Linear programming (LP) is taught in different departments across college campuses with engineering and management curricula. Modeling an LP problem is taught in every linear programming class. As faculty teaching in Engineering and Management departments, the depth to which teachers should expect students to master this particular type of…

An experiment was conducted that contrasted a variant of computerized adaptive testing, self-adapted testing, with two traditional tests. Participants completed a self-report of text anxiety and were randomly assigned to take one of the three tests of verbal ability. Subjects generally chose more difficult items as the test progressed. (Author/LMO)

Reliabilities and concurrent validities of teacher-made multiple-choice and true-false tests were compared. No significant differences were found even when multiple-choice reliability was adjusted to equate testing time. (Author/MH)

Eighty undergraduates were administered four self-report locus of control inventories, in order to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of four categories common to these inventories: chance, fate, personal control, and powerful others. The four inventories were: (1) Internal, Powerful Others and Chance scales; (2) James Internal…

The use of the "none-of-the-above" option (NOTA) in 20 college-level multiple-choice tests was evaluated for classes with 100 or more students. Eight academic disciplines were represented, and 295 NOTA and 724 regular test items were used. It appears that the NOTA can be compatible with good classroom measurement. (TJH)

The relationship of an expert-system-scored constrained free-response item type to multiple-choice and free-response items was studied using data for 614 students on the College Board's Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) Examination. Implications for testing and the APCS test are discussed. (SLD)

Studies with 220 college students found that multiple-choice test items with 3 items are more difficult than those with 4 items, and items with the none-of-these option are more difficult than those without this option. Neither format manipulation affected item discrimination. Implications for test construction are discussed. (SLD)

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to explore relationships among existing item types and three new computer-administered item types for the analytical scale of the Graduate Record Examination General Test. Results with 349 students indicate constructs the item types are measuring. (SLD)

A commonly accepted rule for developing equated examinations using the common-items non-equivalent groups (CINEG) design is that items common to the two examinations being equated should be identical. The CINEG design calls for two groups of examinees to respond to a set of common items that is included in two examinations. In practice, this rule…

Effects of item wording on questionnaire reliability and validity were studied, using 280 undergraduate business students who completed a questionnaire comprising 4 item types: (1) regular; (2) polar opposite; (3) negated polar opposite; and (4) negated regular. Implications of results favoring regular and negated regular items are discussed. (SLD)

Intellectual abilities were measured for 217 German and 205 American college students using tests (in the subjects' native languages) in which equivalence was established by an item-response theory-based differential-item-functioning (DIF) analysis. Comparisons between groups were not the same before and after removal of DIF items. (SLD)

Little research exists on the psychological impacts of computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and how it may affect test performance. Three CAT procedures were examined, in which items were selected to match students' achievement levels, from the item pool at random, or according to student choice of item difficulty levels. Twenty-four graduate…

The exact and closed-interval area measures for detecting differential item functioning are compared for actual data from 1,000 African-American and 1,000 white college students taking a vocabulary test with items intentionally constructed to favor 1 set of examinees. No real differences in detection of biased items were found. (SLD)

Computerized adaptive (CA) testing uses an algorithm to match examinee ability to item difficulty, while self-adapted (SA) testing allows the examinee to choose the difficulty of his or her items. Research comparing SA and CA testing has shown that examinees experience lower anxiety and improved performance with SA testing. All previous research…

Coded, as opposed to free response items, in a multiple choice physiology test had a cueing effect which raised students' scores, especially for lower achievers. Reliability of coded items was also lower. Item format and scoring method had an effect on test results. (GDC)