At 09:40 AM 11/6/00 -0600, Mike Scoles wrote:
>Perhaps I am too trusting, but I've got to "guess" that the folks at ETS are
>not amateurs at test construction. Favoring some distractors, either by
>placement of the correct answer or content of the distractors, is something
>that is avoided.
So, you are saying that for items it would be possible to eliminate some
distractors? If this is the case, then the guessing is not totally random
which is a very important point. Namely, if someone's odds of guessing the
correct answer improve because the eliminate one or two of the distractors,
then guessing is more likely to help. My argument is that with true random
guessing, it could hurt someone's score. An example would be that a student
has 1 minute left to answer the last 5 questions. Rather than reading and
answering 1 question should they guess at all 5 remaining items without
even reading the question or distractors.
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Lecturer & Head of Computer Operations
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
