Testing
Ethical and Legal Issues

Considering the responsibilities and rights of test takers and test users, discuss why it is important to have ethical and legal standards for testing. hat knowledge, skills, and abilities are necessary for competent test use? hat are the standards regarding confidentiality and privacy of test taker information, test scores, and test interpretation? hat do you feel is the most important responsibility of a test user and why? Please be sure to support your discussion with information from the AERA (2000) book, APA (2010, 2011) websites, and the Turner, DeMers, Fox, & Reed (2001) article.

The American Psychological Association (APA) set up a task force on test users qualifications (TFTUQ) in October 1996 to develop guidelines that inform test users and the general public about the qualifications that this body feels that are important for the competent and responsible use of the psychological tests that they have produced (Turner,…...

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Works Cited

Hsu, K., & Iwamoto, D. (2013). ting for Measurement Invariance in the Conformity to Masculine Norms-46 Across White and Asian-American College Men: Development and Validity of the CMNI-29. American Psychological Association, 1-11.

Turner, S., DeMers, S., Fox, H., & Reed, G. (2001). APA's Guidelines for Test User Qualifications. American Psychologist, 1099-1113.

The employee's imperative is bound by the employee's desire to maintain employment. To the business, however, there is a competing imperative in that it must increase profits. For the cost of a test, the business can prevent a certain degree of losses. Thus, from the businesses perspective its imperative, if applied evenly and universally, would compel it to reject testing of its executives just as much as it would compel it to promote testing of employment candidates.
Q1. ilson acted wrongly in terms of his contractual duty to the company. In such situations, the moral imperative derives from the employment contract, including the terms of the housing allowance. ilson defends himself on the basis on consequential arguments -- he is doing more right than wrong in his actions. eighed on a consequential basis, ilson is correct in that his wrong actions towards his employer have resulted in greater good for…...

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Works Cited:

Friedman, Milton. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved October 3, 2009 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Level 2: Beginning: Children can make use of simple phrases. Level 3: Developing: Children exhibit hesitant use of written and spoken academic and social English. Level 4: Expanding: Children show comfort with social English, while have difficulty with academic English. Level 5: Bridging: Children are capable of understanding both academic and social English with competency, although with some difficulty (Law & Eckes 2007, p.47).
The question of whether an incoming student can read at all -- or can read, just not in English -- is a critical question that must be addressed during an initial student assessment. A home language survey can be an important introduction to the child's cultural setting and educational background, although the information obtained from such visits is always incomplete, as the language and full scope of the child's formal schooling can be difficult to discern from such a visit (Law & Eckes 2007, p.48). Talking…...

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Reference

Law, Barbara & Mary Eckes (2007). Assessment and ESL: An alternative approach.

Portage & Main Press.

Testing Hypothesis
The first step to testing a research topic is conducting a literature review to determine what has been researched, any gaps, or any inefficiencies in the research studies. The literature review aids in determining appropriate hypothesis, variables that need to be studied, and appropriate research study methods and designs. Depending on the research methodology and designs as well as the goals of the researcher, appropriate confidence intervals can be determined to evaluate the level of confidence in the research findings.

Depending on previous research studies, if an old timer stated, "Why, in my day, kids were much more respectful and didn't cause as much trouble as they do nowadays!," an appropriate alternative hypothesis could be "Children growing up in the 1940's were more respectful and caused less trouble than children in the 2000's." From the alternative hypothesis a null hypothesis of "Children growing up in the 2000's were as respectful…...

Testing
Describe one ethical issue surrounding the Uniform Care equirement, which requires that all participants of clinical research across the world should receive the same treatment that they would in a Developed country.

The Uniform Care equirement has been proposed as a "minimum ethical standard" but profit-driven researchers claim it may conflict with other ethical standards in making HIV / AIDS medications available to more people in the developing world (Killen, Grady, Folkers & Fauci, 2002, p. 201). According to the Uniform Care equirement, all participants should receive equal treatment regardless of their geographic location. Opposing the Uniform Care equirement seems appalingly unethical. For one, there is no ethical reason why studies conducted in the developing world should not conform to the same ethical standards they must follow in the United States. Killen, Grady, Folkers & Fauci (2002) claim that the Uniform Care equirement decreases the likelihood that all studies conducted will…...

