Chapter 5: Test Development

Question 1

The umbrella term for all that goes into the process of creating a test.

Answer 1

Test development.

Question 2

The brainstorming of ideas about what kind of test a developer wants to publish.

Answer 2

Test conceptualization.

Question 3

The stage in the process that entails writing test items, revisions, formatting, and setting scoring rules.

Answer 3

Test construction.

Question 4

The process of setting rules for assigning numbers in measurement.

It is also the process by which a measuring device is assigned and calibrated and by which numbers are assigned to different amounts of the trait, attribute, or characteristic being measured.

Answer 4

Scaling.

Question 5

This refers to the reservoir or well from which the items will or will not be drawn for the final version of the test.

Answer 5

Item pool.

Question 6

This refers to the form, plan, structure, arrangement, and layout of individual test items.

Answer 6

Item format.

Question 7

This refers to relatively large and easily accessible collection of test questions.

Answer 7

Item banks.

Question 8

The statistical procedure used to analyze items.

Answer 8

Item analysis.

Question 9

This is defined as the number of people who got a particular item correct.

Answer 9

Item difficulty.

Question 10

This is calculated as the number of people who got a particular item correct divided by the total number of people who are taking the test.

Answer 10

Difficulty index / item difficulty index.

Question 11

True or False: The higher the difficulty index, the harder the item.

Answer 11

False.

(The higher the difficulty index, the easier the item).

Question 12

True or False: Out of 30 students who are taking an exam, 15 got a particular item correctly.

The item’s difficulty index is 0.5, which is obtained by dividing 15 by 30 (15/30).

Answer 12

True.

Question 13

This provides an indication of the internal consistency of a test. The higher the value of this, the greater the test’s internal consistency.

Answer 13

Item-reliability index.

Question 14

This is designed to provide an indication of the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure. The higher the value of this, the greater the test’s validity.

Answer 14

Item-validity index.

Question 15

This is a measure of item discrimination, taken by the difference of high scorers (top 27%) answering an item correctly and the proportion of low scorers (bottom 27%) answering the item correctly divided by half the total number of test-takers.

Answer 15

Discrimination index / item discrimination index.

Question 16

True or False: In a class of 30 students taking an exam, both the high-scorer group and the low-scorer group will consist of 8 students each, which are respectively the top 27% of the class and the bottom 27% of the class.

Answer 16

True.

Question 17

True or False: A discrimination index of 0 means that the test item cannot distinguish between high-scorers and low-scorers at all.

Answer 17

True.