Short Pieces - Rasch Measurement Transactions 10:2

Rasch Measurement on the World-Wide Web

The World-Wide Web is a convenient source of information, but only if you can locate the right pages. Please share Rasch-relevant URL's (Uniform Resource Locators - web page addresses) with your colleagues. Please e-mail the URL name to us using the comment form below, so they can be printed in RMT and disseminated widely.

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Structural Equation Modeling 3:1

Lawrence E. Erlbaum, 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah NJ 07430.(201) 236-9500, FAX (201) 236-0072. e-mail: orders@leahq.mhs.com

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"A test of statistical significance is not a test of scientific importance. This fact needs reteaching to each new generation of students. It may have escaped part of the previous generation who became the current referees and editors of`hard-headed' journals, [but] no one has yet published a scientific law in the social sciences which was developed, sharpened, or effectively substantiated on the basis of tests of significance. The basic laws of physics were not facilitated this way. Estimation and approximation may be more fruitful than significance in developing science, never forgetting replication."

L. Guttman (1981) What is not what in statistics. In Ingwer Borg (Ed.)Multidimensional Data Representations: When & Why. Ann Arbor MI:Mathesis Press p. 31. From The Statistician 26(2)

Courtesy of William P. Fisher, Jr.

Short pieces. Rasch Measurement Transactions 10:2 passim.

"When students only do disconnected, fun investigations, when they engage in an activity that is reminiscent of the genuine activity but only highlights its most obvious and superficial aspects, we are reducing the experience to its caricature."

Drew Gitomer (1995) in "Capturing the Power of Classroom Assessment"Focus (ETS) 28 p. 17.

Is not much of what purports to be measurement merely a caricature?

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MESA Rasch Activities to Continue despite University of Chicago Woes

"In its recent accreditation report to the University's administration, a committee of national leaders in American higher education affirmed the pre-eminence of the social sciences at the University of Chicago. The report simply said that the Division of the Social Sciences `sets the gold standard'" (University of Chicago Dean of Social Sciences, Richard Saller, September 3, 1996).

The University's Education Department is a component of this Division. Nevertheless, according to Press reports, Dean Saller regards this Department as unproductive and intends to close it in 2001, even though recent citation counts show the Department to be as productive as any other education department in the US, and more productive than the University's Departments of History and Political Science! Plans are underway to insure that the MESA (Measurement,Evaluation and Statistical Analysis) Psychometric Laboratory will continue unimpeded. Ben Wright will continue his Rasch adventures as long as composmentis. The University cannot force Faculty to retire, and the University's Provost, Geoffrey Stone, states that tenure will be honored. Since other academic areas within the University are expressing interest in social research methodology and Rasch measurement, MESA may become part of an inter-disciplinary committee on methodology.

Send your reactions to University President, Hugo Sonnenschein and Provost, Geoffrey Stone, well before November 13, 1996.

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Objective Measurement of Patient Function in Outpatient Clinics and Across Settings

American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
Course #311
8:30-10:00 a.m., Monday, October 14, 1996
Chicago Hilton and Towers, 720 S. Michigan, Chicago

Measurement issues that are relevant to the outpatient clinic and the requirements for a reliable and valid objective measurement of patient function will be discussed. Attendees will be introduced to Rasch rating scale analysis and the basics of measurement logic. Discussion of current practical measures for outpatient rehabilitation and similar patients in other settings will conclude the presentation.

Objectives:
1. Describe the requirements for objective measurement of patient function
2. Identify the benefits of improved linear measures in medical rehabilitation
3. Describe current practical measures appropriate for outpatient rehabilitation
and for similar patients in other settings

Moderator: Allen Heinemann, PhD

Faculty: Carl V. Granger, MD, Alan M. Jette, PhD PT, Mark V. Johnston, PhD,Benjamin D. Wright, PhD

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ARK Resources

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is publishing a series of non-technical, but thorough, monographs on practical aspects of testing. The monographs are identified as "Assessment Resource Kits" (ARK). Over 17,000 have already been sold for distribution to school administrators, teachers, parents and policy-makers. Those published include:

ARK Developmental Assessment
(Geoff Masters & Margaret Forster, 1996)
- How to monitor a student's progress, (emphasis on construct-based progress maps)

ARK Portfolios
(Margaret Forster & Geoff Masters, 1996)
- How to design a portfolio assessment system, (examples derive from writing assessment)

ARK Performances
(Margaret Forster & Geoff Masters, 1996)
- observation and rating of performance in various settings (examples from academics and athletics).

ARK Projects will be available soon.

The ARK series summarizes the best practice in an easily understood manner,profusely illustrated with color photographs and drawings. But do not expect rigor. Test-construction purists may cringe at statements such as: "Another word for reliability is `accuracy'. How accurately does the collected evidence reflect an individual's skills, knowledge and understandings?" (ARK Developmental Assessment p. 23). This conflates statistical validity (the repeatability of numerical results for a particular sample distribution) with content validity (how well is the test focussed on the area of interest?). These texts provide dramatic introductions and a wealth of practical advice, but be ready with your favorite psychometric text-books whenever the discussion turns to technical issues.

ARK series titles are available for $AUS12.95 (+shipping) from ACER,19 Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, Melbourne, Victoria 3124, Australia.FAX 011-61-3-9277-5678. E-mail: sales@ acer.edu.au