Assessment Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

hyothesized that suicidal people engage in an internal debate, or struggle, over whether to live or die, but few studies have tested its tenability. This study introduces direct assessment of a suicidal debate, revealing new aspects of suicidal ideation. Results, from an online survey (N = 1,016), showed nearly all suicide-risk respondents engaged in the debate. In addition, debate frequency accounted for 54% of the variance in suicidality scores, and showed significant associations with other indicators of suicide risk. Likely factors of the debate, reasons for living and dying, showed significant differences by suicidality, and most suicide-risk participants reported going online for such purposes, demonstrating a behavioral component of the debate. Keith Harris is Lecutrer of Psychology at Neuringer and Lettieri (1971) further pro-James Cook University; John McLean is Associposed that while suicidal individuals were ate Professor of Psychology at The University of more death than life oriented, they still re-

- by and +2
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Suicide, Internet

If high-stakes standardized testing were to be abolished, as the report authors might like, American society as a whole would be much worse off, and so would many individual students. Probably the most unfairly affected would be the high achievers among the poor.Wealthy families who value academics have the choice of moving to a school district where their high achieving children can excel, or sending their children to a private school. It is a waste of money and otherwise too bad that they feel they must move, but they can. Poor families are not so mobile.
High achieving students who cannot leave a school district where academic achievement is undervalued face varied pressures that impede them: pressure to fit in and be popular; to excel at sports; to work at low-pay, dead-end jobs to earn money for cars and parties; and so on. If they study hard and excel at academics, they will be taunted; disliked; called “nerd,” “geek,” “dork”; or be accused of “acting White.”
The report spends considerable effort worrying about the feelings of students who might fail high-stakes tests, but little if any effort worrying about the social fallout of abandoning high academic standards. High-achieving students among our poor should be considered our country’s most precious human resources.
For a variety of reasons, our society very badly needs these students to prosper; so their gifts and ambitions should be nurtured, not discouraged. The report, however, in the effect of its recommendations, would have these students treated as pariahs and have them feel guilty for wanting to work hard and succeed. After all, if these students work hard and succeed, won’t that make other students who do not want to work hard look and feel bad?
Abandoning the enforcement of high academic standards will not eliminate pressures and hurt feelings among our youth, however. Pressure and hurt feelings are facts of life. Abandoning academics just means the pressures will come from and the hurt feelings will be caused by nonacademic aspects of these students’ lives.
Is that really what we want? In radical egalitarian bliss, there will be no high-stakes tests, no academic standards enforced in any meaningful way, and no academic tracking. Academic progress in every school and for every student will be slowed to the preferred pace of the least motivated student.

- by Richard P Phelps
- •
- Education, Assessment, Research Ethics, Educational Psychology

The inaugural convening of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Collaboration for Excellence in Educational Quality Assurance (CEEQA) took place June 21-22, 2018, on the historic Morehouse School of Medicine campus in Atlanta, GA. Candid conversations around student learning outcomes assessment happening on HBCU campuses framed the conference agenda. These discussions centered on solutions to common assessment challenges and the need for an official HBCU collaborative of practicing and retired assessment professionals. This collaborative, the first on its kind, seeks to help address accountability measures while being true to HBCU missions and culturally relevant assessment approaches. Hence, as both internal and external accountability mandates increase, so too has the need for a strong HBCU alliance.
The group met over the course of two-days and immersed themselves in professional development sessions and group work. From the Transparency Framework to the Role of Culture and Cultural Competence to Quality Assurance, the culmination of the event produced a newly formed collaborative including an organizational structure and future convenings. We found that CEEQA can offer significant resources and specific expertise to the HBCU community and higher education community writ large. This report presents the background and subsequent founding of the Collaboration for Excellence in Educational Quality Assurance.

- by Verna Orr
- •
- Assessment, Accountability, Student learning outcomes, HBCUs
- by Jean-Michel Albaret
- •
- Assessment, Occupational Therapy, Handwriting, Psychomotor Therapy

Previous research has examined world language classroom-based assessment practices as well as the impact of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project, 1999) on practice. However, the extent to which K–12 teachers' assessment practices reflect national and state standards has not been made clear. This article presents a multiple case study examining how the classroom-based assessments used by four secondary world language teachers provided insight into students' progress toward achieving the competencies that are specified by Ohio's Learning Standards for 9–12 World Language Programs and the five goal areas as they were described in the 1999 version of the nationally accepted standards framework. Qualitative analysis of assessment artifacts and interview transcripts showed that assessments principally targeted presentational writing and interpretive reading and that some assessments did not directly align with any of the goals or standards. Findings provide continuing evidence to support the results of the Standards Impact Survey (ACTFL, 2011) and have implications for world language teachers' professional development needs and the role of standards in world language education.

