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An analysis of the factor structure of the WISC‐R and the effect of color on the coding subtest
Author(s) -
Lombard Thomas J.,
Riedel Robert G.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(197804)15:2<176::aid-pits2310150207>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - psychology , raw score , wechsler intelligence scale for children , wechsler adult intelligence scale , coding (social sciences) , color coding , developmental psychology , intelligence quotient , test (biology) , clinical psychology , statistics , cognition , raw data , artificial intelligence , mathematics , psychiatry , computer science , paleontology , biology
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children‐Revised was administered to 76 subjects from 8–0 to 16–11 years. All subjects were students from rural school districts in southwest Minnesota, and were referred to a consulting school psychologist for various learning problems. The subtest scores for each subject were factor analyzed, using a principal‐factor method. Three factors were found consistent with previous research, although there were mild positive loadings of all subtests except Coding on the two primary factors, suggesting that the test items measure a consistent ability such as Spearman's g. In the second aspect of the study, each subject's results on the old and new color formats of the Coding B subtest were compared. No order effects were found, and there was a highly significant difference in raw score and scaled score favoring the color format. This suggests the possibility of a color enhancement effect, at least with students having learning problems. Caution is advised for interpreting coding scores as an index of distractibility as recommended in the literature, if the subject has color‐deficient vision.