Scoring Methods for Ordinal Multidimensional Forced-Choice Items

In most psychological tests and questionnaires, a test score is obtained by taking the sum of the item scores. In virtually all cases where the test or questionnaire contains multidimensional forced-choice items, this traditional scoring method is also applied. We argue that the summation of scores obtained with multidimensional forced-choice items produces uninterpretable test scores. Therefore, we propose three alternative scoring methods: a weak and a strict rank preserving scoring method, which both allow an ordinal interpretation of test scores; and a ratio preserving scoring method, which allows a proportional interpretation of test scores. Each proposed scoring method yields an index for each respondent indicating the degree to which the response pattern is inconsistent. Analysis of real data showed that with respect to rank preservation, the weak and strict rank preserving method resulted in lower inconsistency indices than the traditional scoring method; with respect to ratio preservation, the ratio preserving scoring method resulted in lower inconsistency indices than the traditional scoring method

Relations among several nuclear and electronic density functional reactivity indexes

A set of connections among several nuclear and electronic indexes of reactivity in the framework of the conceptual Density Functional Theory by using an expansion ofthe energy functional in terms of the total number of electrons and the normal coordinates within a canonical ensemble was derived. The relations obtained provided explicit links between important quantities related to the chemical reactivity of a system. This paper particularly demonstrates that the derivative of the electronic energy with respect to the external potential of a system in its equilibrium geometry was equal to the negative of the nuclear repulsion derivative with respect to the external potential