The Lognormal Response Time (LNRT) model measures the speed of test-takers relative to the normative time demands of items on a test. The resulting speed parameters and model residuals are often analyzed for evidence of anomalous test-taking behavior associated with fast and poorly fitting response time patterns. Extending this model, we…

Preknowledge cheating jeopardizes the validity of inferences based on test results. Many methods have been developed to detect preknowledge cheating by jointly analyzing item responses and response times. Gaze fixations, an essential eye-tracker measure, can be utilized to help detect aberrant testing behavior with improved accuracy beyond using…

As the use of process data in large-scale educational assessments is becoming more common, it is clear that data on examinees' test-taking behaviors can illuminate their performance, and can have crucial ramifications concerning assessments' validity. A thorough review of the literature in the field may inform researchers and practitioners of…

Many approaches have been proposed to jointly analyze item responses and response times to understand behavioral differences between normally and aberrantly behaved test-takers. Biometric information, such as data from eye trackers, can be used to better identify these deviant testing behaviors in addition to more conventional data types. Given…

Many low-stakes assessments, such as international large-scale surveys, are administered during time-limited testing sessions and some test-takers are not able to endorse the last items of the test, resulting in not-reached (NR) items. However, because the test has no consequence for the respondents, these NR items can also stem from quitting the…

Background: Examinees may not make enough effort when responding to test items if the assessment has no consequence for them. These disengaged responses can be problematic in low-stakes, large-scale assessments because they can bias item parameter estimates. However, the amount of bias, and whether this bias is similar across administrations, is…

As researchers in the social sciences, we are often interested in studying not directly observable constructs through assessments and questionnaires. But even in a well-designed and well-implemented study, rapid-guessing behavior may occur. Under rapid-guessing behavior, a task is skimmed shortly but not read and engaged with in-depth. Hence, a…

The purpose of this study was to assess measurement equivalence of the 15-item Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS) across White and Black college students. Results partially supported measurement equivalence across racial groups. Clinicians and researchers should be cautious in using the PBSS to make comparisons between White and Black…

Computerized assessments and interactive simulation tasks are increasingly popular and afford the collection of process data, i.e., an examinee's sequence of actions (e.g., clickstreams, keystrokes) that arises from interactions with each task. Action sequence data contain rich information on the problem-solving process but are in a nonstandard,…

Despite being a popular topic in language testing, cognitive load has not received enough attention in vocabulary test items. The purpose of the current study was to scrutinize the cognitive load and vocabulary test items' differences, examinees' reaction times, and perceived difficulty. To this end, 150 students were selected using…

When researchers code behavior that is undetectable or falls outside of the validated ordinal scale, the resultant outcomes often suffer from informative missingness. Incorrect analysis of such data can lead to biased arguments around efficacy and effectiveness in the context of experimental and intervention research. Here, we detail a new…

Changepoints are abrupt variations in a sequence of data in statistical inference. In educational and psychological assessments, it is pivotal to properly differentiate examinees' aberrant behaviors from solution behavior to ensure test reliability and validity. In this paper, we propose a sequential Bayesian changepoint detection algorithm to…

Based on the framework of testlet models, the current study suggests the Bayesian random block item response theory (BRB IRT) model to fit forced-choice formats where an item block is composed of three or more items. To account for local dependence among items within a block, the BRB IRT model incorporated a random block effect into the response…

The trustworthiness of low-stakes assessment results largely depends on examinee effort, which can be measured by the amount of time examinees devote to items using solution behavior (SB) indices. Because SB indices are calculated for each item, they can be used to understand how examinee motivation changes across items within a test. Latent class…

Research Findings Research suggests children from low-income environments have vocabularies that differ from those of their higher-income peers. They may have basic knowledge of many words of which children from higher income environments have acquired sub- or supra-ordinate knowledge. This study sought to determine if children from low-income…