Chapter 6 Flashcards
Theoretically, all items are randomly chosen from what?
A universe of item content.
Give four advantages of the dichotomous format? (4)
Simplicity, ease of administration, and quick scoring.
Give two disadvantages of the dichotomous format? (2)
Shades of gray and memorisation.
How does the polytomous format work?
A point is given for selecting one of the alternatives.
Give another name for polytomous.
Polychotomous.
How many choices does each item have in a polytomous format?
More than two.
Give an example of a polytomous format.
Multiple choice.
What is a distractor?
In a multiple choice test, the incorrect responses.
What is the golden amount of multiple choice items?
3.
How can poorly written distractors adversely affect the quality of a test?
They enable guessing of the correct answer, reducing reliability and validity.
When are students more likely to guess?
When they anticipate a low score on a test.
What is the guessing threshold?
The chances that a low-ability test taker will obtain each score.
People change ratings depending on what?
Context.
What is the Q-Sort used for?
Describing yourself or others.
What is item analysis?
A set of methods used to evaluate test items.
For a test that measures achievement or ability, how is item difficulty defined?
The number of people who get a particular item correct.
What is the first thing a test constructor needs to determine?
The probability that an item could be answered by chance alone.
Items in the difficulty range of what maximise information about individual differences?
.30-.70
What does assessment of item discriminability determine?
Whether people who have done well on particular items have done well on the whole test.
How does the extreme group method work?
It compares people who have done well with those who have done poorly.
What is the discrimination index?
The difference between proportions within the extreme group method.
How does the point biserial method work?
Find the correlation between performance on an item and performance on the test.
What is the correlation between a dichotomous variable and a continuous variable called?
A point biserial correlation.
Why is the point biserial correlation problematic on tests with only a few items?
Performance on the item contributes to the total test score.
What are the advantages of IRT? (4)
Builds on traditional methods of item analysis, provides information on item functioning, the value of specific items, and the reliability of the scale.
What does it mean if a test is peaked conventional?
It has the majority of the items at or near an average level of difficulty.
What does it mean if a test is rectangular conventional?
Test items are selected to create a wide range in level of difficulty.
What does a criterion-referenced test compare performance with?
Criteria for learning.
