SAMA™

Test structure

The SAMA comprises five measures:

• Miranda Quiz (MQ). Twenty-five true-or-false questions measure common misconceptions about Miranda rights and their potential effect on Miranda decision making.
• Miranda Vocabulary Scale (MVS). Assesses the comprehension of 36 key words that are relevant to Miranda, have specific legal meanings, and/or could be semantically confusing.
• Miranda Comprehension Template (MCT). Assesses a client’s ability to accurately paraphrase the warning used in his or her actual Miranda advisement; examines highly prototypical content found in many Miranda warnings.
• Miranda Acquiescence Questionnaire (MAQ). Measures the client’s level of yea-saying versus nay-saying.
• Miranda Reasoning Measure (MRM). Provides a foundation for understanding the examinee’s thoughts and basic reasoning at the time of the Miranda warning and subsequent relinquishment of Constitutional rights.

Technical information

• Extensive validation studies were conducted for all five SAMA measures using samples of pretrial defendants with pending criminal charges.
• The MCT Score Sheet offers a systematic method of rating basic content as recalled, omitted, or not applicable to the particular warning used in the defendant’s arrest and advisements.
• The MVS includes a performance curve that identifies possible cases of feigned cognitive impairment.
• Consistent with previous findings, the MAQ Acquiescence scale was found to be negatively correlated with cognitive abilities as measured by the WASI™.
• The MVS was readministered at 2 and 4 weeks; its Total Score yielded test-retest reliability coefficients of .82 and .88, respectively.
• The eight primary items of the MRM demonstrated excellent interrater reliability, with coefficients ranging from .84 to .98.
• Experts categorized each MQ primary and ancillary item into seven relevant content domains, an exercise that established the content validity of the measure.