is a brief intelligence test designed for individuals aged 6 through 90 years. It is a revision of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI; Wechsler, 1999). During revision, there were three goals: enhancing the link between the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition (WISC-IV; Wechsler, 2003) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008a), increasing user-friendliness, and improving psychometric properties. Items from the WASI were dropped, modified, or retained after comparing them to items and scoring criteria on the WISC-IV and WAIS-IV. Furthermore, administration rules (e.g., reversal and discontinue rules) were modified in order to increase the consistency with other Wechsler instruments. Norms were updated, subtest floors and ceilings were extended, and reliability and validity evidence was generated. Like the WASI, the WASI-II is composed of four subtests designed as alternate forms of the WISC-IV and WAIS-IV subtests. The Block Design subtest requires the examinee to complete a series of two-color patterns using blocks. During the Vocabulary subtest, the examinee provides the name of pictures or defines words presented orally and in print. Next, the Matrix Reasoning subtest allows the examinee to view matrices and apply inductive reasoning to select the correct response. Finally, the examinee either matches pictures or describes how common items or concepts are alike on the Similarities subtest.
The representativeness, recency, and size of norm samples strongly influence the accuracy of inferences drawn from their scores. Inadequate norm samples may lead to inflated or deflated scores for individuals and poorer prediction of developmental and academic outcomes. The purpose of this study was to apply Kranzler and Floyd’s method for estimating norm block sample sizes via a review of the most prominent, individually administered intelligence tests. A rigorous, double-coding process was used to obtain these estimated sample sizes for 17 intelligence tests (10 full-length multidimensional tests, 4 nonverbal intelligence tests, and 3 brief intelligence tests). Overall, 47% of the tests failed to meet the minimum standard of at least 30 participants per norm block across age groups, and estimated norm block sizes were smallest for elementary school–age children. These results can inform intelligence test selection by practitioners and researchers, and they should be considered by test publishers when developing, revising, and reporting information about their tests.
This study examined the exchangeability of total scores (i.e., intelligent quotients [IQs]) from three brief intelligence tests. Tests were administered to 36 children with intellectual giftedness, scored live by one set of primary examiners and later scored by a secondary examiner. For each student, six IQs were calculated, and all 216 values were submitted to a generalizability theory analysis. Despite strong convergent validity and reliability evidence supporting brief IQs, the resulting dependability coefficient was only .80, which indicates relatively low exchangeability across tests and examiners.Although error variance components representing the effects of the examiner, examiner-by-examinee interaction, the examiner-by-test interaction, and the test contributed little to IQ variability, the component representing the test-by-examinee interaction contributed about one-third of the variance in IQs. These findings hold implications for selecting and interpreting brief intelligence tests and general testing for intellectual giftedness.
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