The development of a set of guidelines for the revision of psychological tests and the use of revised psychological tests
- Authors: Cronje, Johan Herman
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Psychological tests
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/46350 , vital:39567
- Description: The psychological testindustry has produced a wide variety of psychological tests that are used by professionals to facilitate measurement and decision-making. Tests are updated and revised periodically in order to remain current, valid and reliable in what is a competitive psychometric industry. Despite the prevalence of test revisions, especially in recent years, a number of authors have commented on the lack of comprehensive guidelines for test revision. Guidelines shouldcover aspects such as what the different types of revision are, when to embark on a revision, whatprocessto followand how test users should use revised tests. Test revision differs from test construction in a number of ways. There are external factors that affect the regularity with which a test should be revised. Test revision also involves more role players than test construction, including the opinions of those test users who may be resistant to any change in the previous test edition. Finally, revised tests sometimes have to contend with requirements from the test publisher who purchased the test or distribution rights from the developer. Test revision is expensive and time consuming, which leaves little scope for experimentation or trial-and-error. The availability of expertise, as well as the human and financial resources required to complete test revisionscan make such projects unaffordable, especiallyforprofessionals indeveloping countries, such as South Africa.It may be more feasible for such professionalsto collaborate with international revision projects. By doing so they cangain experience in test revision, contribute indigenous information that could shapethe revision ofan international test, increase opportunities to engage with international users, and potentially source international funding for research in their own country. The current studydevelopeda comprehensive and practical set of 30 guidelines to assist those involved in test revision. These guidelines were peer-reviewed and refined. Finally, the guidelines were field-tested using a case study of a recently revised ivdevelopmentaltest, the Griffiths III. Professionals from South Africa, including the present researcher,formed part of the international team for the extensive revision of the Griffiths III, which makes this test an ideal case study from both the perspectives of the developed test revision guidelines as well as collaboration of professionals from a developing country in an international test revision. The knowledge gainedfrom the development of guidelines and international collaboration in test revision is reflected on.
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- Date Issued: 2020
Working Towards Improved Facilitation of Research Capacity Development at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Using Action Research (AR) Methodology
- Authors: Sotshangane, Nkosinathi Owen
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Capacity development -- Research Research -- Higher education Research development -- Study and teaching -- South Africa Education, higher -- Action Research -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , D Ed
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/901 , vital:30009
- Description: This study was originally undertaken to change and improve the way I do my practice at Walter Sisulu University as a Research Associate whose responsibility is to facilitate research capacity development and research excellence within the University, amongst academics and postgraduate students. The success of the Research Resource Centre that I manage depends on the way I promote research culture and research productivity amongst academics and postgraduate students. According to Leedy and Ormrod (2013, p. 2), research is a systematic process that is used to collect, analyse, and interpret data in order to increase my understanding of the phenomenon about interest and concern about a given/identified phenomenon. In this case my own practice changed and improved for the better. The main objective of this study, therefore, was to examine the reasons behind the decline in research productivity in terms of research output and how this could be reversed through action research study intervention in order to enhance research productivity at Walter Sisulu University (WSU). The Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) allocation of research output units for WSU indicated that there was a decline in research output from 2005 to 2010. The extent to which my practice improvement could contribute towards changing or improving research productivity was a question which this study addressed through a quantitative, qualitative and self-reflective action research cyclic inquiry. I organized sample strategies of this study as follows: For quantitative data, I used 120 lecturers as my respondents through questionnaires (females = 47 and males = 73) who were randomly selected; For qualitative data, I used 24 lecturers as respondents who were randomly selected with whom I conducted interviews; and For self-reflective action research cyclic inquiry I used 7 Transformative Education/al Studies (TES) project group members as my focus group. My research findings concluded that the heavy teaching workload at WSU was problematic and lecturers/academics could not devote time to do research. My recommendation is that research should be made compulsory so that academics become aware that at least one or two published articles are required from them, for the benefit of annual university research productivity. Some research participants also recommended that the Research Resource Centre must include programs that focus directly on active participation in research in order to increase the capacity of individual researchers so as to build a critical mass of competent researchers, perhaps by even including incentives as a reward for doing research. According to Koshy (2010), action research is a specific method of conducting research by professionals and practitioners with the ultimate aim of improving practice. My new knowledge, therefore, in respect of how a concerned Research Associate, from a Historically Disadvantaged Institution (HDI), provided the impetus to create a collaborative practice in a higher education institution which was forced to merge with two former technikons (which lacked understanding of what a university means by research productivity and research output). I consequently developed the Nkosinathi Sotshangane’s cyclic practice improvement model through self-reflective action research, from which I believed other research practitioners could learn by doing something similar in their own context.
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- Date Issued: 2015