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Writing and defending a thesis is a requirement to earn a university degree. Previous findings indicate that self-efficacy is related to academic performance. However, no existing tools register students’ perception of efficacy towards writing and defining academic texts. Our purpose was to develop and validate such a scale. Scale scores content, structural, convergent, and criterion-related validity as well as the measurement invariance across sex was evaluated using data from 418 students from 23 Spanish universities. Our findings showed that the scale holds a unidimensional structure that is invariant across sex. Data also supported the convergent validity, with correlations with self-efficacy and anxiety measures. The scale could track the effect of an educational intervention designed to improve students’ writing and defending academic texts skills, and the scores were related to performance on a writing task. Norms are provided to facilitate the interpretation of the scale scores.

The new methodological and technological developments of the last decade make it possible to resolve or, at least, attenuate the psychometric problems of forced-choice (FC) tests for the measurement of personality. In these tests, the person being tested is shown blocks of two or more sentences of similar social desirability, from which he or she must choose which one best represents him or her. Thus, FC tests aim to reduce response bias in self-report questionnaires. However, their use is not without risks and complications if they are not created properly. Fortunately, new psychometric models make it possible to model responses in this type of test and to optimize their construction. Moreover, they allow the construction of “on the fly” computerized adaptive FC tests (CAT-FC), in which each item is constructed on the spot, optimally matching sentences from a previously calibrated bank.

R simulation codes and functions for the factor analytic techniques explored in the paper "Is EFA Always to be Preferred? A Systematic Comparison of Factor Analytic Techniques throughout the Confirmatory-Exploratory Continuum".

This projects includes the data (.xlsx) and R code for the paper with the same title. Please feel free to contact us for additional details.

Autonomous University of Madrid

Los nuevos desarrollos metodológicos y tecnológicos de la última década permiten resolver, o al menos atenuar, los problemas psicométricos de los test de elección forzosa (EF) para la medición de la personalidad. En estas pruebas, a la persona evaluada se le muestran bloques de dos o más frases de parecida deseabilidad social, entre las que debe elegir aquella que le represente mejor. De esta manera, los test de EF buscan reducir los sesgos de respuesta en pruebas de autoinforme. No obstante, su uso no está exento de riesgos y complicaciones si no se elaboran adecuadamente. Afortunadamente, los nuevos modelos psicométricos permiten modelar las respuestas en este tipo de test, así como optimizar su construcción. Más aún, permiten la construcción de Test Adaptativos Informatizados de EF (TAI-EF) “on-the-fiy”, en los que cada bloque se construye en el mismo momento de aplicación, emparejando óptimamente las frases de un banco previamente calibrado.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-eab-10.1177_00139165211014626 for Does Beauty Matter? The Effect of Perceived Attractiveness on Children’s Moral Judgments of Harmful Actions against Animals by Silvia Collado, Rocío Rodríguez-Rey and Miguel A. Sorrel in Environment and Behavior

Supplemental material, Supplemental_material for Improving Robustness in Q-Matrix Validation Using an Iterative and Dynamic Procedure by Pablo Nájera, Miguel A. Sorrel, Jimmy de la Torre and Francisco José Abad in Applied Psychological Measurement

Supplemental material, OnlineAppendix_CD-CAT_MCDINA_R2 for Computerized Adaptive Testing for Cognitively Based Multiple-Choice Data by Hulya D. Yigit, Miguel A. Sorrel and Jimmy de la Torre in Applied Psychological Measurement

Supplemental material, Online_Supplement_BSOP_Ass_Ac for Modeling General, Specific, and Method Variance in Personality Measures: Results for ZKA-PQ and NEO-PI-R by Francisco J. Abad, Miguel A. Sorrel, Luis Francisco Garcia and Anton Aluja in Assessment

Children’s pro-ecological behaviors are usually registered using scales based on the idea of a simple connection between attitudes and behaviors. However, this relationship seems to be more complicated. The Children’s Ecological Behavior (CEB) Scale has been proposed as an alternative. Based on the Rasch model, it considers the different efforts needed to conduct a series of behaviors. This paper presents an improved adaptation of the CEB to Spanish population. Method: We back-translated the CEB into Spanish, increased the number of behaviors and collected data from 6- to 12-year-olds, using a game format procedure. Results: The scale can detect differences in the effort needed to perform various behaviors. Children’s pro-ecological attitudes and behaviors are positively related. No relationship was found between parents’ and children’s proecological attitudes and behaviors. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the CEB scale emerges as a reliable tool to measure children’s proecological behaviors, El comportamiento pro-ecológico infantil suele registrarse con escalas basadas en la existencia de una conexión simple entre actitud y comportamiento. Sin embargo, esta relación parece ser más compleja. La escala de Comportamiento Ecológico para Niños (CEN) ha sido propuesta como una alternativa. Basándose en el modelo del Rasch, esta considera que distintas conductas requirieren distinto grado de esfuerzo. Se presenta una adaptación mejorada de la CEN a la población española. Método: se realizó una traducción inversa de la CEN, se amplió el número de conductas registradas y se recogieron datos con niños (6-12 años), usando un procedimiento de juegos. Resultados: la escala diferencia entre comportamientos que requieren distinto grado de esfuerzo. Existe una relación positiva entre las actitudes y el comportamiento pro-ecológico de los niños. No se encontró relación entre las actitudes y comportamiento pro-ecológico de padres e hijos. Conclusiones: la versión española de la escala CEN es un instrumento fiable para registrar conductas pro-ecológicas infantiles, Financial support came from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI-2013-44939)