The current study investigated how item formats and their inherent affordances influence test-takers' cognition under uncertainty. Adult participants solved content-equivalent math items in multiple-selection multiple-choice and four alternative grid formats. The results indicated that participants' affirmative response tendency (i.e., judge the…

Six methods of scoring multiple true-false items were compared in terms of reliabilities, difficulties, and discrimination. Results suggest that, for norm-referenced score interpretations, there is insufficient evidence to support any one of the methods as superior. For criterion-referenced score interpretations, effects of scoring method must be…

The psychometric properties of objective tests administered in two testing conditions were compared, using an experimental take-home testing condition and a traditional in-class testing condition. Subjects were 290 college students in a basic educational psychology course who took a test developed and tested the previous semester. Two equivalent…

In July 2001, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) agreed to the development of assessment instruments and key performance measures for reporting on student skills, knowledge and understandings in primary science. It directed the newly established Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce…