To mitigate the potential damaging consequences of rapid guessing (RG), a form of noneffortful responding, researchers have proposed a number of scoring approaches. The present simulation study examines the robustness of the most popular of these approaches, the unidimensional effort-moderated (EM) scoring procedure, to multidimensional RG (i.e.,…

Multiple-choice (MC) items are widely used in educational tests. Distractor analysis, an important procedure for checking the utility of response options within an MC item, can be readily implemented in the framework of item response theory (IRT). Although random guessing is a popular behavior of test-takers when answering MC items, none of the…

In achievement testing there is typically a practical requirement that the set of items administered should be representative of some target content domain. This is accomplished by establishing test blueprints specifying the content constraints to be followed when selecting the items for a test. Sometimes, however, students give disengaged…

International assessments inform education policy debates, yet little is known about their floor effects: To what extent do they fail to differentiate between the lowest performers, and what are the implications of this? TIMSS, SACMEQ, and LLECE data are analyzed to answer this question. In TIMSS, floor effects have been reduced through the…

The test blueprint is important in test development, where it guides the test item writer in creating test items according to the desired objectives and specifications or characteristics (so-called a priori item characteristics), such as the level of item difficulty in the category and the distribution of items based on their difficulty level.…

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are popular in vocabulary software because they can be scored automatically and are compatible with many input devices (e.g., touchscreens). Answering MCQs is beneficial for learning, especially when learners retrieve knowledge from memory to evaluate plausible answer alternatives. However, such retrieval may not…

The purpose of this study comprises (1) calibrating the Basic Statistics Test for Indonesian undergraduate psychology students using the Rasch model, (2) testing the impact of adjustment for guessing on item parameters, person parameters, test reliability, and distribution of item difficulty and person ability, and (3) comparing person scores…

This study aims to examine the effects of mixture item response theory (IRT) models on item parameter estimation and classification accuracy under different conditions. The manipulated variables of the simulation study are set as mixture IRT models (Rasch, 2PL, 3PL); sample size (600, 1000); the number of items (10, 30); the number of latent…

The goal of the present study was to address the analytical complexity of incorporating responses and response times through applying the Jeon and De Boeck mixture item response theory model in Mplus 8.7. Using both simulated and real data, we attempt to identify subgroups of responders that are rapid guessers or engage knowledge retrieval…

West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) are the two major examination bodies saddled with the responsibility of awarding Senior Secondary School Certificate in Nigeria. This study examined the comparability of the psychometric properties of the items constructed by the two examination bodies using Item…

When there are no personal consequences associated with test performance for examinees, rapid guessing (RG) is a concern and can differ between subgroups. To date, the impact of differential RG on item-level measurement invariance has received minimal attention. To that end, a simulation study was conducted to examine the robustness of the…

The quality of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as well as the student's solve behavior in MCQs are educational concerns. MCQs cover wide educational content and can be immediately and accurately scored. However, many studies have found some flawed items in this exam type, thereby possibly resulting in misleading insights into students'…

For a multiple-choice test under development or redesign, it is important to choose the optimal number of options per item so that the test possesses the desired psychometric properties. On the basis of available data for a multiple-choice assessment with 8 options, we evaluated the effects of changing the number of options on test properties…

Recently, interest in test subscore reporting for diagnosis purposes has been growing rapidly. The two simulation studies here examined factors (sample size, number of subscales, correlation between subscales, and three factors affecting subscore reliability: number of items per subscale, item parameter distribution, and data generating model)…

Even though guessing biases difficulty estimates as a function of item difficulty in the dichotomous Rasch model, assessment programs with tests which include multiple-choice items often construct scales using this model. Research has shown that when all items are multiple-choice, this bias can largely be eliminated. However, many assessments have…