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On the Base-Free Measure of Change Proposed by Tucker, Damarin and Messick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Lloyd Bond
Lloyd Bond*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
*
Requests for reprints should be sent to Lloyd Bond, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
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Abstract

Tucker, Damarin and Messick proposed a “base-free” measure of change which involves the computation of residual scores that are uncorrelated with true scores on the pretest. The present note discusses this change measure and demonstrates that, because of an incorrect derivation by the authors, properties they attribute to α (the coefficient for the regression of true scores from the second testing on true scores from the first testing) are, in fact, properties of b, the ordinary regression coefficient. A correct derivation of the initial position—change correlation in terms of α is obtained, and Tucker et al.'s discussion of the “law of initial values” is reconsidered.

Keywords

base-free measure of changedifference scoresmeasuring change
Type
Notes And Comments
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , September 1979 , pp. 351 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

The preparation of this paper was supported by the Learning Research and Development Center supported in part as a research and development center by funds from the National Institute of Education.

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