The oral interview (OI) is a testing procedure that measures a wide range of speaking abilities in a foreign language. Although somewhat different versions are used in different testing situations, the OI always consists of a structured, face-to-face conversation on a variety of topics between a student and one or two testers. The resulting speech…

Students dislike writing essay examinations as much as teachers dislike reading them. Perhaps no alternatives to the essay exam exist, but certainly the task can be lessened by altering the format of the essay exam. In an education class at a California university, students select in advance one essay question from a list of several, and field…

The difficulty of test items administered by paper and pencil were compared with the difficulty of the same items administered by computer. The study was conducted to determine if an interaction exists between mode of test administration and ability. An arithmetic reasoning test was constructed for this study. All examinees had taken the Armed…

The purpose of this monograph is twofold: (1) to describe the advantages and disadvantages of mail questionnaires as survey research instruments, and (2) to provide guidelines for constructing and utilizing mail questionnaires with a view to maximizing response rates and minimizing response biases. Construction of an effective mail questionnaire…

An investigation of the effect on the difficulty value of an item due to position placement within a test was made. Using a 60-item operational test comprised of 5 subtests, 60 items were placed as experimental items on a number of spiralled test forms in three different positions (first, middle, last) within the subtest composed of like items.…

This handbook was developed for use by individuals with limited experience in performing good survey-based research. The essential procedures in the preparation of a survey are outlined and discussed. The method of survey construction proposed consists of several tasks: (1) survey objectives and research questions are specified; (2) literature is…

This investigation of the effect of making a set of alternatives conform grammatically to a test item stem showed there is subject sensitivity to such cues. Content-free versions of American College Testing Assessment Experimental Social Science items representing singular-plural and vowel-consonant agreement without inappropriate grammatical…

The complexity of writing as a skill domain and the lack of consensus about its components have engendered much controversy about the type, length, or number of tasks that should be administered in a given test form and even about whether some aspects of composition require direct assessment through writing samples. Acknowledging this, a study was…

An alternate-choice test item is a simple declarative sentence, one portion of which is given with two different wordings. For example, "Foundations like Ford and Carnegie tend to be (1) eager (2) hesitant to support innovative solutions to educational problems." The examinee's task is to choose the alternative that makes the sentence…

Differences between the academic (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) and government (Foreign Service Institute) versions of the oral proficiency interview test are examined, and data from two studies of interrater reliability are presented and discussed. (MSE)

Explains the conceptual background and potential use of the Self-Directed Search (SDS): Computer Version (CV), and discusses its relationship with the paper version. Operations, reports, technical aspects, and distinguishing characteristics of the SDS:CV are described. The SDS Main Menu is appended. (Author/NB)

A new creativity test is described that is based on the percept-genetic theory, which presumes that percepts are built by ultra-short, mostly preconscious processes. The test uses a still-life with two main structures, which is shown in two series of presentations differing in length. Results of experiments using the test are described. (Author/KM)

Reports on a study to determine the development of children's understanding of seven properties of the arithmetic mean and to assess the effects of material used in the testing and the medium of presentation. Some differences were found in children's reasoning. No significant differences were found for materials or medium of presentation. (PK)

Criticizes the Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude 2 (DLTA-2): (1) scoring criteria for the Story Construction Test are questionable; (2) the Word Fragment Test may not be practically significant; (3) the Picture Book is inconvenient to use without an index or table of contents. One major strength is the provision for combining subtest scores. (SRT)

Describes a project at Chorleywood College (England) which examined the possibility of automating the transcription of braille examination responses for marking by examination boards. Discussion covers the braille code, requirements of the transcription system, an analysis of mock examination papers which led to system modification, and the final…