Η επιλογή της κριτικής παρουσίασης του αναλυτικού προγράμματος και της φιλοσοφίας που διέπει το International Baccalaureate Programme γίνεται για να εμπλουτιστεί η συζήτηση για την περαιτέρω αλλαγή των αναλυτικών προγραμμάτων στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση και τον τρόπο πρόσβασης στην τριτοβάθμια εκπαίδευση.
Η προσέγγιση του θέματος της παρούσας εργασίας βασίστηκε στην ανάλυση του Bourdieu που εξηγεί το ρόλο της επίσημης σχολικής εκπαίδευσης στην παραγωγή και νομιμοποίηση του πολιτισμικού κεφαλαίου και της συμβολικής διαφοράς που προκύπτει ως αποτέλεσμα της διαδικασίας αυτής.

- by Kostas Gogalis
- •
- Assessment, Pierre Bourdieu, International Baccalaureate
- by zethu qabaza
- •
- Assessment
- by Joshua Broman-Fulks
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Anger, Psychometrics

In a naturalistic study exploring the impact of outcome-based accountability on teaching and assessment practices in 3 school districts, teachers identify increased stress as a prime effect. The teachers’ experiences and their perspectives on stress are analyzed as being the result of transactions between themselves and the workplace environment. This chapter identifies and outlines some of the changes made to the workplace and to the nature of teachers’ work brought about as a result of a high stakes accountability environment.

- by Sandra Mathison
- •
- Teacher Education, Assessment, Stress, Teachers' professional development

La coordinazione motoria è una funzione tanto complessa quanto essenziale allo sviluppo armonico del bambino, non solo per l’organizzazione dell’azione, ma più in generale per l’acquisizione delle competenze cognitive. Per questo, essa è sempre stata oggetto di grande attenzione nell’ambito della neuropsichiatria infantile e della psicomotricità. Nonostante ciò, nel nostro paese gli strumenti adatti ad una sua specifica valutazione e provvisti di valori normativi per la popolazione italiana erano fino ad ora carenti. Il volume colma questa lacuna offrendo la standardizzazione italiana del test di sviluppo della Coordinazione Motoria di Charlop-Atwell, riconosciuto a livello internazionale come uno strumento adeguato all’osservazione delle tappe di acquisizione delle competenze e alla rilevazione precoce di eventuali disturbi. La riconosciuta professionalità degli autori e l’ampio numero di soggetti su cui è stata fatta la taratura del test, garantiscono la solidità dello strumento, che potrà essere utilizzato da psicomotricisti,fisioterapisti,neuropsichiatri,psicologi ed educatori, a scopo diagnostico ma anche preventivo ed educativo.

- by valentina moro and +1
- •
- Assessment, Developmental Coordination Disorder, PSICOLOGIA DO DESENVOLVIMENTO, Psicomotricità

Child maltreatment is widespread and has a tremendous impact on child victims and their families. Over the past decade, definitions of child maltreatment have been developed that are operationalized, face valid, and can be reliably applied in clinical settings. These definitions have informed the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and are being considered for the International Classification of Disease-11 (World Health Organization). Now that these definitions are available in major diagnostic systems, primary healthcare providers and clinicians who see children and families are poised to help screen for, identify, prevent, and treat child maltreatment. This article reviews the definitions of maltreatment in these diagnostic systems, along with assessment and screening tools, and empirically supported prevention and intervention approaches.