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References

Dreaper, J. (2012). Concern at outsourced clinical trials in developing world. BBC News. Retrieved online:  http://www.bbc.com/news/health-20468396 

FDA (2014). Retrieved online:  http://www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/SpecialTopics/RunningClinicalTrials/ 

Killen, J., Grady, C., Folkers, G.K. & Fauci, A.S. (2002). Ethics of clinical research in the developing world. Nature Reviews 2.

This type of research suggests that there is a correlation between general intelligence (g) and physiological factors such as development stability and general physical fitness. One might develop the research question further by investigating whether intelligence can be manipulated by means of increasing actual physical fitness levels by means of exercise, for example. Since it has long been an accepted fact that the body and mind function as a mutually influencing unit within the human organism, it follows that manipulating the human body would also manipulate the mind, and by association the g-factor.

A comparison can also be made between existing, natural fitness, without any manipulation efforts by the individual, and the degree of g manifest in the individual. By making such a comparison, a conclusion can be drawn regarding the degree of correlation between g and natural body symmetry. This can then be used as a springboard for further investigation…...

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References

Colom, R., Jung, R.E. And Haier, R.J. (2006). Distributed brain sites for the g-factor of intelligence. NeuroImage No. 31. Retrieved from:  http://www.mrn.org/pubs/Colom%20Distributed%20Brain%20Sites.pdf 

Prokosch, M.D., Yeo, R.A. And Miller, G.F. (2005). Intelligence tests with higher g-loadings show higher correlations with body symmetry: Evidence for a general fitness factor mediated by developmental stability. Intelligence, No. 33. Retrieved from:  http://www.unm.edu/~psych/faculty/articles/yeo/9.pdf

Testing the Effects of Disaster
Frequency on Moth's Genotypes

Cover page requires -- name, complete address, email address full course title, section number and date; centered on the page.

Testing the Effects of Disaster Frequency on Moth's Genotypes

eather alters life. Modern day man has been both purposely and accidentally altering the basic weather patterns and physiology of our planet by producing pollution, killing or altering natural resources, deforestation, and of course global warming. For example, industrial smog has been discovered everywhere over the oceans which may be creating distorted weather patterns that some climatologists have called 'climate death.' e do not yet fully understand if clearing forests will cause tornadoes or more rainy seasons somewhere on the planet. But, I do know that if the weather was to have an increase in events such as increased rainy or stormy cycles with increases in the tornado occurrences, natural life would be affected.

The reason I…...

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Works Cited

Albert, Michael. The Real World Is Messy -- Chaos Theory. Zmag. Retrived on 22 Mar. 2005, from .

Additionally, administrators need to be trained to recognize appropriate and inappropriate test preparation strategies. Teachers also need to be trained on developing authentic assessments with the same rigor as the state assessments. Popham (2001) suggests the use of multiple measures including writing, open-ended response questions, and performance-based tasks. The use of these types of assessment may provide a more accurate picture of student learning. Additionally, the public must become more critical consumers of educational data. A significant increase in test scores might be the result of better teaching practices, but it might also be the result of teaching to the test.
Finally as suggested by both Popham (2001) and Volante (2004) teachers need to have an understanding of, teach, and assess the entire curriculum. Belfiore et al. (2005) argue that this is especially true for schools in areas of high poverty, stating that this begins with "(a) teachers believing all…...

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References:

Belfiore, P.J., Auld, R., & Lee, D.L. (2005). The disconnect of poor-urban education: Equal access and a pedagogy of risk taking. Psychology in the schools, 42(8), 855-863. doi:10.1002/pits.20116

Popham, W.J., (2001). Teaching to the test. Educational leadership, 58(6), 16-20.

Volante, L., (2004). Teaching to the test: What every educator and policy-maker should know. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 35. Retrieved from:  http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/articles/volante.html .

