuss curriculum-based measurement (CBM) as it is currently utilized in research and practice and to propose a new approach for developing measures to monitor the academic progress of students longitudinally. To accomplish this, we first describe CBM and provide several exemplars of CBM in reading and mathematics. Then, we present the research context for developing a set of seven curriculum-based measures for monitoring student progress in math problem solving. The rationale for and advantages of using statistical equating methodology are discussed. Details of the methodology as it was applied to the development of these math problem solving measures are provided.

Evaluation of dental students as instructors in preclinical prosthodontics and occlusion courses.

PURPOSE: While facing a shortage of faculty members, dental schools need to be innovative in their educational methodologies. One approach to augment student learning would be to mentor dental students as participating faculty in current courses. A study was undertaken to evaluate dental students as instructors in preclinical prosthodontics and occlusion courses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In spring term 2003, three senior dental students (4DN) and four full-time faculty were assigned as faculty for each of two preclinical courses: fixed prosthodontics and complete denture prosthodontics. In the summer term 2003, two junior dental students (3DN) and five full-time faculty were assigned to teach in the occlusion preclinical course. Each course had previously been conducted with a total of seven full-time faculty. Three types of outcome assessment were accomplished: (1) evaluation by the 2DN students of full-time faculty and student instructors at the end of the course using a standardized university scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent); (2) a survey of student instructors about their experience; and (3) a course debriefing with selected 2DN students. RESULTS: The overall mean instructor-quality score assigned to the student instructors, 4.5 (SD, 0.7), was slightly higher than that of faculty instructors, 4.2 (SD, 0.9). Student instructors were rated higher than or equal to full-time faculty based on the mean response scores for all ten evaluation questions. The greatest difference between faculty and student ratings was in the category of "respect and concern for the students" in all courses. In addition, information gathered from eight student instructors indicated that the experience was a very positive one overall with an increased interest in an academic career noted. Comments from the 2DN students in the debriefing sessions were positive about having student instructors. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that from the perspective of second year dental students, senior and junior dental students were accepted as preclinical instructors in prosthodontics and occlusion preclinical courses. Additionally, senior and junior students who participated in student teaching had a positive experience. The use of dental students as preclinical faculty in prosthodontics and occlusion appears to be a viable approach for mentoring students in careers in academics, providing student instructors with higher learning experiences, and supplementing the efforts of full-time faculty.

Using the cumulative common log-odds ratio to identify differential item functioning of rating scale items in the exercise and sport sciences.

One aspect of construct validity is the extent to which the measurement properties of a rating scale are invariant across the groups being compared. An increasingly used method for assessing between-group differences in the measurement properties of items of a scale is the framework of differential item functioning (DIF). In this paper we introduce the concept of DIF as a validation tool for scales used in physical education and exercise science, and illustrate the use of the cumulative common log-odds ratio for assessing the presence of DIF with data from the Exercise Imagery Inventory (EII; Giacobbi, Hausenblas, & Penfield, 2005).

An alternative to Cohen's standardized mean difference effect size: a robust parameter and confidence interval in the two independent groups case.

The authors argue that a robust version of Cohen's effect size constructed by replacing population means with 20% trimmed means and the population standard deviation with the square root of a 20% Winsorized variance is a better measure of population separation than is Cohen's effect size. The authors investigated coverage probability for confidence intervals for the new effect size measure. The confidence intervals were constructed by using the noncentral t distribution and the percentile bootstrap. Over the range of distributions and effect sizes investigated in the study, coverage probability was better for the percentile bootstrap confidence interval.

Unique properties of Rasch model item information functions.

The Rasch family of models displays several well-documented properties that distinguish them from the general item response theory (IRT) family of measurement models. This paper describes an additional unique property of Rasch models, referred to as the property of item information constancy. This property asserts that the area under the information function for Rasch models is always equal to the number of response categories minus one, regardless of the values of the item location parameters. The implication of the property of item information constancy is that, for a given number of response categories, all items following a Rasch model contribute equally to the height of the test information function across the entire latent continuum.

Using the score method to construct asymmetric confidence intervals: an SAS program for content validation in scale development.

Expert review sessions are often conducted to determine the content validity of scale items. The accurate quantification of content validity is usually limited by a relatively small number of experts as well as by a small number of rating categories. These factors, combined with the bounded and discrete nature of rating scale categories, hinder use of traditional methods for computing standard errors and confidence intervals. Using an application of the score method, researchers can construct an asymmetric interval that is better suited for these situations. SAS code is provided to automate the computations, and a discussion of two methods for using the obtained results for content validation decision-making follows.

The impact of model misfit on partial credit model parameter estimates.

The partial credit model (PCM) is commonly employed to parameterize items and individuals using responses to a set of polytomous items. Because the PCM does not include a discrimination parameter, it may encounter substantial lack of fit to the data in certain situations. To determine the impact of model misfit on the estimation of person and item parameters using the PCM, a simulation study was conducted in which data were generated according to the generalized partial credit model, and the bias and efficiency of the resulting person and item parameter estimates were assessed. The results suggest that small amounts of unsystematic misfit do not lead to dramatic levels of bias or loss of efficiency of the estimators, but large levels of unsystematic misfit and moderate levels of systematic misfit result in substantial loss of efficiency and bias of the estimators.

A score method of constructing asymmetric confidence intervals for the mean of a rating scale item.

This article presents a generalization of the Score method of constructing confidence intervals for the population proportion (E. B. Wilson, 1927) to the case of the population mean of a rating scale item. A simulation study was conducted to assess the properties of the Score confidence interval in relation to the traditional Wald (A. Wald, 1943) confidence interval under a variety of conditions, including sample size, number of response options, extremeness of the population mean, and kurtosis of the response distribution. The results of the simulation study indicated that the Score interval usually outperformed the Wald interval, suggesting that the Score interval is a viable method of constructing confidence intervals for the population mean of a rating scale item.