A conventional test and two forms of a stradaptive test were administered to thousands of simulated subjects by minicomputer. Characteristics of the three tests using several scoring techniques were investigated while varying the discriminating power of the items, the lengths of the tests, and the availability of prior information about the…

Four monte carlo simulation studies of Owen's Bayesian sequential procedure for adaptive mental testing were conducted. Whereas previous simulation studies of this procedure have concentrated on evaluating it in terms of the correlation of its test scores with simulated ability in a normal population, these four studies explored a number of…

Three related experimental studies analyzed rate and accuracy of test response under time-limit and no-time-limit conditions. Test instructions and multiple-choice vocabulary items were administered by computer. Student volunteers received monetary rewards under both testing conditions. In the first study college students were blocked into high-…

Today's psychological measurement depends almost exclusively on the "standardized test." A certain amount of non-standardization, however, exists in the administration of any standardized test, with the amount unknown for any given test score. Time limits on tests pose a bigger problem since another variable is introduced, pressure. Test taking…

This paper proposes computer assistance in the synthesis operation of vocational counseling. The goal of vocational counseling is to match the client with a vocation in which he will be both satisfied and satisfactory. The computer would, through its rapid scanning and computation, produce probabilities of satisfactoriness based on (1) the…

The effects of immediate knowledge of results (KR) concerning the correctness or incorrectness of each item response on a computer-administered test of verbal ability were investigated. The effects of KR were examined on a 50-item conventional test and a stradaptive ability test and in high- and low-ability groups. The primary dependent variable…

A system of computer programs designed to control the administration of adaptive ability tests was developed and used for over 2500 hours of ability measurement. The system is capable of administering any combination of two kinds of tests to a given individual without interruption. Each test can be based on one of six different testing strategies…

A 40-item flexilevel test and a 40-item conventional test were compared using data obtained through (1) computer-administration of the two tests to three groups of college students, and (2) monte carlo simulation of test response patterns. Results indicated the flexilevel score distribution better reflected the underlying normal distribution of…

A conventional vocabulary test and two forms of a stradaptive vocabulary test were administered by a time-shared computer system to undergraduate college students. The two stradaptive tests differed in that one counted question mark responses (i.e., omitted items) as incorrect and the other ignored items responded to with question marks.…

The effects of providing immediate knowledge of results (KR) and adaptive testing on test anxiety and test-taking motivation were investigated. Also studied was the accuracy of student perceptions of the difficulty of adaptive and conventional tests administered with or without immediate knowledge of results. Testees were 350 college students…

An adaptive testing strategy is described for achievement tests covering multiple content areas. The strategy combines adaptive item selection both within and between the subtests in the multiple-subtest battery. A real-data simulation was conducted to compare the results from adaptive testing and from conventional testing, in terms of test…

Twenty multiple-choice vocabulary items and 20 free-response vocabulary items were administered to 660 college students. The free-response items consisted of the stem words of the multiple-choice items. Testees were asked to respond to the free-response items with synonyms. A computer algorithm was developed to transform the numerous…

The general objective of a research program on adaptive testing was to identify several sources of potential error in test scores, and to study adaptive testing as a means for reducing these errors. Errors can result from the mismatch of item difficulty to the individual's ability; the psychological effects of testing and the test environment; the…

Three and one-half years of research on computerized ability testing are summarized. The original objectives of the research were: (1) to develop and implement the stratified computer-based ability test; (2) to compare, on psychometric criteria, the various approaches to computer-based ability testing, including the stratified computerized test,…