The effects of test item disclosure on resulting examinee equated scores and population passing rates were studied for 5,000 examinees taking a professional licensing examination. Results suggest that the effects of disclosing depended on the nature of the released items. Specific effects on particular examinees are also discussed. (SLD)

Results of 96 theoretical/empirical studies were reviewed to see if they support a taxonomy of 43 rules for writing multiple-choice test items. The taxonomy is the result of an analysis of 46 textbooks dealing with multiple-choice item writing. For nearly half of the rules, no research was found. (SLD)

A method for detecting and interpreting disturbances of the local-independence assumption among items that share common stimulus material or other features is presented. Dichotomous and polytomous Rasch models are used to analyze structure of the learning outcome superitems. (SLD)

It is demonstrated, theoretically and empirically, that item sets can be selected that meet the unidimensionality assumption of most item response theory models, even though they require more than one ability for a correct response. A method for identifying such item sets for test development purposes is presented. (SLD)

Two item selection algorithms, one based on maximal differentiation between examinees and one based on item response theory and maximum information for each examinee, were compared in simulated linear and adaptive tests of cognitive ability. Adaptive tests based on maximum information were clearly superior. (SLD)

Items previously described as "negatively worded" are redefined as "connotatively inconsistent" because this term has a broader base for generalization. Using generalizability theory with a sample of 102 graduate students, the study showed that connotatively consistent and reversed connotatively inconsistent items were not…

A test item is defined as connotatively consistent (CC) or connotatively inconsistent (CI) when its connotation agrees with or contradicts that of the majority of items on a test. CC and CI items were examined in the Life Orientation Test and were shown to measure correlated but distinct traits. (SLD)

D.V. Budescu and J.L. Rogers (1981) proposed a method of adjusting correlations of scales to eliminate spurious components resulting from the overlapping of scales. Three reliability correction formulas are derived in this article that are based on more tenable assumptions. (SLD)

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)

A FORTRAN 77 computer program is presented to perform analyses of differential item performance in psychometric tests. The program performs the Mantel-Haenszel procedure and computes additional classical indices of differential item functioning (DIF) and associated effect size measures. (Author/SLD)

A comprehensive review is given of evidence, with a bearing on the recommendation to avoid use of complex multiple choice (CMC) items. Avoiding Type K items (four primary responses and five secondary choices) seems warranted, but evidence against CMC in general is less clear. (SLD)

By administering an attitude survey to 3,328 parents of elementary school students, use of positive and negative Likert item stems was analyzed. Respondents who answered positive/negative item pairs that were parallel in meaning consistently were compared with those who answered inconsistently. Implications for construction of affective measures…

A University of Adelaide (Australia) study investigated the effect of administering identical stations to different classes over a 12-year period within the objective structured clinical examination component of a final-year medical school examination. Repeat administrations correlated with improved student performance over time. (Author/MSE)

This study empirically examined the behaviors of item and person statistics derived from item response theory and classical test theory, focusing on item and person statistics and using a large-scale statewide assessment. Findings show that the person and item statistics from the two measurement frameworks are quite comparable. (SLD)

This paper suggests several item selection criteria for adaptive testing that are all based on the use of the true posterior. Some of the ability estimators produced by these criteria are discussed and empirically criticized. (SLD)