UNIT IV

A C H I E V E M E N T T E S T- C O N S T R U C T I O N
A N D S TA N D A R D I S AT I O N
 PURPOSE OF A TEST
To establish a basis for assigning
grades. 


To determine how well each student

has achieved the course objectives. 


To diagnose student problems for

remediation. 


To determine where instruction needs

improvement. 

 PLANNING THE TEST
1. Implicit statements of instructional objectives:
Refer to some interior responses of students not open to observation.
Example:“we want our students to know the meaning of the term
measurement”.
Here the verb “know” refers to some internal response which we cannot
observe.
2. Explicit statements of instructional objectives:
Refer to specific student performances which a teacher can observe and
test.
Example: “we want our students to define the word measurement”.
Here the verb “define” refers to some specific performance which is open
to observation.
VERBS IN IMPLICIT STATEMENTS OR “UNDER-THE-SKIN” VERBS VERBS IN EXPLICIT STATEMENTS OR “YOU-CAN-SEE-IT” VERBS

KNOW NAME

UNDERSTAND LIST

REALIZE DESCRIBE

BELIEVE COMPARE

THINK STATE

ENJOY DISCUSS

GRASP ILLUSTRATE

SOLVE

DRAW

WRITE
B L O O M ’ S TA X O N O M Y O F E D U C AT I O N A L O B J E C T I V E S
B L O O M ’ S TA X O N O M Y O F E D U C AT I O N A L O B J E C T I V E S
 B L O O M ’ S TA X O N O M Y O F E D U C AT I O N A L O B J E C T I V E S

Knowledge/ Remembering- is knowing and recall of specific facts,

principles, theories, methods etc.
Comprehension/ Understanding- is the ability to explain a point.

Application/ Applying- is using previously known facts to solve a
problem.

Analysis/ Analysing- is the ability to break a product apart into its
requisite elements or logical components.
Evaluating- is the ability to judge quality.
Creating- is the ability to create something.
 BLOOM’S
TA X O N O M Y O F
E D U C AT I O N A L
OBJECTIVES
 BLOOM’S
TA X O N O M Y O F
E D U C AT I O N A L
OBJECTIVES
 TEST QUESTIONS

• Knowledge: Who was the first president of India?

• Comprehension: Define the word measurement in your own words.
• Application: Why was the Boston Tea Party a significant act for the
settlers?
• Analysis: How does the American Civil War compare with the French Civil
War?
• Evaluating: Do you agree with the main precepts of the Green Party? Why
or why not ?
• Creating: How can you take cultural items to a new world ?

•
 TEST QUESTIONS

What types of items should be used?



The types of items to be chosen will primarily
depend upon the intellectual processes to be
called forth and the uses to be made of the test
results. Both essay and objective items can be used
keeping in view their strengths and weaknesses.
 TEST QUESTIONS

What should be the time allotment for the test?



It can be a short test lasting only for few minutes, a
single period test or a longer duration test if it’s a
midterm or the final examination. The amount of
material to be covered in the test will give an idea of
the amount of time required.
 TEST QUESTIONS

How many items should be there in the test?



The answer to this question depends upon the
types of items chosen, the amount of available
time , the amount of content coverage and the
number of behavioural objectives to be tested.
 TEST QUESTIONS

What should be the difficulty of the test?



If the test is a mastery test, the level of difficulty
should be uniformly low. If it is a survey or a
diagnostic test, the items should be of varying
difficulty from easy to very difficult.
 TEST QUESTIONS

As the rule of thumb the total number of items to be

included in the test should be such as to be completed by
at least 80% of the students within the testing time.
 CONSTRUCTING TEST

1.Objective tests
2.Essay tests or Subjective tests.
 Major types of Objective type tests
1. Supply Type: Is the type of test in which the student supplies the answer. This
further has two subtypes namely:

a) Short answer Example:

• Which is the most populous country of the world?
• Who invented the telephone? 


b) Completion Example: 


• The chemical formula for water is _________

• The plural of child is____________ 

 Major types of Objective type tests

2. Selection Type: Is the type of test in which the student selects the answer
from a given number of choices. This further has three subtypes namely:

a) Alternative response (true false, right wrong, yes no etc.)