- by Heather Foran
- •
- Psychology, Social Work, Assessment, Child

The paper describes the development of the Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale (RBTSSS), a measure designed to assess the psychological and emotional stress reactions to racism and racial discrimination. Scale items were derived from existing measures of race-related stress and models of trauma, and were tested on a 330 racially heterogeneous (e.g., Blacks, White, Asian, and Hispanic) adult sample. Exploratory Factor Analyses with oblique rotations revealed a 52-item measure consisting of seven scales; Depression, Anger, Physical Reactions, Avoidance, Intrusion, Hypervigilance/Arousal, and Low Self-Esteem. The findings are consistent with symptom clusters associated with the conceptual model of race-based traumatic stress. The RBTSSS adds a tool to counseling assessment by providing mental health professionals a way to assess the emotional reactions of racism and racial discrimination. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

- by Jessica Forsyth and +2
- •
- Assessment, Mental Health, Discrimination, Cross Cultural Psychology

The main objective of this study is to develop a self-report instrument to measure pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the extent to which they experience the necessary support and training in order to integrate technology into classroom activities. The questionnaire items of this instrument were drawn up on the basis of a synthesis of 19 qualitative studies (Authors et al., 2012) and were reviewed by experts in the field. In order to study its reliability and aspects of validity, data were collected and analysed consisting of a sample of 688 pre-service teachers in Flanders (Belgium). The resulting scale showed highly satisfactory psychometric properties. Item response theory revealed a good fit of the measurement to a Rating Scale Model for 22 out of 24 items. The results also indicate that the items differ in their degree of difficulty. It seems that helping pre-service teachers to design ICT-rich lessons and providing adequate feedback can be considered more challenging for teacher training institutions. Recommendations are given regarding how the new scale can be useful for both teacher training institutions and schools in developing approaches to equip pre-service teachers with the competencies needed to integrate technology in teaching and learning processes.

- by Fazilat Siddiq and +1
- •
- Information Technology, Education, Technology, Educational Technology
- by Abdel Salam El-Koumy
- •
- English Literature, Teaching and Learning, Assessment, English language
- by Abdilahi Adam Mohamoud
- •
- Assessment

Bu sunum 27 Kasım 2019 tarihinde Kadıköy Lisesinde İstanbul Ölçme ve Değerlendirme Merkezi tarafından düzenlenen bir toplantıda yapılmıştır.
Ölçme ve Değerlendirme Akademisi'nin ilk dersidir. Toplantıya gönüllüler arasından seçilmiş 50 dolayında öğretmen ve Milli Eğitim yöneticileri katılmıştır. Akademi'nin dersleri Bahçeşehir, Boğaziçi ve Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesinden seçkin öğretim üyeleri ile devam edecektir.

- by Ali Baykal
- •
- Education, Assessment, Testing, Eğitim

Anormal Psikoloji kitabı, ruhsal bozukluklar alanında çalışan tüm profesyoneller, psikiyatristler, klinik psikologlar, psikologlar, psikolojik danışmanlar, hekimler, sosyal hizmet uzmanları, psikiyatri hemşireleri ve bu alanlarda öğrenci yetiştiren akademisyenler ile eğitim alan öğrenciler için temel bir başvuru kitabıdır.
2013 yılının Mayısı ayında yayımlanan DSM-5 ölçütlerine göre ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili sunulan bilgilerin güncellemesinin de yapıldığı bu kitap, tüm dünyada pek çok üniversitenin psikiyatri ve psikoloji bölümlerinde ders kitabı olarak okutulmaktadır.
Kitabın her bölümünde, ilk olarak ruhsal bozukluklarla ilgili vakalar sunulmakta, daha sonra bozuklukların klinik tanıları yapılmakta ve DSM-IV-TR’den farklı olan DSM-5’te yapılan değişikliklere yer verilmektedir. Ayrıca, DSM-5’teki tanı ölçütleri, bozuklukların etiyolojisi ve epidemiyolojisi, bozukluklar üzerinde kalıtımın ve çevrenin etkileri, biyolojik ve sosyal ve kültürel etkiler, en güncel araştırmalardan elde edilen verilerle harmanlanarak sunulmaktadır. Ruhsal bozuklukların tedavisinde etkili olacak terapi yaklaşımları ve ilaçla yapılan tedaviler hakkında da bilgiler veren kitap, sahip olduğu zengin içeriği ile eşsiz bir kaynaktır.
Anormal Psikoloji kitabının; profesyoneller ve öğrenciler için önemli bir rehber olacağına, yardıma ihtiyaç duyan insanların sorunlarının çözümüne, ruhsal bozuklukların tanı ve tedavisinde önemli katkılar sağlayacağına inanıyoruz.

