PSY 431- 11, PSY 431- 10, PSY 431- 9
UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
What is a quantitative item analysis?
A. numerical data from respondent questionnaires about the test
B. analysis of data from respondent questionnaires about the test
C. statistical analyses of the responses test takers gave to individual items
D. statistical analyses of the test's validity - CORRECT ANSWER - statistical analyses of the
responses test takers gave to individual items
Test items that everyone gets "right" or everyone gets "wrong" provide ______.
A. evidence the test yields a wide range of scores
B. proof the test is not biased against minorities
C. support for the validity of the test questions
D. no basis for a comparison of test takers' abilities - CORRECT ANSWER - no basis for a
comparison of test takers' abilities
The percentage of test takers who respond correctly to a test item is a measure of the item's ______.
A. difficulty
B. bias
C. ability to discriminate
D. item-total correlation - CORRECT ANSWER - difficulty
Dividing the number of persons who answered correctly by the total number of persons who responded to
the question is a measure of an item's ______.
A. discrimination index
B. phi coefficient
C. difficulty
,D. bias - CORRECT ANSWER - difficulty
Which one of the following ranges of item p values yield distribution of test scores with the most
variation?
A. 0-0.3
B. 0.4-0.6
C. 0.7-1
D. 1-3 - CORRECT ANSWER - 0.4-0.6
When items have a very low or very high p value, test developers ______.
A. accept them as good items
B. know that they contribute to the variability of the test scores
C. rewrite or discard the items
D. have evidence that the item is valid - CORRECT ANSWER - rewrite or discard the items
What is the discrimination index?
A. a comparison of the scores of respondents by sex, race, or other personal characteristics
B. an index of how difficult each test item is
C. a comparison of high performer scores with low performer scores on each item
D. cumulative results from an item analysis yielding an overall score for the test - CORRECT
ANSWER - a comparison of high performer scores with low performer scores on each item
How do researchers calculate the discrimination index?
A. They calculate the difference between the percentage of upper performers and the percentage of lower
performers who responded correctly.
B. They calculate the percentage of test takers who answered the item correctly.
C. They compare the percentage of test takers who answered the item correctly by demographic group.
D. They develop a matrix that contains the results of the item analyses for each item and calculate a score
by adding the matrix columns. - CORRECT ANSWER - They calculate the difference between the
percentage of upper performers and the percentage of lower performers who responded correctly.
,The formula D = U − L is used to calculate which one of the following statistics?
A. discrimination index
B. difficulty level
C. item-total correlation
D. item-total index - CORRECT ANSWER - discrimination index
When test developers examine the discrimination indexes of each item, which one of the following
outcomes do they consider being most desirable?
A. low positive numbers
B. high positive numbers
C. average positive numbers
D. low negative numbers - CORRECT ANSWER - high positive numbers
Which one of the following outcomes indicates that a test item should be retained in a test?
A. High performers answered the item correctly and low performers answered the item incorrectly.
B. High performers answered the item correctly and low performers answered the item correctly.
C. High performers answered the item incorrectly and low performers answered the item correctly.
D. High performers answered the item incorrectly and low performers answered the item incorrectly. -
CORRECT ANSWER - High performers answered the item correctly and low performers
answered the item incorrectly.
An interitem correlation matrix displays the ______.
A. reliability and validity coefficients for each item
B. difficulty of each item on the test
C. correlation of each item with every other item on the test
D. correlation of each item with the total test score for all test takers - CORRECT ANSWER -
correlation of each item with every other item on the test
What are phi coefficients?
, A. the correlation between two dichotomous variables
B. the correlation between two sets of test scores
C. the correlation between a test item and the total test score
D. they correlation of item difficulty and item bias - CORRECT ANSWER - the correlation
between two dichotomous variables
How are phi coefficients interpreted?
A. the same as discrimination coefficients
B. the same as reliability coefficients
C. the same as validity coefficients
D. the same as Pearson product moment correlations - CORRECT ANSWER - the same as Pearson
product moment correlations
Which one of the following provides important information for increasing the test's internal consistency?
A. discrimination index
B. difficulty level
C. interitem correlation matrix
D. coefficient of multiple correlation - CORRECT ANSWER - interitem correlation matrix
To increase internal consistency, items that correlate well with other items measuring the same construct
should be ______.
A. dropped
B. retained
C. rewritten
D. grouped together - CORRECT ANSWER - retained
Which one of the following statistics can be used to make decisions about retaining or discarding an item
based on how well the item discriminates between high- and low-scoring test takers?
