This report analyses justifications gathered in a series of studies which led intellectually normal infants' school and nursery school children and mildly mentally retarded special day school children to acquire conservation understanding. Two hundred and five children were given a pretest of number, mass, length, liquid, and weight conservation.…

A Job Descriptive Index was studied for possible bias by examining item-item curves for various pairs of items computed for contrasting samples. The two pairs of contrasting samples were 669 part-time workers versus 920 full-time workers and 486 male workers versus 1,146 female workers in a large merchandising company. Item-item curves were…

Since fall 1976, an undergraduate measurement class has utilized a 32K microcomputer programmed in APL to present replicate sets of questions randomly selected from 80-question item pools representing each of three domains of knowledge based on Sax's Principles of Educational Measurement and Evaluation. Multiple choice questions are presented on a…

A proficient item writer should possess several attributes: knowledge and understanding of the material being tested, continuous awareness of objectives, continous awareness of the instructional model, understanding of the students for whom the items are intended, skill in written communication, and skill in the techniques of item writing. The…

Angoff's method for identifying possible biased test items was applied to four computer-generated hypothetical tests, two of which contained no biased items and two of which contained a few biased items. The tests were generated to match specifications of a latent trait model. Angoff's method compared item difficulty estimates for two different…

In the development of programed materials, usually all responses are analyzed for a small sample of students. The viable alternative is to perform mathematical transformations on response data from a selected portion of a large sample (more than 400 students) to obtain reliable estimates of item difficulty and item discrimination. (LH)

The three major project objectives were as follows: (1) development of procedures for determining the optimum number of subgroups (and hence, moderated scoring keys) required for maximizing the predictive effectiveness of an inventory; (2) development of a single scale for reporting the scores obtained from a set of moderated keys; and, (3)…

This pamphlet describes the exciting potential of item banking--a new approach to testing which combines both comparability of scores with flexibility of test format. Item banks are collections of items where the characteristics of each item is known and these characteristics can be summated to described a test made from such items. The principle…

This paper brings together a variety of item-analysis techniques into a coherent system. The system is based on classical test theory, the theorems that can be derived from the equation, X = T + E. The system extends from techniques for analyzing parts of an item separately to techniques for relating items to total test score, to sub-scores, to…

The 2 approaches considered in this study for the construction of an English language arts program for Indian children are direct observation of children's language patterns and item-analysis of children's responses made to diagnostic test items. Some 225 children in grades 4 to 7 of an integrated elementary school on Vancouver Island, Canada,…

This overview of variables lists 17 basic educational outcomes, 13 curricular programs, 7 co-curricular programs, 3 aspects of student behavior sampled by the objectives-referenced test items in the Colorado evaluation project. (For related documents, see TM 003 086, 087.) (KM)

The item (difficulty and discrimination) and test (reliability and validity) statistics in classical test theory are highly dependent upon the calibration sample of individuals used. The estimates of item and test parameters in classical test theory is valid within a range of interest along the characteristic measured. Generally, this range of…

An item analysis was performed on two rating scales, the Delta Survey of Nurses and the Delta Nursing Survey, developed for evaluating the preparation and job performance of nursing graduates. Resulting data supported the basic design of the instruments. The revised instruments consist of seven fewer items; two subtests were deleted, and a number…

The Mathematics Attitude Scale (Aiken, 1974) purports to reflect attitude toward mathematics on two basic dimensions, enjoyment and value. While this scale is widely used in mathematics research, the only empirical evidence supporting the two-factor structure is the item analysis of college freshmen responses. The present study examines the…

Discusses pretests, using tests for feedback, and using item discrimination ratios in analyzing test effectiveness. (MLH)