- by Gamze Sart
- •
- Creative Writing, Entrepreneurship, Management, Psychology
- by Karen Wixson
- •
- Assessment, Benchmarking, Educational Assessment, Curriculum and Pedagogy

This case study examines the effectiveness of a formative assessment intervention in an honors section of a basic public speaking course. Previous research has found significantly higher levels of public speaking anxiety among honors students than among non-honors students and has therefore identified them as a population at risk for high public speaking anxiety (PSA). This analysis tested a one-hour tutoring session designed to aid students in maximizing learning outcomes for the first speech of the course and to enhance markers of student development through reduced PSA and increased self-perceived communication competence (SPCC). Results indicated significant and sustained reductions in honors students’ PSA directly after the intervention and significant increases in these students’ SPCC after the classroom delivery of the first speech. We posit that students may have benefited from a sleeper effect due to the intervention, needing the catalytic event of the speaking experience t...

- by Karla Hunter
- •
- Psychology, Communication, Assessment, Higher Education

The Minimum Elements and Practice Standards for Health Impact Assessment (MEPS) is undergoing its first update in six years. This document was first created to standardize health impact assessments (HIA) through specific guidance and benchmarks and describe best practices for how an HIA should be conducted. A group of leading HIA practitioners created the MEPS in 2009. Since then, it has been updated twice to reflect the evolution of HIA as a practice and the expanded use of HIA as a tool to implement health in all policies. This commentary describes current efforts to revise the MEPS in the context of continued learnings in the field.

- by Sandra Whitehead and +1
- •
- Assessment, Public Health Policy, Health Impact Assessment, Public Health

Spatial data sharing mechanisms are an important asset to territorial communities. They help them understand and control their long term development. In this perspective, this paper suggests a novel approach of geodata appropriation processes based on diverse socio-cognitive theories. This approach suggests that the evolution of spatial data infrastructures from rough data exchange platforms towards geospatial learning networks, also termed "communities of practice", and towards geo-collaboration platforms supporting co-decision may be a significant driver or added value. Thus, it is important to consider these new perspectives in the evaluation criteria and processes of spatial data infrastructures.

- by Francois Golay
- •
- Geography, Assessment, Spatial Data Infrastructure

The greater emphasis on information books in elementary schools has led to an increased emphasis on informational writing as well. Although some have suggested utilizing mentor texts to engage children in informational writing, there has been little information about the developmental progression of children's ability to compose in this genre. What has been missing is advice on how to support children's approximations of the information report genre. This article aims to do precisely that by presenting a developmental framework of informational writing derived from a study of K–5 children's writing. We share the framework, provide examples of children's compositions at each developmental level, and demonstrate how teachers can use this continuum to support increasingly more mature forms of information text.

- by Carol Donovan
- •
- Assessment, Literature, Genre, Writing
- by Howard Dubowitz
- •
- Management, Pediatrics, Assessment, Research Design

Conventional assessment methods usually fall behind assessing students' communicative skills as well as their involvement in their own evaluation. In order to promote student engagement in the assessment and evaluation process, alternative assessment tools play a key role. Such tools are more student centered; they emphasize integrated skills and the process of learning. The aim of this paper is to review and present some alternative assessment tools being utilized at Istanbul Sehir University English Preparatory Program. The outcomes of the study reveal that students perceive the alternative assessment tools as useful. However, further follow up studies are needed to measure the predictive value of these tools, such as how students perform in their faculties displaying the skills taught and assessed in the Prep Program.

- by İlke Büyükduman
- •
- Assessment, Language Assessment, ELT

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are... more

- by jos tolboom
- •
- Psychology, Education, Assessment, Mathematics Education

Proper implementation of the participatory projects to conserve national natural resources has become much more important over the recent decades. This socio-economic research seeks developing effective strategies to increase public participation in experts' opinions of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (Iran), in order to achieve sustainable and integrated management of natural resources. In the first step, the literature review led to the identification of 57 social parameters influencing public participation in the province. In the second step, from the parameters identified, with the help of the Delphi technique, 15 parameters were finalized by experts. This led to the formulation of the effective socioeconomic strategies in the study area. The next step was to prioritize these parameters. For this purpose, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used in Topsis solver software. The study's statistical population was comprised of the executive experts of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. The results of the prioritization indicated that the strategy of "the development of alternative livelihoods (A6)" ranks first with normal weight of 0.31, followed by "focus on profitable projects (A2)" with the normal weight of 0.2, and "strengthening social cohesion and trust (A7 )" with the normal weight of 0.12, as the most important strategies to increase public participation. The results of this study can be used by managers and executive decision-makers to protect natural resources and increase feasibility of management activities in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province. ©JASEM

