In high-stakes, large-scale, standardized tests with certain time limits, examinees are likely to engage in either one of the three types of behavior (e.g., van der Linden & Guo, 2008; Wang & Xu, 2015): solution behavior, rapid guessing behavior, and cheating behavior. Oftentimes examinees do not always solve all items due to various…

Background: Large-scale survey assessments have been used for decades to monitor what students know and can do. Such assessments aim at providing group-level scores for various populations, with little or no consequence to individual students for their test performance. Students' test-taking behaviors in survey assessments, particularly the level…

Assessment exercises (items) in three different formats--multiple-choice with an "I don't know" (IDK) option, multiple-choice without the IDK, and open-ended--were placed at the beginning, middle and end of 45-minute assessment packages (instruments). A balanced incomplete blocks analysis of variance was computed to determine the biasing…

In contrast to multiple-choice test questions, figural response items call for constructed responses and rely upon figural material, such as illustrations and graphs, as the response medium. Figural response questions in various science domains were created and administered to a sample of 347 fourth, 365 eighth, and 322 twelfth graders. Data were…

The multiple-choice science exercises used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress include an "I Don't Know" (IDK) alternative to estimate more accurately knowledge of groups of respondents. Group percentages of IDK responses were examined and compared with correct responses to see if the IDK introduces bias. Variance common…