Use Of Normative Data Research Articles

Administration of digit span on the wechsler and binet: Differences that matter

The Digit Span subtest from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children was administered to 48 children. Half of the children were administred the test under the Wechsler procedures (last digit dropped in inflection), and the other half were administered the test under the Stanford-Binet procedures (uniform emphasis on all digits). Ss under the Wechsler procedure repeated significantly more digits in both the forward and backward conditions than did Ss under the Stanford-Binet procedures. It is suggested that for maximal use of normative data, examiners should be careful to administer these tests by the procedures under which they were standardized.

Standardization and scaling of the 122-item fear Survey Schedule

The 122-item Fear Survey Schedule (FSS) was standardized, item analyzed, and scaled to provide normative data for use by both researchers and psychotherapists. A Z-score transformation was performed on each item which has the effect of differentially weighting raw score ratings as a function of the average rating on each item. The total scaled score, therefore, reflects a composite of individual ratings relative to average ratings rather than a simple accumulation of raw scores. Also, if an investigator uses the scoring system presented here, he can eliminate any number of items and still have comparison norms since the grand mean will always be equal to three times the number of items used, and a rough estimate of the standard deviation for any number of items can be readily calculated. Finally, implications for the building of hierarchies in systematic desensitization are discussed.