This study sought to determine how students would describe their group-only cooperative testing experiences in terms of key elements of cooperative learning often cited in the literature. Written comments of 159 graduate students were analyzed and 26 related categories of comments were derived from 495 statements of students enrolled in two…

Computer-assisted and paper-and-pencil-administered formats for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventories were investigated. Subjects were 32 master's and doctoral-level counseling students. Findings indicated that the two formats were comparable and that students preferred the computer-assisted format. (AEF)

Reexamined Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale (CERS) using confirmatory factor analysis. Analyzed 185 self-rated CERs. Findings suggest that, when counselors use CERS to rate themselves, different factors may emerge from those emerging when experienced supervisors use CERS to evaluate supervisee progress and performance. (Author/NB)

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…

The relationship between metamemorial accuracy and student test performance was assessed in a graduate educational psychology class. Metamemory is defined as information about the content of one's own memory. Adult students in two courses (N=67) were asked to select multiple choice answers in two midterms and a final examination and to rate their…

The item difficulty and item discrimination of three multiple-choice item formats were compared in experimental and non-experimental settings. In the experimental study, 104 graduate students were randomly assigned to complete one of three forms of a multiple-choice test: (1) a complex alternative ("none of the above") as the correct answer; (2) a…

This study compared the item difficulty and item discrimination of three multiple choice item formats. The multiple choice formats studied were: a complex alternative (none of the above) as the correct answer; a complex alternative as a foil, and the one-correct answer format. One hundred four graduate students were randomly assigned to complete…

This paper reports on a study conducted to determine if comparisons between scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing Service (IELTS) are justifiable. The test scores of 216 Iranian graduate students who took the TOEFL and IELTS, as well as the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Higher…

The degree to which statistical item selection reduces direction-of-wording effects in balanced affective measures developed from relatively small item pools was investigated with 171 male and 228 female undergraduate and graduate students at 2 U.S. universities. Clearest direction-of-wording effects result from selection of items with high…

The confidence level (information-referenced testing; IRT) design is an attempt to improve upon the multiple choice format by allowing students to express a level of confidence in the answers they choose. In this study, the author evaluated student perceptions of the ease of use and accuracy of and general preference for traditional multiple…

To investigate the ability of multiple-choice tests to assess higher order thinking skills, examinations were constructed as half multiple choice and half constructed response. Results with 90 undergraduate and graduate students indicate that the 2 formats measure similar constructs at different levels of complexity. (SLD)

The comparative effects of various sequences of test items were examined for over 900 graduate students enrolled in an educational research course at The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. experiment, which was conducted a total of four times using four separate tests, presented three different arrangements of 50 multiple-choice items: (1)…

Information on the uses, advantages, and limitations of different types of test items is presented for college faculty, along with guidelines for developing test items. Included is advice on: choosing between objective and subjective test items, when essay tests or objective tests are appropriate, and when either essay or objective tests can be…

Equivalence in reliability and validity across 4-point and 6-point scales was assessed by fitting different measurement models through confirmatory factor analysis of a multitrait-multimethod covariance matrix. Responses to nine Likert-type items designed to measure perceived quantitative ability, self-perceived usefulness of quantitative…

A divergent thinking (DT) test format, scored for flexible and original thinking, is presented. The DT test format, designed to assess teacher competencies and estimate the transfer of competencies to new situations, was administered to graduate students enrolled in a testing course. The DT format allowed students to list phrases and sentence…