A. item-total correlation
B. inter-item correlation
UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and
CORRECT Answers
What is a quantitative item analysis?
A. numerical data from respondent questionnaires about the test
B. analysis of data from respondent questionnaires about the test
C. statistical analyses of the responses test takers gave to individual items
D. statistical analyses of the test's validity - CORRECT ANSWER - statistical analyses of the
responses test takers gave to individual items
Test items that everyone gets "right" or everyone gets "wrong" provide ______.
A. evidence the test yields a wide range of scores
B. proof the test is not biased against minorities
C. support for the validity of the test questions
D. no basis for a comparison of test takers' abilities - CORRECT ANSWER - no basis for a
comparison of test takers' abilities
The percentage of test takers who respond correctly to a test item is a measure of the item's ______.
A. difficulty
B. bias
C. ability to discriminate
D. item-total correlation - CORRECT ANSWER - difficulty
Dividing the number of persons who answered correctly by the total number of persons who responded to
the question is a measure of an item's ______.
A. discrimination index
B. phi coefficient
C. difficulty
,D. bias - CORRECT ANSWER - difficulty
Which one of the following ranges of item p values yield distribution of test scores with the most
variation?
A. 0-0.3
B. 0.4-0.6
C. 0.7-1
D. 1-3 - CORRECT ANSWER - 0.4-0.6
When items have a very low or very high p value, test developers ______.
A. accept them as good items
B. know that they contribute to the variability of the test scores
C. rewrite or discard the items
D. have evidence that the item is valid - CORRECT ANSWER - rewrite or discard the items
What is the discrimination index?
A. a comparison of the scores of respondents by sex, race, or other personal characteristics
B. an index of how difficult each test item is
C. a comparison of high performer scores with low performer scores on each item
D. cumulative results from an item analysis yielding an overall score for the test - CORRECT
ANSWER - a comparison of high performer scores with low performer scores on each item
How do researchers calculate the discrimination index?
A. They calculate the difference between the percentage of upper performers and the percentage of lower
performers who responded correctly.
B. They calculate the percentage of test takers who answered the item correctly.
C. They compare the percentage of test takers who answered the item correctly by demographic group.
D. They develop a matrix that contains the results of the item analyses for each item and calculate a score
by adding the matrix columns. - CORRECT ANSWER - They calculate the difference between the
percentage of upper performers and the percentage of lower performers who responded correctly.
,The formula D = U − L is used to calculate which one of the following statistics?
A. discrimination index
B. difficulty level
C. item-total correlation
D. item-total index - CORRECT ANSWER - discrimination index
When test developers examine the discrimination indexes of each item, which one of the following
outcomes do they consider being most desirable?
A. low positive numbers
B. high positive numbers
C. average positive numbers
D. low negative numbers - CORRECT ANSWER - high positive numbers
Which one of the following outcomes indicates that a test item should be retained in a test?
A. High performers answered the item correctly and low performers answered the item incorrectly.
B. High performers answered the item correctly and low performers answered the item correctly.
C. High performers answered the item incorrectly and low performers answered the item correctly.
D. High performers answered the item incorrectly and low performers answered the item incorrectly. -
CORRECT ANSWER - High performers answered the item correctly and low performers
answered the item incorrectly.
An interitem correlation matrix displays the ______.
A. reliability and validity coefficients for each item
B. difficulty of each item on the test
C. correlation of each item with every other item on the test
D. correlation of each item with the total test score for all test takers - CORRECT ANSWER -
correlation of each item with every other item on the test
What are phi coefficients?
, A. the correlation between two dichotomous variables
B. the correlation between two sets of test scores
C. the correlation between a test item and the total test score
D. they correlation of item difficulty and item bias - CORRECT ANSWER - the correlation
between two dichotomous variables
How are phi coefficients interpreted?
A. the same as discrimination coefficients
B. the same as reliability coefficients
C. the same as validity coefficients
D. the same as Pearson product moment correlations - CORRECT ANSWER - the same as Pearson
product moment correlations
Which one of the following provides important information for increasing the test's internal consistency?
A. discrimination index
B. difficulty level
C. interitem correlation matrix
D. coefficient of multiple correlation - CORRECT ANSWER - interitem correlation matrix
To increase internal consistency, items that correlate well with other items measuring the same construct
should be ______.
A. dropped
B. retained
C. rewritten
D. grouped together - CORRECT ANSWER - retained
Which one of the following statistics can be used to make decisions about retaining or discarding an item
based on how well the item discriminates between high- and low-scoring test takers?
A. item-total correlation
B. inter-item correlation