Wilhelm, J. (2003). Assessment: The alpha and omega of achievement National Council of Teachers of English. Retrieved from  http://search.proquest.com/docview/213932421?accountid=27965

Strengths

In criteria-related validity, the performance of the study is graded against a criterion that exists outside of the study construct. An example of this might be: "if we want to assess the concurrent validity of a new measure of empowerment, we might give the measure to both migrant farm workers and to the farm owners, theorizing that our measure should show that the farm owners are higher in empowerment" (Trochim, 2006, Measurement validity types).

eaknesses

The preexisting research on which the criterion is drawn from must be valid -- for example, the research on empowerment used to create the above example study of the farm workers and migrants must be valid and not simply be based upon biases and assumptions of researchers of the past.

Construct Validity

Application: hen used and when inappropriate

Construct validity refers to the question of whether the conclusion of the study accurately reflects its construct, in short whether the purpose…...

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Works Cited

Trochim, William M.K. (2006). Measurement validity types. Social Research Methods.

Retrieved December 29, 2008  http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measval.php 

Trochim, William M.K. (2006). Types of reliability. Social Research Methods. Retrieved December 28, 2008 at  http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/reltypes.php 

Tests of reliability and validity

Literacy Development
This chapter is primarily concerning with the stages of development of literacy among students and notes the four stages including: (1) readiness for reading or pre-reading ages birth to six years of age; (2) the initial stage of reading or ages six to seven years of age; (3) the fluent stage of reading or ages seven to eight years of age; and (4) the reading to learn stage or ages nine to thirteen years of age. This chapter additionally relates the literacy experiences that a students gains in their home including their access to books and other print publications, the demonstrations of adult literacy behavior in the home, and adults who support student literacy through reading to the student or encouraging the student to read aloud. This chapter highlights the students experiences with reading in the environment other than the home to support literacy learning.

Emergent Literacy Strategies

This chapter…...

" (2003)
Furthermore, it is related that the study of Valencia, Valenquela, Sloan and Foley (2001) suggest that "inferior schools are the cause of historically minority student failure, and in promoting accountability, proponents are treating the symptom of school failure rather than the cause." (Flores and Clark, 2003) it is additionally stated in the work of Flores and Clark (2003) that "current literature abounds with evidence that the Texas' state-mandated test is driving the curriculum."

Flores and Clark state that accusations exist which claim high-stakes testing misuse has occurred and Haney (2000) as well as Kellow and Wilson (2001) have discussed "by pointing to the paucity of the TAAS' psychometric soundness and the apparent inattentiveness to measurement error, which have resulted in a great misuse of the test results for high-stakes decisions, such as awarding of high school diplomas." (Flores and Clark, 2003) it is noted that the analysis of Texas TAAS…...

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Bibliography

Amrein, Audrey and Berliner, David C. (2002) the Impact of High-Stakes Tests on Student Academic Performance: An Analysis of NAEP Results in States with High-Stakes Tests and ACT, SAT and AP Test Results in States with High School Graduation Exams. Arizona State University. 2002.

Flores, B.B., & Clark, E.R. (2003, March 3). Texas voices speak out about high-stakes testing: Preservice teachers, teachers, and students. Current Issues in Education [Online], 6(3). Available:

http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number3/

Peterson, Bob and Monty Neill (1999) Alternatives to Standardized Tests. Vol. 13. No. 3 Spring 1999. Pros and Cons of No Child Left Behind: What the Research Says. Educational Newsletter 2007. Online available at  http://www.ernweb.com/public/892.cfm

The fourth step is to perform the relevant statistical test and acquire a test statistic along with its p or probability value (Iyanaga & Kawada, 1980). The fifth and final step involves making a decision to reject or not reject the null hypothesis based on the test statistic. If the p value is less than the pre-determined level of significance, you would reject the null hypothesis (Voelz 2006).
The role of confidence intervals in hypothesis testing is such that if the confidence interval (which is an interval within which the researcher has a specific degree of confidence that the population parameter of concern exists) does not contain the mean of the null hypothesis distribution then the result is significant (Aron, Coups & Aron 2011 p. 191). The confidence interval then provides limits within which one expects to find the mean or statistical value that is related to the null hypothesis.

The…...

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References

Aron Arthur, Coups Elliot J. & Aron Elaine N. Statistics for the behavioral and social sciences:

A brief course. New York NY Prentice Hall: 2011.

Iyanaga, S. And Kawada, Y. (Eds.). "Statistical Estimation and Statistical Hypothesis Testing."

