Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The possibility of construct bias was investigated with the Guide to the Assessment of Test Session Behavior for the WISC-III and WIAT (GATSB). Specifically, the study examined whether the three constructs measured by the GATSB (i.e., Avoidance, Inattentiveness, and Uncooperative Mood) share the same factor structure across demographic groups that vary in gender, race-ethnicity (Anglo, African-American, Hispanic), and SES (high, middle, low). Children (N = 969) ranged between the ages of 6 and 16 years and comprised the GATSB's standardization and validity-study samples. Coefficients of factorial congruence/similarity were sufficiently high to warrant the conclusion that the GATSB's three constructs are comparable (i.e., share the same factor structure) for children who differ by gender, race-ethnicity, and SES. The current findings align with previous bias studies conducted with the GATSB (Glutting, Oakland, & Konold, 1994; Nandakumar, Glutting, & Oakland, 1993) and indicate that Anglo examiners can place considerable confidence in using this instrument to measure the test-taking behaviors of children who differ by gender and SES as well as those who are Anglo, African-American, and Hispanic.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1992). Teacher's Report Form and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

Achenbach, T. M. , & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Child Behavior Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

Aylward, G. P. , & MacGruder, R. W. (1986). Test Behavior Checklist. Brandon, VT: Clinical Psychology.

Bakke v. California. (1978). 438 U.S. 265.

Cattell, R. B. (1966). The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245-276.

Cattell, R. B. , & Burdsal, C. A. (1975). The radial parcel double factoring design: A solution to the item-vs-parcel controversy. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 10, 165-179.

Cronbach, L. J. (1970). Essentials of psychological testing. New York: Harper & Row.

Dahlstrom, W. G. (1993). Tests: Small samples, large consequences. American Psychologist, 48, 393-399.

Glutting, J. J. , & McDermott, P. A. (1988). Generality of test-session observations of kindergartners' classroom behavior. journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 527-537.

10.

Glutting, J. J. , & Oakland, T. D. (1993). Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behavior for the WISC-III and WIA T. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

11.

Glutting, J. J. , Oakland, T. , & Konold, T. R. (in press). Criterion-related bias with the Guide to the Assessment of Test-Session Behavior for the WISC-III and the WIAT: Possible race, gender, and SES effects. Journal of School Psychology, 32, 355-369.

12.

Glutting, J. J. , Oakland, T. , & McDermott, P. A. (1989). Observing child behavior during testing: Constructs, validity, and situational generality. journal of School Psychology, 27, 155-164.

13.

Gorsuch, R. L. (1983). Factor analysis (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

14.

Gutkin, T. B. , & Reynolds, C. R. (1981). Factorial similarity of the WISC-R for White and Black children from the standardization sample. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73, 227-231.

15.

Harman, H. (1976). Modern factor analysis (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

16.

Hartley, H. O. (1975). The maximum F-ratio as a short-cut test for heterogeneity of variance. Biometrika, 37, 308-312.

17.

Jensen, A. R. (1980). Bias in mental testing. New York: Free Press.

18.

Kaiser, H. F. (1958). The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 24 187-200.

19.

Kaufman, A. S. (1994). Intelligent testing with the WISC-III. New York: John Wiley.

20.

Kaufman, A. S. , & Kaufman, N. L. (1983). The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.

21.

Kaufman, A. S. , Kaufman, N. L. , Dougherty, E. H. , & Tuttle, K. S. C. (1994). Kaufman WISC-III Integrated Interpretive System Checklist for Behaviors Observed During Administration of WISC-III Subtests. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

22.

Larry P. v. Wilson Riles. (N.D. Cal. 1979). 495 F. Suppl. 926.

23.

Nandakumar, R. , Glutting, J. J. , & Oakland, T. (1993). Mantel-Haenszel methodology for detecting item bias: An introduction and example using the Guide to the Assessment of Test Session Behavior. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 11, 1993.

24.

Oakland, T. , & Glutting, J. J. (1990). Examiner observations of children's WISC-R test-related behaviors: Possible SES, race, and gender effects. Psychological Assessment. A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2, 86-90.

25.

Quay, H. C. (1986). Classification. In H. C. Quay & J. S. Werry (Eds.), Psychopathological disorders of childhood (3rd ed., pp. 1-34). New York: John Wiley.

26.

Reynolds, C. R. , & Kaiser, S. M. (1990). Test bias in psychological assessment. In T. B. Gutkin & C. R. Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (2nd ed., pp. 487-525). New York: John Wiley.

27.

Sattler, J. M. (1988). Behavior and Attitude Checklist. In J. M. Sattler (Ed.), Assessment of children (3rd ed., pp. 92). San Diego, CA: Author.

28.

Tabachnick B. G. , & Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using multivariate statistics. New York: Harper Collins.

29.

Terman, L. M. , & Merrill, M. A. (1960). Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Manual for the third revision. Form L-M. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

30.

Thorndike, R. L. , Hagen, E. P. , & Sattler, J. J. (1986). Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Fourth Edition. Chicago: Riverside.

31.

Wechsler, D. (1991). Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-third edition. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

32.

Wechsler, D. (1992). Wechsler Individual Achievement Test. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

33.

Wrigley, C. , & Neuhaus, J. O. (1955). The matching of two sets of factors. Contract memorandum report (A-32). Task A. Urbana: University of Illinois.

34.

Zwick, R. (1987). Assessment of dimensionality of year 15 reading data. In A. E. Baton (Ed.), Implementing the new design. The NAEP technical report. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

Congruence of Test-Behavior Dimensions among Child Groups that Vary in Gender,Race-Ethnicity,and Ses

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References