Many textbooks in educational measurement and classroom assessment have chapters devoted to specific item formats. There may be attempts to relate one item format to another, but the chapters and item formats are largely seem as distinct entities with only loose and uncertain connections. This paper synthesizes these discussions. An item format…

Reasonable and practical solutions to two major problems confronting the developer of any test of educational achievement (what to measure and how to measure it) are proposed, defended, and defined. (Author/PN)

RISK TAKING ON OBJECTIVE EXAMINATIONS (RTOOE) OCCURS WHENEVER AN EXAMINEE TAKES AN EXAMINATION WITH PENALTIES FOR INCORRECT RESPONSES, AND RESPONDS TO AN ITEM WITHOUT KNOWING THE CORRECT ANSWER WITH CERTAINTY. THIS PROJECT WAS CONCERNED WITH THREE ASPECTS OF RTOOE--(1) ITS MEASUREMENT, (2) ITS GENERALITY, AND (3) ITS EFFECT ON TEST SCORE. IN THE…

Objective and reliable techniques for the assessment of attention deficit disorders (ADD) with and without hyperactivity in children have remained largely unavailable to psychologists, educators and pediatricians. As a consequence, they have tended to base their evaluations of ADD solely on observations and teacher reports, or on measures such as…

Probabilistic testing involves having the examinee assign probabilities to each of the options of a multiple-choice item. These probabilities reflect the student's perception of the correctness of each option. What is presented in the paper is a rationale for probability testing, the current theoretical and empirical findings, and some suggested…

A paper-and-pencil test of seven of Inhelder and Piaget's formal operational schemes was developed. Multitrait-multimethod cross-validation procedures indicated that the objective test is a valid and reliable measure. It has the advantage of use in a large group setting without the need for trained clinical interviewers. (Author/PN)

The benefits of using essay tests rather than objective tests in professional education programs are discussed. Essay tests offer practice in writing, creativity and formal communications. Guidelines for using and scoring a sample essay test in biology are presented. (BH)

In this paper, several models for the psychometric nature of criterion-referenced tests are presented and results derived with implications for test construction, reliability and validity measures, and educational decision making. Both dichotomous and continuous underlying abilities to perform are considered. Illustrative data fitting both cases…

An attempt was made to develop an objective instrument to assess a teacher's perceived engagement in reflective practice. A Reflective Teaching Instrument (RTI) was developed around three dimensions of reflective practice in teaching: (1) diagnosis (problem setting); (2) testing; and (3) personal causation. Indicators of each of the dimensions…

New legislation on education, introduced in Brazil from 1968 to 1971, addresses university entrance requirements and exam characteristics by calling for centralization of exam preparation, examinee registration, test administration, test scoring and result reporting, and the use of objective tests. The Brazilian educational structure has three…

Comparisons of students' educational performances are usually based on test and examination results. However, for such comparisons to be valid, it is suggested that evaluations must be made on some common basis since many educational and employment decisions are based on these evaluations. Standardized tests, often used when comparisons are to be…

Two basic problems are confronted in this research: (1) What is sex role differentiation?, and (2) How does one go about measuring it? Both questions revolve around construct validity and the adequacy of sex role measures. Most investigators have used dependent "objective-verbal" tests to measure sex role differentiation. These either involve…