Appendix a, Table 23 in Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics. Cambridge, MA:

Testing of the rong Kind: Too Little of the Right Kind...," author Paul E. Barton looks at the "testing enterprise" which has assumed greater prominence in K-12 education during the last 20 years. However, Barton believes that the bulk of this testing is of "the wrong kind," meaning tests are seen as a means of reform. hen students seem to be failing in basic areas such as mathematics, spelling or geography, the gut reaction is often to institute more rigorous testing. Such tests are designed to assess student performance and to weed out the students who do not make the grade.
Barton makes the distinction between the "right kind" and the "wrong kind" of testing. In these "wrong kinds" of tests, Barton argues that the tests themselves have become tools of reform, rather than measures to assess whether reforms are working. Furthermore, Barton states that most standardized tests do not…...

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Works Cited

Barton, Paul E. 1999. Too Much Testing of the Wrong Kind: Too Little of the Right Kind in K-12 Education. Retrieved from www.ets.org/research/pic/204928tmt.pdf

testing a hypothesis is to establish one. There should be a null hypothesis that the data can be used to test. Data acquisition is therefore the next step in testing the hypothesis. The data needs to relate directly to the hypothesis with a clear relationship that can be subjected to quantitative analysis. Quantitative analysis will then measure the relationship between the variables to determine whether or not the data fits with the null hypothesis. The null hypothesis is then either accepted or rejected on the basis of the analysis (Investopedia, 2013). Further, the null hypothesis should identify the dependent and independent variables. The dependent variables are those that will be measured in relation to change in the independent variables. Thus, it is the independent variable(s) that will be changed to measure the effect that change has on the dependent variable(s). There may also be an alternative hypothesis, which may…...

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References

Investopedia. (2013). Definition of quantitative analysis. Investopedia. Retrieved November 12, 2013 from  http://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quantitativeanalysis.asp 

Laerd Statistics. (2013). One-way ANOVA in SPSS. Laerd Statistics. Retrieved November 12, 2013 from  https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/one-way-anova-using-spss-statistics-2.php 

No author. (2013). Introduction to hypothesis testing. San Jose State University. Retrieved November 12, 2013 from  http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/gerstman/StatPrimer/hyp-test.pdf

Widespread failure on the part of students thus indicates failure on the part of the school system. But what is the source of that failure -- is it a failure to conform to the test's definition of intelligence, a poor match between the test structure and the curriculum of the school, a failure on the part of the school to educate the child, or the child's inability to learn based upon wider social forces such as poverty and a lack of enrichment opportunities that the school cannot control? The results of these tests cannot provide answers to these questions.
Standardized tests only give a rough portrait of the child's current state of learning, and they do not provide full portrait of the individual and his or her unique learning style. On so-called aptitude tests like the SAT, there is no distinction between students who are bright and well-prepared and those…...

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References

Matthews, Jay. (2003, November). The bias question. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved November 13, 2009 at  http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200311/Matthews

To argue against animal abuse, you want your thesis to clearly state that you're against it and why. Your opinion should be a part of the thesis statement, but you want to be careful to actually present arguable, logical points, as well. You could say you're against animal abuse for a number of reasons. For example, some common ones are that animals feel both physical and emotional pain (abuse is cruel), that animals can't defend themselves and people should care for them because of their innocent nature, and that animal abuse can lead to further deviant and criminal behavior -....

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There are four different philosophical approaches in education: idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism.  While each of these four philosophical approaches can be seen in parts of modern-day education, realism is probably the most pervasive current philosophical influence.

Realism developed from the teachings of Aristotle and can be thought of as concerning objective facts.  While different people may perceive things in various ways, the objective truth of an event does not change.  This emphasis on rational thought means that realism underpins much of what we think of as truth. 

Realism is reflected in educational approaches that teach critical thinking skills....

One of the most interesting issues in international relations is the role that nuclear weapons play in the effort to obtain peace.  Many people suggest that nuclear weapons can preserve peace.  The United States was the first country to actively deploy nuclear weapons in an effort to shorten a war by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The widespread destruction, which was unlike anything ever experienced in a war up to that point, is often credited with ushering in the end of World War II, at least in the Pacific....