Validation of the Graduate Record Examinations and the Miller Analogies Test in a Doctoral Program in Education

Abstract

In view of previous inconclusive studies and often crude criteria, the authors studied the predictive validity of the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) Aptitude Test and the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) in a doctoral program in Education. Four rather discriminating criterion variables derived from an analytic exercise and course grades in statistics and research were used. Twenty-five classes in a core course over a nine-year span provided subjects (N = 348) for the data analyses. The highest first-order correlations between GRE scores and criterion measures ran about .5 whereas those for the MAT were very low. Considering both the restriction in range of scores and the fact that a combination of predictors through multiple regression procedures yielded still higher correlations than those afforded by single prediction, the investigators concluded that the GRE Aptitude Test was useful in this program, but not the MAT.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Colvin, G. F. The value of selected variables in predicting academic success in graduate education at the University ofA rkansas. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Arkansas, 1968.

Educational Testing Service. The Graduate Record Examinations Aptitude Test. Princeton: Author, 1949-1977.

Educational Testing Service. The Graduate Record Examinations Advanced Education Test. Princeton : Author, 1946- 1977 .

Lannholm, G. V. Review of studies employing GRE scores in predicting success in graduate study, 1952-1967. Special report. Princeton, N. J.: Educational Testing Service, 1968.

Law, A. The prediction of ratings of students in a doctoral training program. EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT, 1960, 20, 847-851.

Miller, W. S. Miller Analogies Test. New York: Psychological Corporation, 1926-1970.

Ojemann, R. H. and Wilkinson, F. R. The effect on pupil growth of an increase in teachers' understanding of pupil behavior. Journal of Experimental Education, 1939, 8, 143-147.

Thacker, A. J. and Williams, R. E. The relationship of the graduate record examination to grade point average and success in graduate school. EDUCATIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT, 1974, 34, 939-944.