Person changes can be of three kinds: developmental trends, swells, and tremors. Person unreliability in the tremor sense (momentary fluctuations) can be estimated from person characteristic curves. Average person reliability for groups can be compared from item characteristic curves. (Author)

A number of empirical studies are suggested to answer certain questions in connection with flexilevel tests. (MS)

This study was concerned with the reliability and validity of subjective judgments about five characteristics of multiple-choice test items from an introductory college-level astronomy test: (1) item difficulty, (2) language complexity, (3) content importance or relevance, (4) response set convergence, and (5) process complexity. (Author)

Under certain conditions it may be possible to determine the difficulty of previously untested test items. Although no recipe can be provided, reflections on this topic are presented, drawing on concepts of item banking. A functional constructive method is suggested as having the most potential. (SLD)

Violations of item unidimensionality on language tests produced distorted estimates of person ability, and violations of person unidimensionality produced distorted estimates of item difficulty. The Bejar Method was sensitive to such distortions. (Author)

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities test (ABLA) is a useful tool for choosing appropriate training tasks for persons with developmental disabilities. This test assesses the ease or difficulty with which persons are able to learn six hierarchically positioned discrimination tasks. A visual-visual nonidentity matching prototype task was…

When norm-referenced tests are developed for instructional purposes, to assess the effects of educational programs, or for educational research purposes, it can be very important to conduct item and test analyses. These analyses can evaluate the quality of items and of the test as a whole. Such analyses can also be employed to revise and improve…

This study compared item difficulty and item discrimination indices for parallel multiple-choice items in three content areas: measurement concepts, statistical terminology, and synonyms. The statistics and measurement items were administered in classes where graduate students taking the test were studying the content. Vocabulary items represented…

This computer program, written in BASIC, performs three different calculations of test reliability: (1) the Kuder-Richardson method; (2); the "common split-half" method; and (3) the Rulon-Guttman split-half method. The program reads sequential access data files for microcomputers that have been set up by statistical packages such as…

A standard method for exploring item bias is the intergroup comparison of item difficulties. This paper describes a refinement and generalization of this technique. In contrast to prior approaches, the proposed method deletes outlying items from the formulation of a criterion for identifying items as deviant. It also extends the mathematical…

In most item response theory models a particular mathematical form is assumed for all item characteristic curves, e.g., a logistic function. It could be desirable, however, to estimate the shape of the item characteristic curves without prior restrictive assumptions about its mathematical form. We have developed a practical method of estimating…

Two different formats for multiple-choice test items were compared in an experimental test given in a college class in introductory psychology. In one format, a question or incomplete statement was followed by four answers or completions, only one of which was correct. In the other format, the double multiple-choice version, the same questions…

Many combinations of a method and an approach for estimating the operating characteristics of the graded item responses, without assuming any mathematical forms, have been produced. In these methods, a set of items whose characteristics are known, or Old Test, is used, which has a large, constant amount of test information throughout the interval…

The application of latent trait theory to classroom tests necessitates the use of small sample sizes for parameter estimation. Computer generated data were used to assess the accuracy of estimation of the slope and location parameters in the two parameter logistic model with fixed abilities and varying small sample sizes. The maximum likelihood…

To investigate the effect of violating the assumption of equal item difficulty on Kuder-Richardson (KR) Formula 21 reliability coefficient, 670 eighth-and ninth- grade students were administered 26 short, homogeneous "tests" of mathematics concepts and skills. Both KR Formula 20 and KR Formula 21 were used to estimate reliability on each…