Order of Item Difficulty on Picture Arrangement: Extending the Discussion to the Wais—III

Abstract

Past examinations of the order of item difficulty on the 10-item WAIS-R Picture Arrangement subtest indicated that the items had not been arranged in increasing order of difficulty. Examination of the clinical data for 50 consecutive assessment referrals [means for age, education, Full Scale IQ, and Picture Arrangement subtest scaled score were 46.4 (SD = 10.2), 12.6 (SD = 1.1), 96.7 (SD = 12.6), and 10.6 (SD = 3.3), respectively] on the 11-item WAIS-III subtest suggested that the current order of items may not be in order of increasing difficulty. Clinical relevance of these findings and research on the order of item difficulty are discussed.

Item difficulty scaling for WAIS-III picture arrangement

“…This observation is robust, as the findings were essentially replicated twice, across two laboratories, and the total sample size of 400 is quite large. Further, the findings replicated Ryan and Lopez (1999) nearly identically.…”

“…Earlier WAIS versions of Picture Arrangement were flawed regarding serial difficulty (Boone & Kaplan, 1993;Broder & Oresick, 1987;Heath & Leathem, 1998;Ryan, Paolo, & Brungardt, 1989) and the subtest was radically altered for the WAIS-III. Ryan and Lopez (1999), the only published account assessing the order of item difficulty for WAIS-III PA items, suggested that the items are not arranged in order of difficulty. As their study was comprised of only 50 persons, consecutively referred for neuropsychological evaluation with primary diagnoses of alcohol dependence, replications of their work are clearly in order.…”

Item difficulty scaling for WAIS-III picture arrangement

“…This observation is robust, as the findings were essentially replicated twice, across two laboratories, and the total sample size of 400 is quite large. Further, the findings replicated Ryan and Lopez (1999) nearly identically.…”

“…Earlier WAIS versions of Picture Arrangement were flawed regarding serial difficulty (Boone & Kaplan, 1993;Broder & Oresick, 1987;Heath & Leathem, 1998;Ryan, Paolo, & Brungardt, 1989) and the subtest was radically altered for the WAIS-III. Ryan and Lopez (1999), the only published account assessing the order of item difficulty for WAIS-III PA items, suggested that the items are not arranged in order of difficulty. As their study was comprised of only 50 persons, consecutively referred for neuropsychological evaluation with primary diagnoses of alcohol dependence, replications of their work are clearly in order.…”

Item difficulty scaling for WAIS-III picture arrangement

“…This observation is robust, as the findings were essentially replicated twice, across two laboratories, and the total sample size of 400 is quite large. Further, the findings replicated Ryan and Lopez (1999) nearly identically.…”

“…Earlier WAIS versions of Picture Arrangement were flawed regarding serial difficulty (Boone & Kaplan, 1993;Broder & Oresick, 1987;Heath & Leathem, 1998;Ryan, Paolo, & Brungardt, 1989) and the subtest was radically altered for the WAIS-III. Ryan and Lopez (1999), the only published account assessing the order of item difficulty for WAIS-III PA items, suggested that the items are not arranged in order of difficulty. As their study was comprised of only 50 persons, consecutively referred for neuropsychological evaluation with primary diagnoses of alcohol dependence, replications of their work are clearly in order.…”

Item difficulty scaling for WAIS-III picture arrangement

“…This observation is robust, as the findings were essentially replicated twice, across two laboratories, and the total sample size of 400 is quite large. Further, the findings replicated Ryan and Lopez (1999) nearly identically.…”

“…Earlier WAIS versions of Picture Arrangement were flawed regarding serial difficulty (Boone & Kaplan, 1993;Broder & Oresick, 1987;Heath & Leathem, 1998;Ryan, Paolo, & Brungardt, 1989) and the subtest was radically altered for the WAIS-III. Ryan and Lopez (1999), the only published account assessing the order of item difficulty for WAIS-III PA items, suggested that the items are not arranged in order of difficulty. As their study was comprised of only 50 persons, consecutively referred for neuropsychological evaluation with primary diagnoses of alcohol dependence, replications of their work are clearly in order.…”