Degree Of Construct Validity Research Articles

Does accounting conservatism measure what it is required to measure? An empirical study of construct validity perspective

Accounting conservatism principle plays an important role in producing fair view of financial statements and has appeared as one of the most prominent research topics over the last 15 years. This mechanism relies significantly on conservatism proxies, but there remain considerable differences of opinion regarding their ability to accurately measure the degree of conservatism. To address this issue, the current study uses a sample of Malaysian listed firms for the period 2002 to 2011. Findings indicate that three of the seven conservatism proxies exhibit higher degrees of construct validity. This in itself is an important conclusion that three alternative proxies can be considered substitutes among themselves.

The Nordic Countries as a Historical and Historiographical Region: Towards a Critical Writing of Translocal History

This article focuses on the recently increased interest in transnational and translocal regions and regionalism in the context of a general “spatial turn” in the social sciences and the humanities. Using the historical conceptualizations of “the North” and “the Nordic region” (Norden, Pohjola) as an example, the article analyzes the processes of region-building in general and the case of the Nordic countries (Scandinavia) as a historical and historiographical region in particular. On the one hand, the constructed character of Norden will be acknowledged; on the other, it is also argued that the regional constructions may have a certain degree of construct validity and a historical continuity, based on common historical experiences and the inherent spatiality of history. Finally, the article concludes that the acknowledgement of the transnational framework is important when rethinking the history of historiography, albeit it is not necessarily a more “enlightened” alternative to methodological nationalism.

Assessing Occupation: The Importance of Using Valid Tests and Measures

The primary focus of occupational therapy is promoting the health and wellbeing of individuals who present with occupational performance dysfunction, activity limitations or participation restrictions (College of Occupational Therapists 2004). When therapists initially see a client, they take an occupational history and usually complete some type of assessment. The assessment component of service delivery can include informal clinical observations and formal standardised tests. Coster (2008, p743) stated: ‘In many areas of occupational therapy practice, quantitative measures are required to document need for services and, increasingly, quantitative measures are required to document the value of these services in terms of the outcomes achieved.’ Therapists must be confident that the tests and measures that they use to evaluate clients are assessing what they purport they do in a rigorous and robust manner. In other words, the tests and measures must exhibit a high degree of construct validity. Assessment tools have been classified as bottom-up and top-down (Weinstock-Zlotnick and Hinojosa 2004). Bottom-up assessments are the traditional instruments that look at isolated, decontextualised components of occupational performance (such as whether a child can shift pegs in a board or place coins inside a small container), whereas top-down assessments look at individuals in their day-to-day real life contexts (such as whether a child is able to access the neighbourhood playground if he or she is confined to a wheelchair). Top-down assessments often take into consideration the person, the environment and the occupation. How do we ensure the construct validity of both bottom-up and top-down assessments?

La hostilidad: Sus efectos en la salud y medición psicométrica en Latinoamérica

The article describes the importance of research on hostility and its consequences on health and the connections between emotions and immune system. We present a view of the conceptual and theoretical framework of hostility. One of the main goals of this study was to report the construct validity of the Multicultural Latin American Hostility Inventory. Responses to the items, were factored in separate principal factor analysis with promax rotations to determine the level of correspondence of factor structure in the instrument. This inventory presents with empirical evidence that demonstrates a high degree of construct validity and internal consistency as shown by its factorial structure and alpha correlations.

Work-rate analysis using the POWER (Periods of Work Efforts and Recoveries) System

The POWER system is a work-rate analysis system that allows observers to enter periods of work and rest performed by players during matches. The data are processed to provide three sets of performance indicators relating to work-rate. Firstly, the frequency, mean duration and percentage match time spent performing work and rest are presented. Secondly, the number of bursts of 7 different duration classes and number of recoveries of 8 different duration classes are presented. The third type of output is a summary analysis of repeated work bouts. A repeated work bout is any period of 2 or more work bursts separated by recoveries of less than 20s. Analysis of repeated work bouts gives a fuller indication of the intermittent nature work performed in individual and team games. The use of the kappa statistic to evaluate reliability of work-rate is recommended when using the POWER system. Kappa was shown to have a greater degree of construct validity for reliability assessment than percentage error, chi square and Pearson’s r. The POWER system has been demonstrated to be capable of being used objectively and reliably for the analysis of work-rate in soccer.

