Browsing by Author "Traub, Ross E."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item On the equivalence of constructed-response and multiple-choice tests(1977) Traub, Ross E.; Fisher, Charles W.Two sets of mathematical reasoning and two sets of verbal comprehension items were cast into each of three formats-constructed response, standard multiple-choice, and Coombs multiple-choice-in order to assess whether tests with identical content but different formats measure the same attribute, except for possible differences in error variance and scaling factors. The resulting 12 tests were administered to 199 eighth-grade students. The hypothesis of equivalent measures was rejected for only two comparisons: the constructed-response measure of verbal comprehension was different from both the standard and the Coombs multiple-choice measures of this ability. Maximum likelihood factor analysis confirmed the hypothesis that a five-factor structure will give a satisfactory account of the common variance among the 12 tests. As expected, the two major factors were mathematical reasoning and verbal comprehension. Contrary to expectation, only one of the other three factors bore a (weak) resemblance to a format factor. Tests marking the ability to follow directions, recall and recognition memory, and risk-taking were included, but these variables did not correlate as expected with the three minor factors.Item Reliability of test scores and decisions(1980) Traub, Ross E.; Rowley, Glenn L.A criterion-referenced test can be viewed as testing either a continuous or a binary variable, and the scores on a test can be used as measurements of the variable or to make decisions (e.g., pass or fail). Recent work on the reliability of criterion-referenced tests has focused on the use of scores from tests of continuous variables for decision-making purposes. This work can be categorized according to type of loss function-threshold, linear, or quadratic. It is the loss function that is used either explicitly or implicitly to evaluate the goodness of the decisions that are made on the basis of the test scores. The literature in which a threshold loss function is employed can be further subdivided according to whether the goodness of decisions is assessed as the probability of making an erroneous decision or as a measure of the consistency of decisions over repeated testing occasions. This review points to the need for simple procedures by which to estimate the probability of decision errors.