Leon Gorlow

The Measurement of Empirically Determined Values

THIS report is a summary of the development of a new instrument for the measurement of values in a coIlege population. The approach can be used as a model for the development of instruments for measuring values in other populations, viz., adolescents, the disadvantaged, the clergy, or individuals in later maturity. The basic position here is that the measurement of values needs to consider those values which are empirically derived for any given population; the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values is probably not a suitable description of the value system of most individuals to whom it has been administered. Previous work. Another report (Gorlom and Noll, In press) described an empirical method for deriving values in a college population. Briefly, that paper reported the generating of 1500 value statements by members of the population of interest (here, college students) ; the review and condensation of that list resulted in 75 distinct, unambiguous value Statements. This final sct mas used as a &-sort to which 105 persons responded along the dimension “of highest value to me” to “of lowest value to me.” A principal components inverse factor analysis identified eight hypothetical types of people whose valuing attributes were specified by examining factor loading-item placement correlations. The types mere subsequently named AfEiliativc-Romantics, Status-Security Valuers, Intellectual Humanists, Family Valuers, Rugged Individualists, Undemanding Passives, Boy Scouts, and Don Juans. Demographic data about subjects related meaningfully to the value orientations, and this was taken as evidence for construct validity.

The School Psychologist As Expert Witness In Due Process Hearings.

Abstract As a consequence of the Consent Agreement reached between the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, school of psychologists are finding themselves increasingly in the role of expert witness in due process hearings. The paper identifies a number of problems regarding the witness behavior of psychologists in these hearings and proposes some recommendations and resolutions.