ABSTRACT
The association of the first author (W.R.K.) with Rod McDonald dates back over 30
years. It began with a telephone conversation in 1972 in which I spoke to Rod about the
possibility of attending one of his graduate courses on multivariate analysis at the Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education. I found the enthusiasm with which he described his
course and his obvious passion for his subject matter irresistible. I was hooked. And so
began one of the most intensive and rewarding periods of my life. I was now a member of
Rod’s growing band of graduate students, which he called the “G.R.O.U.P.” (General
Research on Understanding Psychometrics). We held weekly meetings on Fridays at a
local restaurant. One of my most vivid memories of that time is engaging in an animated
conversation with Rod and others over a pitcher of beer and steak sandwiches while he
scribbled mathematics with a black felt pen on Steak’n Burger napkins. If the truth were
told, many of Rod’s manuscripts from the 1970s began in this form.
