Because no previous study was found in which both blank position in the item stem and positional placement of the correct response were studied simultaneously, it was decided to investigate the influence of these two factors, alone and in combination, on the difficulty level of verbal analogy items. (Authors)

One purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of different levels of item complexity on subsequent student achievement to help clarify the effectiveness of the transfer and hierarchical models. (Authors/MB)

The placement or ordering of items on behavior rating scales which elicit extreme responses (anchor stimulus items) affect the responses given to neutral items. (DG)

Three item-construction principles for multiple-choice tests were studied to determine how they affected test results for high school students: (1) use of incomplete sentence stem; (2) location of blank in the stem; and (3) presence of noncueing material. Differences in item construction had a slight effect on test results. (Authors/CJ)

A study of recurrent faults in multiple-choice items in Britain's Open University's computer-marked tests has led to a procedure for avoiding these faults. A description of the study covers the incidence and sources of faults (obviousness, memorization, unclear instruction, ambiguity, distractors, inter-item effects, and structure) and…

This paper presents a chi square method for assessing bias in test items. In this procedure an unbiased item is defined as an item for which the probability of a correct response is the same for any person of a given ability level regardless of that person's ethnic group. (Author/CTM)

Content analyses for sex bias were conducted on items from three widely-used achievement tests which together span the grade levels 1-12. A significant but modest correlation was found between an item's content bias and performance on that item by male and female students. (SJL)

A psychometrician and acquaintance of Carl C. Brigham, the "father of the Scholastic Aptitude Test," comments on the man's presonality traits and the culture that shaped his thinking. Areas of testing research that should be pursued are suggested. (MSE)

An item analysis profile sheet to accompany the Slosson Intelligence Test (SIT) is helpful in providing a functional test interpretation. The lack of recorded technical and statistical information is a serious concern. Without such information, a practitioner could not use the Item Analysis of SIT with confidence. (Author)

The Ethical Reasoning Inventory (ERI) is an objective test derived from Kohlberg's Moral Judgment Interview. It correlated higher with Kohlberg , and has higher internal consistency than the Defining Issues Test and the Moral Judgment Scale. (CP)

Analysis of variance and subjective rating by curriculum specialists were used to identify biased items on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. Results show little agreement between statistical and subjective methods. Test developers should statistically support a reviewer's selection of biased items. (Author/CP)

Assessed test bias on the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Bender-Gestalt. On the Bender, evidence of bias was infrequent and irregular. On the WISC-R, group differences were most discernible for age, sex, family structure, and race. Consistent patterns of bias were not apparent among comparison groups. (Author)