For efficiency, Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) algorithm selects items with the maximum information, typically with a 50% probability of being answered correctly. However, examinees may not be satisfied if they only correctly answer 50% of the items. Researchers discovered that changing the item selection algorithms to choose easier items (i.e.,…

In an invitational address to the Victorian Institute of Educational Research, the author discussed Bayesian theory and its relationship to the design and construction of tailored or adaptive tests. Bayesian thinking involves recognizing the role of prior probabilities and using these probabilities in combination with new data to arrive at future…

One challenge associated with computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is the maintenance of test and item security while allowing for daily testing. An alternative to continually creating new pools containing an independent set of items would be to consider each CAT pool as a sample of items from a larger collection (referred to as a VAT) rather than…

This paper describes a study, now in progress, of new methods for representing the sampling variability of Mantel-Haenszel differential item functioning (DIF) results, based on the system for categorizing the severity of DIF that is now in place at the Educational Testing Service. The methods, which involve a Bayesian elaboration of procedures…

Expert systems can be used to aid decision making. A computerized adaptive test (CAT) is one kind of expert system, although it is not commonly recognized as such. A new approach, termed EXSPRT, was devised that combines expert systems reasoning and sequential probability ratio test stopping rules. EXSPRT-R uses random selection of test items,…

This paper describes two procedures for making binary classification decisions using tailored testing: the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) and a Bayesian decision procedure. The first procedure described, the SPRT, was developed by Wald for quality control work. It has not been widely applied for testing applications because the…

A tailored testing model employing the beta distribution, whose mean equals the difficulty of an item and whose variance is approximately equal to the sampling variance of the item difficulty, and employing conditional item difficulties, is proposed. The model provides a procedure by which a minimum number of items of a test, consisting of a set…

Effects of altering test difficulty on examinee ability measures and test length in a computer adaptive test were studied for 225 medical technology students in 3 test difficulty conditions. Results suggest that, with an item pool of sufficient depth and breadth, acceptable targeting to test difficulty is possible. (SLD)

This pamphlet reprints three papers and an invited discussion of them, read at a Division 5 Symposium at the 1975 American Psychological Association Convention. The first paper describes a Bayesian tailored testing process and shows how it demonstrates the importance of using test items with high discrimination, low guessing probability, and a…

Response latency information has been used in the past to provide information for consideration along with response accuracy when obtaining trait level estimates, and more recently, to flag unusual response patterns, to establish appropriate time-to-test limits (Reese, 1993), and to determine predictors of the amount of time needed to administer a…