and retained. One example pertains to the protocol exclusion rule, which states that protocols containing more than six ratings of pseudo-Items as close are not considered usable. The number 6 was selected after determining that this number improved the SROM concurrent validity more than did smaller numbers, and that
number greater than 6 were not of further help. The rule that protocols containing greater than two "colsest" rankings of
pseudo-items are to be dropped was selected on similar grounds.