This work describes a systematic review of the research on take-home exams in tertiary education. It was found that there is some disagreement in the community about the virtues of take-home exams but also a lot of agreement. It is concluded that take-home exams may be the preferred choice of assessment method on the higher taxonomy levels because…

The roles of humor and anxiety in test performance were investigated. Measures of trait anxiety, state anxiety and achievement were obtained on a sample of undergraduate students; the A-Trait and A-State scales of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used. Half of the students received additional humorous items in the achievement test. The…

Effects of the following three variables on rating scale response were studied: (1) polarization of opinion regarding scale content; (2) intensity of item wording; and (3) psychological width of the scale. Results with 167 college students suggest best ways to balance polarization and item wording regardless of scale width. (SLD)

Defends the CUNY-WAT against the charges made by Fishman (CS 731 865). Offers suggestions for those wishing to undertake research into the choice of topics for writing assessment tests. (FL)

Four issues associated with calculator-available assessments are discussed: (1) benefits and problems of calculator use; (2) components of various types of calculator-available assessments; (3) construction of calculator-available assessments; and (4) the need for additional examination of items included on calculator-available assessments. (SLD)

The wording and structure of questionnaire items can interact with specified sample categories based on evaluation goals and respondent characteristics. The effects of the interactions can restructure samples and introduce bias into the data analysis. These effects, and suggestions for avoiding them, are demonstrated for five types of…

Differential test performance by undergraduate males and females enrolled in a developmental educational psychology course (n=167) was reported on a quantitative examination as a function of item arrangement. Males were expected to perform better than females on tests whose items arranged easy to hard. Plake and Ansorge (1982) speculated this may…

Examines the CUNY-WAT program and questions many aspects of it, especially the choice and phrasing of topics. (FL)

The major purpose of the three studies reported here was to investigate possible differences in agreement/disagreement with attitude statements as a function of their type (with regard to positivity/negativity) and personalism. In the first study, 90 students completed scales on energy conservation and on having good study habits. Agreement varied…

A new item type was developed, incorporating features of "ill-structured" problems in a multiple-choice format. The problems are similar to previously developed scientific thinking tasks in requiring the examinee to go beyond the information provided; they resemble a variant of the logical reasoning item type, but demand somewhat more structuring…

The effects of trait anxiety (stable anxiety resulting from personality characteristics pre-disposing an individual to anxiety) and test difficulty on state anxiety (transitory anxiety resulting from situations regarded as difficult or dangerous) and test difficulty perception of 25 undergraduates were studied. The Test Anxiety Inventory was used…

The test equating accuracy of content-representative anchors (subsets of items in common) versus nonrepresentative, but substantially longer, anchors was compared for a professional certification examination. Through a chain of equatings, it was found that content representation in anchors was critical. (Author/GDC)

Most attempts to correct for the presence of biased test items in a measurement instrument have been either to remove the items or to adjust the scores to correct for the bias. Using the Rasch Dichotomous Response Model and the independent ability estimates derived from three sets of items, those which favor females, those which favor males, and…

A Likert seven-choice response format for personality inventories allows finer distinctions by subjects than the traditional two-choice format. The Eysenck Personality Inventory was employed in the present study to test the hypothesis that use of the expanded format would result in a clearer and more accurate indication of test structure.…

To meet the needs of visually-impaired candidates, Educational Testing Service (ETS) has traditionally provided tests in three special formats: large-print, Braille, and cassette. Certain ETS programs permit the use of the candidate's reader or the use of amanuensis, that is, someone who records answers for the candidate. The primary goal of…