Karen Fong's research while affiliated with University of Illinois at Chicago and other places

To determine the internal validity and test reliability of the Dream Home Assessment (DHA), an executive function assessment. Participants included 59 adults with and without mental illness. Rasch model of measurement was used to analyze goodness of fit and item reliability. The majority of the test items (70%) indicated good fit and the over-all tool shows minimal distortion with the Rasch model of measurement. Three test items were removed; six test items will be refined to strengthen internal validity. Items can reliably detect 2–5 levels of executive functioning ability and detect change over time. The study provides preliminary evidence of validity and reliability of the DHA.

The Inventory of Reading Occupations (IRO) is an assessment tool of children's reading participation. In this study, we used Rasch methods to determine the internal validity of the IRO. Participants included 192 typical and struggling readers from kindergarten to third grade from five different states in the United States. We analyzed the fit of each of the items in the 17 reading categories, the test items in the three dimensions of reading participation, and the contexts of reading in the IRO. Analysis indicated that the IRO items support the Rasch model of unidimensionality. Analysis also indicated that 1 of the 30 test items can be revised to strengthen test validity. Moreover, the analysis also suggested that the IRO is more useful for first- to third-grade students. This study provides evidence of internal validity of a useful tool to assess children's reading participation.