Preliminary evidence for the role of self-regulatory processes in sensation seeking

Two possible motives for sensation seeking behavior, escape from self-awareness and compensatory self-regulation, were investigated in two studies. In Study I a questionnaire was developed to identify the putative escape and compensation motives suspected to contribute to sensation seeking behaviors. In Study II the factor structure of this new measure, called the Risk and Excitement Inventory (REI), was cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis, and construct validity was examined. Together these studies suggest that the REI comprises two reliable factors, compensation and escape from self-awareness. Study II showed that these factors have a reasonable degree of construct validity. Limits of the measure and the model are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research.

How valid is the psychoticism scale? A comment on the Van Kampen critique

Van Kampen (1993) has published a paper in which he criticizes the concept of psychoticism and the use of the P scale as a measuring device, and advances measures for his own S scale and its validity. This reply attempts to clarify the notion of ‘validity’, and to demonstrate that there is a considerable body of experimental evidence to show that P has a high degree of construct validity, whereas the Van Kampen S scale lacks completely any degree of construct validity. Several examples are given of how the experimental evidence legitimates both the P scale, and the theory (nomological network) on which it is based.

In search of searching skills

A set of skills thought to contribute to effectiveness in searching subject indexes is defined. Of these, one group was selected for study, namely skills thought to focus a search. An objective test to measure these skills was administered to 129 students and established to have content validity, and some degree of construct validity. The skills involved did not corre late highly with each other, and are to be regarded, at least for the time being, as five separate skills, An attempt to establish the criterion, or predictive validity of the subtests of the focusing skills failed to either validate or invalidate them because of wide errors of measurement in the subtests, but more particularly in a performance test of index searching. It is suggested that future work should attempt to find practicable ways of improving test accuracy, and also that the cognitive dimensions of document relevance be investigated.

The Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire: Its Use, Reliability and Validity

SummaryThe clinical value of assessing degree of alcohol dependence is discussed in relation to goals of treatment. Further information is then provided on the use, reliability and validity of an instrument designed for this purpose ‐the SADQ. ‘Norms’ for SADQ scores from three samples of problem drinkers are given. Data indicating that individual items, sections and also the total scores of the SADQ have consistently high test‐retest reliability coefficients are presented. A study is described in which a degree of construct validity is established by relating SADQ scores to one important component of the alcohol dependence syndrome [2]‐narrowing of drinking repertoire. In addition, it is shown that SADQ scores have low, but significant, correlations with indicators of withdrawal severity for individuals treated at a Detoxification Unit. SADQ scores failed to correlate with indices of liver functioning. These results are discussed and it is concluded the SADQ is a quick, reliable and valid instrument.

Self-report of arousal as an indicant of activation level.

Activation level is typically assessed via the measurement of those physiological variables reputed to be activation indicants. To investigate the usefulness of self-reports of arousal level as an alternative means of activation measurement, 51 Ss made hourly reports of their subjective level of arousal while awake, across a four-day span. A circadian rhythm (about 24 hours) was detected by inferential statistical methods. Additionally, while the 24-hour chronogram depicting the self-report time series may be approximated by a cosine function attaining a single maximal value, our analyses indicated a function attaining local maxima at 13:20 and 19:40 to be more accurate. The finding that both self-report and physiological measures of arousal may be approximated by circadian functions which attain maximal levels during the middle of the wakefulness cycle suggests that self-report as an activation indicant has some degree of construct validity and may be useful in the test of hypotheses requiring activation measurement of free ranging humans over temporally extended periods. It was also suggested that oral temperature may be a valuable but neglected activation indicant since the circadian variations in the present self-report data and those in previously published oral temperature time series seem to be approximated by functions which share a 24-hour periodicity and attain a maximal value at about 17:39.