To be able to solve complex information problems in a digital environment is a key 21st century skill. Technology users usually expect to achieve their goals in a fast and accurate way. However, the actual relationship between time-on-task and task outcome is currently not well understood. We analyzed data from a large-scale international study in…

Recent literature shows that younger cohorts have lower levels of literacy ceteris paribus in Canada, the United States, Norway and other developed countries. Very few explanations are provided to justify the existence of this negative cohort effect. Yet this decline has serious implications for the economy, education system and society. In this…

With the use of computerized testing, ordinary assessments can capture both answer accuracy and answer response time. For the Canadian Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) numeracy and literacy subtests, person ability, person speed, question difficulty, question time intensity, fluency (rate), person fluency…

Log files from computer-based assessment can help better understand respondents' behaviours and cognitive strategies. Analysis of timing information from Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) reveals large differences in the time participants take to answer assessment items, as well as large country differences…

Response times are one of the important sources that provide information about the performance of individuals during a test process. The main purpose of this study is to show that survival models can be used in educational data. Accordingly, data sets of items measuring literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills of the countries participating…

This article focuses on low-performing adult readers in the Scandinavian countries, seeking to identify and describe some of the literacy-related problems that they face. Following a presentation of the Reading Components Assessment (RCA) used in PIAAC (Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies), we provide profiles for those…

Using individual data from PIAAC and aggregate data on GDP and unemployment for the US, Europe, and Spain, we test how macroeconomic conditions experienced at age eighteen affect the following decisions in post-secondary and tertiary education: (1) enrollment; (2) dropping-out; (3) type of degree completed; (4) area of specialization; and (5)…