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A Note on the Comparability of Alternative Scoring Methods for the Institutional Functioning Inventory CUES IFI

Author(s):
Hartnett, Rodney T.
Publication Year:
1971
Report Number:
RM-71-03
Source:
ETS Research Memorandum
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
8
Subject/Key Words:
College and University Environment Scales (CUES), Colleges, Comparative Analysis, Institutional Functioning Inventory (IFI), Rating Scales, Scoring

Abstract

Both the Institutional Functioning Inventory (IFI) and the College and University Scales (CUES) are self-study and evaluation instruments. Because the IFI is concerned primarily with dimensions of interest to faculty, while CUES reflects aspects of campus life more important to students, these two measures are frequently used together to obtain a complete perspective. It may be disconcerting when the user finds that each employs a different scoring technique. The IFI is scored in the typical measurement fashion where each item answered in the keyed direction is scored "1" and those in a non-keyed direction are scored "0." The scoring system for CUES is quite different; it utilizes the "66+/33-" method, a technique which takes into account only those items about which there is a consensus of two-to-one or greater among the respondents. IFI data from the 37 institutions comprising the IFI normative group was rescored using the CUES method. The comparison of the two scoring techniques indicated that the two methods are practically identical in terms of the resulting institutional profiles. However, a variety of reasons are given for the retention of the traditional scoring method with IFI.

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