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Henry I. Braun, Douglas N. Jackson, and David E. Wiley (Editors). The Role of Constructs in Psychological and Educational Measurement. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002, 329 pages, $69.95.
Reviewed by Marine Born, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Institute of Psychology, Department of Social Sciences, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
This volume contains 16 chapters based on papers presented at the Educational Testing Service September 1997 conference in honor of Sam Messick's retirement as an officer of ETS. The volume has an emotional feel to it even for unconnected readers like me. Messick very sadly died just a little more than one year after the conference was held. Both intended editors of the volume, Dick Snow, and Ann Jungblut, also died in that time period. It is a great thing that Braun, Jackson, and Wiley were able to take on this task to give a wider audience a taste of the work of a prolific and influential group of scientists who represent an era of thought on construct validation and on the measurement of cognition and personality in the domains of psychology and education.
The volume intends to offer a collection of insights developed by 18 scientists over many years of research experience. The intended audience is professionals and students in psychology and assessment, and particularly researchers in the areas of cognition and personality. As is clear from the very beginning, the contributions of these scholars are pensive and philosophical in nature, even though the theme of the book, measurement, has a very applied element to it. To a lesser extent, the book contains hands-on advice for organizations, managers, or teachers.
The book is organized in four parts, each containing four chapters. A spectrum of fairly loosely systematized contributions passes by, with...