Click here if your download doesn"t start automatically Self, Peer and Group Assessment in E-learning Self, Peer and Group Assessment in E-learning How can assessment practices be used to assist and improve the learning process? "Self, Peer and Group Assessment in E-Learning" attempts to answer this question by bringing together 13 contributions from prominent researchers and practitioners actively involved in all aspects of self, peer and group assessment in an online or e-learning environment. It describes the principal characteristics of self, peer and group assessment, and presents guidelines for effective implementation, highlighting both benefits and problems. It also provides examples in a variety of subject areas from secondary school students in different countries, large undergraduate classes, and Master's level courses. The primary aim of "Self, Peer and Group Assessment in E-Learning" is to encourage the development of higher-quality learning and assessment practices, ones in which the learners themselves assume a greater responsibility for, and play a more active role in, their own learning.

- by Tim Roberts
- •
- Information Systems, Psychology, Assessment, Engineering Education
- by Alfonso Valero Valenzuela
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Physics Education, Physical Education

Background: Prompt identification and treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in patients with psoriasis is critical to reducing the risk of joint damage, disability, and comorbidities. Objective: We sought to estimate PsA prevalence in patients with plaque psoriasis in 34 dermatology centers in 7 European and North American countries. Methods: Consecutive patients were evaluated by dermatologists for plaque psoriasis and subsequently by rheumatologists for PsA. PsA prevalence was estimated primarily based on rheumatologists' assessment of medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests. Results: Of 949 patients evaluated, 285 (30%) had PsA (95% confidence interval 27-33) based on rheumatologists' assessment. PsA diagnosis changed in 1.2% of patients when diagnostic laboratory tests were added to medical history and physical examination. Of 285 patients given the diagnosis of PsA, 117 (41%) had not been previously given the diagnosis. Limitations: Bias may have been introduced by lack of standardized diagnostic criteria and unbalanced recruitment based on country populations. Conclusions: In this study, almost a third of patients with psoriasis seen in dermatology centers had PsA as determined by rheumatologists. More than a third of patients with PsA had not been previously given the diagnosis. Clinical evaluation alone is often sufficient basis for PsA diagnosis, but laboratory test results may be helpful in some patients.

- by Kim Papp
- •
- Rheumatology, Assessment, Dermatology, Europe

This paper represents one outcome from the Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessments, which examined technology-enabled assessments (TEA) and universal design (UD) as they relate to students with disabilities (SWD). It was developed to stimulate research into TEAs designed to make tests appropriate for the full range of the student population through enhanced accessibility. Four themes are explored: (a) a construct-centered approach to developing accessible assessments; (b) how technology and UD can provide access to targeted knowledge, skills, and abilities by embedding access and interactive features directly into systems that deliver TEAs; (c) the possibility of incorporating scaffolding directly into innovative assessment items; and (d) the importance of investigating the validity of inferences from TEAs that incorporate accessibility features designed to maximize validity. Through the paper, symposium participants and contributin...

- by Phoebe Winter
- •
- Engineering, Technology, Educational Technology, Assessment
- by Melissa González
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Autism, Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objectives: To summarise available evidence for responsiveness of six key assessments used with patients with disorders of consciousness: Coma Recovery Scale – Revised (CRS-R), Disorders Of Consciousness Scale (DOCS), Sensory Modality Assessment and Rehabilitation Technique (SMART), Sensory Stimulation Assessment Measure (SSAM), Wessex Head Injury Matrix (WHIM), and the Western Neuro Sensory Stimulation Profile (WNSSP).Method: A literature search of five electronic databases was conducted using a systematic search strategy. Relevant literature was evaluated and pertinent information extracted.Results: Database searches using key terms initially yielded 132 articles. Following review for inclusion identified 24 articles. No studies were specifically designed to investigate responsiveness of any of the measures and therefore responsiveness data were either based on statistical significance of change post-treatment or descriptive analysis of change scores. The majority of studies ident...

- by David Kane and +1
- •
- Radiology, Rheumatology, Immunology, Assessment

— This work deals with the design of an interactive monitoring tool for home-based physical rehabilitation. The software platform includes a video processing stage and the exercise performance evaluation. Image features are extracted by a Kinect v2 sensor and elaborated to return the exercises score. Furthermore the tool provides to physiotherapists a quantitative exercise evaluation of subject's performances. The proposed tool for home rehabilitation has been tested on 5 subjects and 5 different exercises and results are presented. In particular both exercises and relative evaluation indexes were selected by specialists in neurorehabilitation.

