If you want to know why the students missed an "easy" test item that deals with content covered in class, why not bring it up with the students? They should be able to shed light on where the problem lies. --Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------------- David E. Campbell, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: 707-826-3721 Humboldt State University FAX: 707-826-4993 Arcata, CA 95521 www.humboldt.edu/~campbell/psyc.htm On Fri, 14 Feb 2003, Hetzel, Rod wrote: > Hi everyone: > > Here's a scenario for your consideration. > > I gave a multiple-choice quiz today with ten items. Each item has four > response options, so the optimum difficulty level for any item would be > about .625. For one question, most of the class got the question wrong > and the actual item difficulty was .08. Does this mean that item itself > was a difficult item (which would be a test construction issue and > suggest that the item should be discarded from the test), or does it > mean that the students were not prepared to answer the question (which > would suggest either inadequate instruction by the professor or > inadequate preparation by the students)? I'm looking at this because > the question, in my estimation, was a simple question. Here it is: > > A student confronts his psychology professor and says, "You assigned > Chapters 7 through 10, but nearly all of the items came from Chapter 7. > How can you evaluate whether we know anything about the other material > we were supposed to read?" The student is challenging the test on the > basis of: > > A. Face validity > B. Content validity > C. Criterion validity > D. Construct validity > > This to me seems like a straightforward question. Students chose > equally from the three distractors. The topic was covered substantially > in class through lecture and activities. The book also provides very > easy coverage of this topic. I'm trying to decide why this question > posed such a challenge to the students. > > Rod > > > ______________________________________________ > Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > LeTourneau University > Post Office Box 7001 > 2100 South Mobberly Avenue > Longview, Texas 75607-7001 > > Office: Education Center 218 > Phone: 903-233-3893 > Fax: 903-233-3851 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
