Tried to send this yesterday but I was over limit. Well, enough people have weighed in and I want to thank everyone.
Let me summarize the replies: for the most part people thought my students chose A and that C would be "correct". In fact it was opposite: the students ALL chose C and I thought A was a better response. I guess I thought of it differently because I was thinking that in light of having taught about op defs but also about convergent and construct validity in this section, that A would be the "better" answer in the sense that if one wants to strengthen confidence in a theoretical relationship between constructs then different operational definitions "should" lead to the same results. On further consideration I don't like this item so much any more because of the "should" and "could" statements. So C is probably better on its own because, of course, one "could" get different answers, as most of your responses to me reflected. I was thinking that if a true theoretical relationship exists then it should be robust to changes in op defs. The reason I posted this to the list was because it was just so striking to have EVERYONE IN CLASS pick the same option! No matter the rightness or wrongness of it. On no other item did they do that. Nor do they usually do that. So there must have been something in how I presented material in class (I read the text over with a fine tooth comb and neither answer would have been definitive) that lead everyone to that opinion--and on its own correctly so. >From a test construction perspective, in the sense that a good item is one >which discriminates well between those who do well and those who don't, then >this was a poor item anyway and I've decided to toss it from the exam. But thanks for all the insights. I think I need to think more like a student and take each item as is, and not try to broaden the context. Since posting this question, I also found the source for the item: I have modified it a bit but it did come from the test bank that accompanies the Cozby text (which I use). And in the test bank the correct option is C. Boy oh boy, too much knowledge (my taking account of more than just op defs but also the different validities and conceptual replications) really can make things too complex. I out-thought myself :( Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
