• The Center
• • Affiliated Staff
  • Publications and Papers
• DIT and DIT-2
• • DIT Dilemmas
  • DIT Scoring
  • N2 Index
  • Using the DIT online
  • Purchase Online DIT1/DIT2
  • Norms for DIT2
• Assessment
• • Bebeau Materials
  • Adolescent ICM
• Ordering
• • Prices
  • Order Form
  • Mailing outside the U.S.
  • Prices for Online Use
• Links
• Contact

If you are interested in using the DIT or DIT-2, you should order printed forms from the Center (Guide will be included), administer the DIT/DIT-2,  and send back  the forms to us for scoring.  We will send back a printed report and data on a CD. The original 6-story DIT (beginning with the Heinz dilemma) takes about 45-50 minutes to complete, the 3-story DIT takes about 35-40 minutes, and the 5-story DIT-2 (beginning with the Famine dilemma) takes about 40-45 minutes.

The following information relates to filling out the Order Form:
1. Name of principal investigator and institutional affiliation

If you are affiliated with a college or university as a student or faculty member and are conducting a project which will be reviewed by other faculty or peers, please indicate your institutional affiliation on the order form and whether this will be a student or faculty project.

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, please briefly describe your sample and the goal of your research. In all cases, indicate who will be principal investigator (the person responsible for conducting the research) for the project.

2. Student or non-student status

For many years we made a Manual for hand scoring available to graduate students who were planning to use the DIT for small student projects. Hand scoring enabled a student (with permission from us) to make copies of the DIT-1 and calculate a P index. Since then, new indices have been developed that outperform the older P index. Hand-scoring by the Manual does not provide the new scores and indices–these scores are too labor-intensive to be done by hand, and must be done by computer (using our Scoring Service). Whereas our report to researchers still includes the P index (researchers will want to compare this index with older data reports), we now encourage researchers to use the N2 index. Our Guide for DIT-2 include norms for the new indices. For these reasons, we strongly urge graduate students to find funding to purchase the forms and use the Center’s scoring service. Our view is that a thesis or dissertation should not only demonstrate the author’s research skills but also make a contribution to the literature, and it is difficult to do so when relying on old indices.

If I am a student, can I get a discount?

Please note that we price the DIT and scoring service to cover our costs. Our purpose is to enable researchers to use the test. Charges cover production of the test, scanning and scoring, and preparing a report. We also maintain data files and periodically use these files to study trends and maintain normative information for our users.

If, as a graduate student, you opt for hand scoring, then you make copies of the DIT from the Manual yourself. (NOTE: Before you begin, you must have permission from the Center to proceed. To obtain permission, please submit a letter of request to us that includes a brief summary of your approved research proposal. The letter must specify the exact number of copies you will make and must be signed by your research advisor.  Only DIT-1 is available for hand scoring.)

3. Placing an order for DITs

You can place an order by emailing the Order Form to the Center, by fax (205-348-0683), or by phone (205-348-4571).

DIT-1 or DIT-2? If you want to use a shorter form of the DIT (less than 5 stories), use DIT-1 since we have some experience and data for the short form of DIT- 1. Note that shortening the test generally lowers the reliability and power of validity trends.  As a rough estimate, going from 6 stories to  3 stories on DIT- 1 costs about 10 points in reliability (Cronbach’s alpha), and also about 10 points in correlations with external variables.

Number of DITs. Decide how many tests you will need. To determine how much this will cost, consult the Price Sheet. However, you do not have to calculate costs exactly before placing an order–we will calculate costs and send an invoice.  Determine the number of tests carefully since you will be charged for that number and we do not accept returned tests for refunds.

Time and mailing. Typically we process orders at least once per week. However, to be safe please allow 3 weeks between when you place an order and when you need to collect data. In emergencies, we can send DITs by Federal Express within several days. However, this is expensive (in addition to the charge for Federal Express, we charge extra for rush handling since different personnel are involved in processing rush orders). Please plan ahead and avoid the expense of rush orders.

Billing. Charges are on a prepaid basis–that is, charges must be paid before we can score the DITs and send you a report.  If you do not send in a check with your order for the correct amount, we will send a billing invoice with your order. If it is important to have an institutional purchase order number on the invoice, please provide that number when you place an order. We can bill at one address and send materials to another address. Make checks payable to the University of Alabama. Unpaid balances will be charged a 1% late fee per month after the third month.  Note: We cannot accept credit cards.

Contents of order. An order includes the DIT answer sheets, instruction booklets, and a guide. The Guide is largely redundant with the Manual, and so you should not order the Manual if you are using the Scoring Service. Typically, we do optical scanning and computer scoring at least once a week, and so the turnaround time typically will be whatever time the mail takes plus a week. After you have sent in the answer forms for scoring, we then return the report as described in the Guide.

Multiple runs. Please note that the charges assume that you are sending in your entire set of DITs for scoring at one time. If you send in part of your sample for scoring at one time, and another part of the sample for scoring at another time, there will be a $25.00 additional setup fee for each time beyond the first time that you send in DITs for scoring. Also, if you send in separate batches at one time and we have to make separate runs to process your data, you will be charged for additional runs.

Statistics. The statistical analysis that we provide with the Scoring Service is only preliminary and many researchers will want to do further statistical analysis. Our statistics calculate means and standard deviations for the sample as a whole, then use the first digit of the ID number as a basis for creating subgroups and do t-test contrasts on all the subgroups. For instance, if all the males in your sample have IDs beginning with 1(followed by 4 numbers) and all the females have IDs beginning with 2, then the Report will contain averages and t-test differences between males and females. The statistical routines built into the Scoring Service do not run correlations with other measures or demographic data, or match subjects for pre-and-post testings. Therefore additional statistical analyses will be necessary for many studies.

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