Continued professional competence and portfolios.

It is traditionally assumed that licensure of healthcare professionals means that they are minimally competent. Many nursing specialty organizations offer examinations and other processes for certification, suggesting that certification is associated with continued competency. Can standardized examination for certification and continuing education for recertification ensure continued competency? Continuing education and testing provide a limited picture of an individual's knowledge and/or skill acquisition in a limited area at one point in time.

Minimizing sample size when using exploratory factor analysis for measurement.

Traditional protocol for the determination of an adequate sample size is power analysis. Such a protocol is not useful when the primary hypothesis focuses on psychometric measurement properties. Traditional psychometrics advises that there should be 10 respondents per item.