- by Luca Romeo and +1
- •
- Movement analysis, Assessment, Rehabilitation, Kinect
- by Dr Paul Barach
- •
- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Assessment, Strategic Management
- by craig neumann
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Psychometrics, Schizophrenia

Cet article présente la pratique d’un e-portfolio qui vise à accompagner et à certifier les compétences professionnelles de stagiaires dans le domaine commercial. L’Espace Entreprise, organisme de formation créé en 2011 par le Département de l’instruction publique du canton de Genève, propose des stages afin de répondre à un déficit d’offres de places d’apprentissage dans le domaine commercial. Quelle évaluation concevoir dans cet espace de formation qui vise à s’approcher au plus près des conditions de la pratique professionnelle que rencontrerait un apprenti en entreprise ? Quelles sont les valeurs qui ont guidé les choix évaluatifs ? Quels sont les principaux défis qui ont dû être relevés et qui doivent encore l’être ?

- by Lucie, Mottier Lopez
- •
- Management, Assessment, E-Portfolios

In this cross-validation study, the authors examined the psychometric properties of a measure of academic behaviors associated with college and career readiness intended for high school students. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with a randomly selected portion of the sample (n = 413) and resulted in four reliable factors: Goal-driven Behaviors, Persistence, Study Skills, and Self-Monitoring. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with the remaining sample (n = 610). Goodness-of-fit indices indicated acceptable model fit. Follow-up analyses revealed significant differences in factor scores among 9th grade students according to gender and race but no significant differences between students in grades 10 through 12, showing the measure functions similarly across students for the most part and particularly for students approaching graduation. Implications for use as a value-added assessment in secondary environments are discussed.

- by David T Conley and +1
- •
- Assessment, Postsecondary Education, Study skills, Career and College Readiness

Todays’ world is constantly evolving towards improving humanenvironment interaction and thus achieving a better quality of life in the digital age. Apart of this, the proper understanding and perspectives for progressive development of this idea is discoverable in multiple current and future problem areas. The paper outlines a methodological approach for modelling, simulation and assessment from the complex discrete systems perspective. The presented idea is illustrated from both theoretical and practical prospects, noting numerous successful results. Some possible improvements of the proposed approach are finally discussed.

- by Zlatogor Minchev
- •
- Assessment, Security, Crisis Management, Emergency Management

The impact of regional plans on water resources and has always been a concern for researchers. In the meantime, one of the issues which is being raised by drought is how to assess the quality of regional plans considering the drought. In this research, Fu and Tang plan assessment method called "Awareness-Analysis-Action" is used to assess the quality of six regional plans of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in Iran. Findings show that the awareness component in all plans is at an average level. Regarding the analysis component, comprehensive regional plans are in a good level, and other plans were at an average level. The action component was rated moderate in all plans and the scores related to the component of action in the plans were not different significantly. In terms of the overall plan score, only one plan received a score above average. Results of ANOVA test showed that the mean of the “Analysis component” in the plans is more than the two other components and there is no significant difference between the score of the three components of the plans. In other words, regional development plans have failed to succeed in three components of awareness, analysis, and action regarding drought adaptation.

- by Environmental Resources Research and +1
- •
- Assessment, Adaptation, Drought, Regional Plan
- by Débora Godoy-Izquierdo
- •
- Assessment

The Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP) is a personality assessment instrument designed for use by expert clinical assessors. Critics have raised questions about its psychometrics, most notably its validity across observers and situations, the impact of its fixed score distribution on research findings, and its test-retest reliability. We review empirical data addressing its validity, emphasizing the multitrait-multimethod approach to evaluating test validity. To evaluate the hypothesis that the fixed, asymmetric score distribution artifactually inflates correlations between SWAP profiles, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations and also presented empirical data from a large patient sample. We observed a mean correlation of zero between simulated SWAP profiles, indicating that the score distribution does not impact the correlation coefficients. Empirical correlations between SWAP profiles of actual patients were small and similar to those obtained using Diagnostic and Statistica...

- by Drew Westen
- •
- Psychology, Assessment, Psychometrics, Depression