Measuring Genuine Progress: An Example from the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Proposals for incorporating information on the quality of human, social, and environmental conditions in more authentic and comprehensive versions of the Gross National Product (GNP) or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) date back to the foundations of econometrics. Typically treated as external to markets, these domains have lately been objects of renewed interest. Calls for accountability and transparency have expanded to include the now topical but previously neglected economic implications of human, social, and natural capital.

Theory-based metrological traceability in education: A reading measurement network.

Huge resources are invested in metrology and standards in the natural sciences, engineering, and across a wide range of commercial technologies. Significant positive returns of human, social, environmental, and economic value on these investments have been sustained for decades. Proven methods for calibrating test and survey instruments in linear units are readily available, as are data- and theory-based methods for equating those instruments to a shared unit.

Causal Rasch models.

Rasch's unidimensional models for measurement show how to connect object measures (e.g., reader abilities), measurement mechanisms (e.

Construction and validation of two parent-report scales for the evaluation of early intervention programs.

The State Performance Plan (SPP) developed under the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004, Public Law 108-446) requires states to collect data and report on the impact of early intervention services on three key outcomes for participating families. The NCSEAM Impact on Family Scale (NIFS) and the NCSEAM Family Centered Services Scale (NFCSS) were developed to provide states with a means to address this new reporting requirement and to collect additional data that would inform program improvement efforts. Items suggested by stakeholder groups were piloted with a nationally representative sample of parents of children with developmental delays or disabilities ages birth to three participating in early intervention services in eight states.

Measuring schools' efforts to partner with parents of children served under IDEA: scaling and standard setting for accountability reporting.

Indicator 8 of the State Performance Plan (SPP), developed under the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004, Public Law 108-446) requires states to collect data and report findings related to schools' facilitation of parent involvement. The Schools' Efforts to Partner with Parents Scale (SEPPS) was developed to provide states with a means to address this new reporting requirement. Items suggested by stakeholder groups were piloted with a nationally representative sample of 2,634 parents of students with disabilities ages 5-21 in six states.

Bringing human, social, and natural capital to life: practical consequences and opportunities.

Capital is defined mathematically as the abstract meaning brought to life in the two phases of the development of "transferable representations," which are the legal, financial, and scientific instruments we take for granted in almost every aspect of our daily routines. The first, conceptual and gestational, and the second, parturitional and maturational, phases in the creation and development of capital are contrasted. Human, social, and natural forms of capital should be brought to life with at least the same amounts of energy and efficiency as have been invested in manufactured and liquid capital, and property.

Embedding measurement within existing computerized data systems: scaling clinical laboratory and medical records heart failure data to predict ICU admission.

This study employs existing data sources to develop a new measure of intensive care unit (ICU) admission risk for heart failure patients. Outcome measures were constructed from laboratory, accounting, and medical record data for 973 adult inpatients with primary or secondary heart failure. Several scoring interpretations of the laboratory indicators were evaluated relative to their measurement and predictive properties.

Reducible or irreducible? Mathematical reasoning and the ontological method.

Science is often described as nothing but the practice of measurement. This perspective follows from longstanding respect for the roles mathematics and quantification have played as media through which alternative hypotheses are evaluated and experience becomes better managed. Many figures in the history of science and psychology have contributed to what has been called the "quantitative imperative," the demand that fields of study employ number and mathematics even when they do not constitute the language in which investigators think together.

The Moral Construct of Caring in Nursing as Communicative Action: the theory and practice of a caring science.

This article presents an instrument and data testing a theory of the Moral Construct of Caring in Nursing as Communicative Action. Pilot testing involved 185 items administered to 82 nurses in 3 countries. The instrument includes 7 subscales addressing the nurse's personal and professional selves, the patient's personal and illness selves, the bidirectional interaction, the moral maturity of both, and the current state of nursing practice.

Mindfulness practice: a Rasch variable construct innovation.

Is it possible to establish a consistent, stable relationship between the structure of number and additive amounts of mindfulness practice? A bank of thirty items, constructed from a review of the literature and from novice practitioners' journal responses to mindfulness practice, comprised the instrument. A convenience sample of students in a teacher education program participated. The WINSTEPS Rasch measurement software was used for all analyses.

Assessing measurement properties of two single-item general health measures.

Background: Multi-item health status measures can be lengthy, expensive, and burdensome to collect. Single-item measures may be an alternative. We compared measurement properties of two single-item, general self-rated health (GSRH) questions to assess how well they captured information in a validated, multi-item instrument.

Evaluation of the Diabetes Self-Care Scale.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Diabetes Self-Care Scale (DSCS). A convenience sample of 175 adults with diabetes who met the inclusion criteria from a local hospital in southern Louisiana participated in this study. Data from a pilot study with 50 respondents were also used to calibrate the instrument.

Daredevil barnstorming to the tipping point: new aspirations for the human sciences.

Aviation history provides an apt metaphor for the state of Rasch measurement practice, and its potential future. Flying was initially widely believed to be nothing but a spectacular and dangerous fad. Few saw in it any potential for the huge industry that it is today.

Calibrating the genome.

Purpose: This project demonstrates how to calibrate different samples and scales of genomic information to a common scale of genomic measurement.

Materials And Methods: 1,113 persons were genotyped at the 13 Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) short tandem repeat (STR) marker loci used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for human identity testing. A measurement model of form ln[(P(nik))/(1-P(nik))] = B(n)-D(i)-L(k) is used to construct person measures and locus calibrations from information contained in the CODIS database.

Evaluation of the diabetes self care scale: an illustration of the Rasch model of measurement.

This pilot study illustrates the use of a Rasch measurement model to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Diabetes Self Care Scale (DSCS). A convenience sample of 50 adults with diabetes at two local hospitals (one for profit and one public) in southern Louisiana responded to the survey questions. The instrument is comprised of 27 items and 6 rating categories.

Are physicians equipped to address the obesity epidemic? Knowledge and attitudes of internal medicine residents.

Background: To analyze whether internists are suited for their role in treating the growing numbers of obese patients, we surveyed residents about their knowledge and attitudes regarding obesity. Previous assessments have not analyzed familiarity with obesity measurement tools or the correlation between knowledge and attitudes.

Methods: We administered a survey to 87 internal medicine residents in two urban, university-based residency programs.