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The effects of trait anxiety (stable anxiety resulting from personality characteristics pre-disposing an individual to anxiety) and test difficulty on state anxiety (transitory anxiety resulting from situations regarded as difficult or dangerous) and test difficulty perception of 25 undergraduates were studied. The Test Anxiety Inventory was used to assess trait anxiety, an Educational Psychology Recognition Test was used to assess test difficulty, a modified version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to assess state anxiety, and the Test Perception Inventory was used to assess perception of test difficulty. The correlated t-test and analysis of variance design were used in analyzing the data. Results indicate that: (1) higher trait anxiety students experienced higher state anxiety than did their low anxiety peers, regardless of test difficulty; (2) perceptual differences of test difficulty for the trait anxiety groups were not significant for high or low difficulty tests; and (3) perceptual difference of test difficulty between the high and low difficulty tests were significant for the high and low trait anxiety groups, but not for the medium trait anxiety group. (Author/SLD)

This research illustrates how statistical analysis of data was presented by the plaintiff's attorneys as evidence in litigation involving sexual and racial discrimination in the case Green v. City of Gadsden. Bar graphs depict the sexual and racial compositions of (1) members of the Gadsden Police Department (GPD), (2) members of the GPD in relation to their respective group within the Gadsden, Alabama population based on the 1980 census, (3) examinees taking the GPD written examination from 1980 to 1982, (4) examinees passing the GPD exam during the aforementioned years, (5) all applicants employed with the GPD from 1980 to 1982, (6) only applicants passing the GPD exam from 1980 to 1982 employed with the GPD during these years, as well as (7) all applicants offered employment with GPD from 1980 to 1982, and (8) only applicants passing the GPD test from 1980 to 1982 offered employment with the GPD during these years. Additionally, a table which exhibits several frequency distributions primarily indicating the number of individuals by sex and race obtaining a specific passing score that were hired is included. (Author/PN)