The purpose of this study was to compare the reliabilities of two-, three-, four-, and five-choice tests using an incremental option paradigm. Test forms were created incrementally, a method approximating actual test construction procedures. Participants were 154 12th-grade students from the Portland (Oregon) area. A 45-item test with two options…

This study examined agreement rates between identified strengths and weaknesses in shared abilities and influences on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Sixty-seven students in the first through seventh grades referred for learning disabilities (LD) evaluation were…

The reliability and validity of multiple-choice tests were computed as a function of the number of options per item and student ability for 435 parochial high school juniors, who were administered the Washington Pre-College Test Battery. Results suggest the efficacy of the three-option item. (SLD)

Results of the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) Student Observation Scale (SOS), a measure of classroom behavior, were correlated with results of the BASC Teacher Rating Scale (TRS). Two classroom observations were made of each of 30 students (21 males and 9 females) aged 5 to 11 years. Teachers of those students completed the TRS.…

A new testing strategy that provides protection against the problem of having examinees in adaptive testing choose difficulty levels that are not matched to their proficiency levels was introduced and evaluated. The method, termed restricted self-adapted testing (RSAT), still provides examinees with a degree of control over the difficulty levels…

Item components that might contribute to the difficulty of items on the Raven Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) and the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) were studied. Subjects providing responses to CPM items were 269 children aged 2 years 9 months to 11 years 8 months, most of whom were referred for testing as potentially gifted. A second…

This research attempted to interrelate several methods of producing option weights (i.e., Guttman internal and external weights and judges' weights) and examined their effects on reliability and on concurrent, predictive, and face validity. It was concluded that option weighting offered limited, if any, improvement over unit weighting. (Author/CTM)

The relationship between gender and performance on mathematics items varying in level of cognitive complexity and content was assessed, using 1,789 female and 1,951 male Thai adolescents and 2,040 female and 1,884 male American adolescents. Data suggest that performance relative to both cognitive complexity and content is related to gender. (TJH)

A popular method of analyzing test items for differential item functioning (DIF) is to compute a statistic that conditions samples of examinees from different populations on an estimate of ability. This conditioning or matching by ability is intended to produce an appropriate statistic that is sensitive to true differences in item functioning,…

The phenomenon of simultaneous differential item functioning (DIF) amplification and cancellation and the role of the SIBTEST computer program in detecting it were studied. A variety of simulated test data was generated for this purpose. In addition, the following real test data were used: (1) American College Testing program data for 2,115 males…

Empirical evidence is presented of the relative efficiency of two potential linkage plans to be used when equivalent test forms are being administered. Equating is a process by which scores on one form of a test are converted to scores on another form of the same test. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to examine equating stability and statistical…

To discover factors which contribute to a high response rate for questionnaire surveys, the preferences of 150 college teachers and teaching assistants were studied. Four different questionnaire formats using 34 common items were sent to the subjects: open-ended; Likert-type (five points, from "strong influence to return," to…

Describes a method for assessing the quality of translations based on item response theory (IRT). Results from the IRT technique with French and Chinese versions of a scale measuring individualism-collectivism for samples of 250 U.S., 357 French, and 290 Chinese undergraduates show how several biased items are detected. (SLD)

The usefulness of latent class modeling in addressing several measurement issues is demonstrated via a study of 74 good and 74 poor readers in grades 5 and 6. Procedures were particularly useful for assessing the hierarchical relation among skills and for exploring issues related to item domains. (SLD)

This study seeks to determine whether item features are related to observed differences in item difficulty (DIF) between computer- and paper-based test delivery media. Examinees responded to 60 quantitative items similar to those found on the GRE general test in either a computer-based or paper-based medium. Thirty-eight percent of the items were…