Example: Oman is in Asia. True or False 


• Is Baluchistan the largest province of Pakistan area wise? Yes or No 


 Major types of Objective type tests

b) Multiple choices Example:

•The UN was established in the year

•1919
•1939
•1945
•1965 

 Major types of Objective type tests
c) Matching Example:
 Advantages of Objective Type Tests

Can measure a variety of learning outcomes

Can consist of large number of questions thus sampling of
material can be extensive and adequate
Can be scored reliably
Can be scored quickly
Can be scored by anyone who has an answer key
Can be scored by a machine 

 Disadvantages of Objective Type Tests

Cannot measure higher intellectual abilities and skills

(such as literary composition)
Difficult to construct
Often develops bad study habits among students
who resort to rote learning of bits of individual
information
Susceptible to guessing
 Essay or subjective type tests
Is a form of questioning which may have more than
one correct answer (or more than one way of
expressing the correct answer).
It requires students to write out information rather
than select a response from a menu.
In term of preparation, the essay type questions can
be prepared in less time compared to selection-types
format.
 Major type of Essay type tests

1. 1. Extended Response

3.Type of questions in which the response of students is unrestricted.

Example:
• Discuss the importance of testing in education.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of computer?
•
 Major type of Essay type tests

2. Ristricted Response


Example:
• Give five reasons why testing is important in education. 


• State four advantages and four disadvantages of computer. 


 Advantages of Essay Type Tests

Can measure complex learning outcomes (like abilities to organise,

express, evaluate and create ideas which cannot be measured by other
means)
Develops good study habits among students (since it emphasizes higher
mental abilities and problem solving skills.)
Develops writing skills
Easy to construct
Easy to administer
 Disadvantages of Essay Type Tests
Provides inadequate sampling of questions since it comprises
only a few questions 


Variation in marking. This is possibly the greatest

disadvantage to a subjective test.
Mark is placed on how the answer is written rather than what
is written 


Scoring is time consuming and tedious 


 Standardisation of Achievement Test
Item is a statistical technique which is used for selecting and
rejecting the items of a test on the basis of their difficulty value and
discriminative power.
Item analysis is a general term that refers to the specific methods
used in education to evaluate test items, typically for the purpose of
test construction and revision.
Particular attention is given to individual test items, item
characteristics, probability of answering items correctly, overall ability
of the test taker, and degrees or levels of knowledge being
assessed.
 The Objectives of Item Analysis

• 1)   Items for the final drift and reject the poor items which do not
contribute in the functioning of the test. Some items are to be
modified.
• (2)   Item analysis obtains the difficulty values of all the items of
preliminary draft of the test. The items are classified- difficulties,
moderate and easy items.
• (3)   It provides the discriminative power (item reliability; validity) to
differentiate between capable and less capable examines of all the
items preliminary draft of the test.
 The Objectives of Item Analysis

• (5)  The reliability and validity of test depends on these characteristics

of a test. The functioning of a test is increased by this technique.
• (6)  It provides the basis for preparing the final draft a test. In the final
draft items are arranged in difficulty order. The most easy items are
given in the beginning and most difficult items are provided at the
end.
• (7)  Item analysis is a cyclic technique. The modified items are tried
out and their item analysis is done again to obtain these indexes
(difficulty and discrimination).
 Functions of Item Analysis
• (1)  Item difficulty value (D. V.) is the proportion of subjects
answering each item correctly.
• (2)  Discriminative power (D.P.) of item, this characteristic is of two
type


(a) Item reliability— It is taken as the point-biserial correlation between
an item and the total test score, multiplied by the item standard
deviation.


(b) Item validity— It is taken as the point biserial correlation between an
item and a criterion score multiplied by the item standard deviation.
Functions of Item Analysis
Functions of Item Analysis
 Functions of Item Analysis

Validity. ... For example, a survey designed to explore

depression but which actually measures anxiety would
not be considered valid. The second measure of
quality in a quantitative study is reliability, or the
accuracy of an instrument
Functions of Item Analysis
 Item Analysis
Meaning of definition of Difficulty Value (D.V.)

If an item of test is answered correctly by every examinee, it means the item is

very easy. This item will not serve any purpose and there is no use to include
such items in a test. Such items are generally rejected.

If an item is not answered correctly by any of the examinees. None could

answer correctly, it means the item is most difficult. This item will not serve any
purpose and there is no use to include such items in a test. Such items are
usually rejected.
 Item Analysis
Item Discrimination Index (D)

Item discrimination analysis deals with the fact that often different test
takers will answer a test item in different ways. As such, it addresses
questions of considerable interest to most faculty, such as, "does the
test item differentiate those who did well on the exam overall from
those who did not?" or "does the test item differentiate those who know
the material from those who do not?"
 Item Analysis
Item Discrimination Index (D)

Divide the group of test takers into two groups, high scoring and low
scoring. Ordinarily, this is done by dividing the examinees into those
scoring above and those scoring below the median.

Compute the item difficulty levels separately for the upper (P upper) and
lower (P lower) scoring groups.
1.Subtract the two difficulty levels such that D = P upper - P lower

Item discrimination index D is 1.00 and the item is said to be a perfect positive discriminator
Item discrimination index D is 1.00 and the item is said to be a perfect positive discriminator