ASSIGNMENT
TEST CONSTRUCTION
Ebin Sebastian
MSc. Clinical Psychology
INTRODUCTION
A psychological test is a standardized procedure to measure quantitatively or
qualitatively one or more than one aspect of a trait by means of a sample of a verbal or
nonverbal behaviour. It is an objective and standardized measure of an individual’s mental
and behavioural characteristics. A Psychological test is a systematic procedure or observing
person’s behaviour or performing, describing it with the aid of a numerical scale or category
system. Mostly tests are used as a way of measuring differences between people or
differences in the same person over time. Psychological tests are written, visual, or verbal
evaluations administered to assess the cognitive and emotional functioning of children and
adults.
INITIAL STAGES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION
1. PLANNING OF THE TEST
The first step in the development of a standardized test is the preparation of a plan. The
plan will vary, depending upon the type of test that an author is preparing. But every plan
should contain a statement of the purpose or purposes of the test and some outline of the
content of the test. The purpose of the plan is to present the rationale for the test and to guide
the preparation and evaluation of items to be used in the test. The purpose also serves as a
general guideline for a potential user as he considers the quality of a test and how well the
purpose was achieved. There needs to be a systematic planning in order to formulate a
standardized test. Its objectives should be carefully defined. The type of content should be
determined for example using short/long/very short answers or using multiple type questions,
etc. A blue print must be ready with instructions to the method to be used for sampling,
making the necessary requirements for preliminary and final administration. The length, time
for completing the test and number of questions should be fixed. Detailed and precise
instructions should be given for administration of the test and also, it’s scoring.
At this stage, the test constructor specifies the broad and specific objectives of the test in
clear terms. He decides on;
The content of items to be included
The type of instruction to be included
The method of sampling
A detailed arrangement for the preliminary administration and final administration
A probable length and time limit for the completion of the test
Probable statistical methods to be adopted
The total number of reproductions of the test to be made and a preparation of a
manual
2. WRITING OF THE TEST ITEMS
The second step in test constructor is the preparation of the items of the test. According to
Bean (1953), an item is defined as “a single question or task that is not often broken down
into any smaller units”. Item writing starts with the planning done earlier. If the test
constructor decides to prepare an essay test, the essay items are written down. However, if he
decides to construct an objective test, he writes down the objective items such as the
alternative response items, matching items, multiple choice item, completion item, short
answer item, pictorial form of items etc. Depending upon the purpose, he decides to write any
of these objective types of items.
Item writing is essentially a creative art. There are no set rules to guide and guarantee
writing of good items. A lot depends upon the item writer’s intuition, imagination,
experience, practice, and ingenuity. However, there are some essential prerequisites which
must be met if the item writer wants to write good and appropriate items. These requirements
are enumerated as follows;
1. The item writer must have a thorough knowledge and complete master of the
subject matter. In other words, he must be fully acquainted with all facts,
principles, misconceptions, fallacies in a particular field so that he may be able to
write good and appropriate items.
2. The item writer must be fully aware of those persons for whom the test is meant.
He must be aware of the intelligence level of those persons so that he may
manipulate the difficulty level of the items for proper adjustment with their ability
level. He must also be able to avoid irrelevant clues to the correct responses.
3. The item writer must be familiar with different types of items along with their
advantages and disadvantages. He must also be aware of the characteristics of
good items and the common probable errors in writing items.
4. The item writer must have a large vocabulary. He must know the different
meanings of a word so that confusion in writing the items may be avoided. He
must be able to convey the meaning of the items in the simplest possible language.
5. After writing down the items, they must be submitted to a group of subject experts
for their criticisms and suggestions following which the items must then be duly
modified.
TYPES OF ITEMS
A. Essay item or free answer item
An essay item is one in which the examinee relies upon his memory and past
association to answer the question in a few words only.
Short answer type- in one or two lines
Long answer type- in long paragraphs
Difficulty of essay items
Factual knowledge will be less
More time is taken
To solve
Open book examination- limit to book
Take home examination- No time pressure when they are free
Cheet sheets- Bring one peace of paper with facts
Study questions- it is provided with question
Methods of scoring essay items
Sorting method- Answers are sorted based on fairness of the answers.
Point score method- compared based on grade key
B. Objective item or new type item
There is only one fixed correct answer which either examinee gives on his own or he
is required to select from
Types of objective items
Supply type- Examinee writes the correct answer as his own
Selection type- it is from the given answer
Types of supply type
Unstructured short answer item- It is given in a question form where the examinee
supplies correct answer in terms of word, number or phrase
The completion item or fill in them- in the form of an incomplete sentence
Selection type methods are;
Two alternative item- Out of 2, one is selected- e.g. Yes or No
Multiple choice item- from 3 to 5 options
Matching items- 2 columns right and left and pairing left with right
Scoring objective test items
Overlay key method- Cut out key is prepared
Strip key method- Printed on a strip of answers
3. PRELIMINARY ADMINISTRATION
When the items have been written down and modified in the light of the suggestions and
criticisms given by the experts, the test is said to be ready for its experimental try- out. The
purpose of experimental try out or preliminary administration of the test is manifold.
According to Conrad, the main purpose of the experimental try out of any psychological and
educational test is as given below;
1. Finding out the major weaknesses, omissions, ambiguities, and inadequacies of the
items. In other words, try out helps in identifying the ambiguous and indeterminate
items, nonfunctioning distractors in multiple choice items, very difficult or very easy
items and the like
2. Determining the difficulty value of each item which helps in selecting items for their
even and proper distribution in the final form.
3. Determining the validity of each individual item. The experimental try out helps in
determining the discriminatory power of each individual item. The discriminatory
power refers to the extent to which any given item discriminates successfully between
those who possess the train in larger amounts and those who possess the same trait in
the least amount.
4. Determining a reasonable time limit of the test
5. Determining the appropriate length of the test. In other words, it helps in determining
the number of items to be included in the final form.
6. Determining the intercorrelations of items so that overlapping can be avoided.
7. Identifying any weaknesses and vagueness in directions or instructions of the test as
well in the fore exercises or sample questions of the test.
3 ADMINISTRATIONS
For achieving these aims of experimental try out, Conrad (1951) recommended at
least three preliminary administrations of the test. After modifying the items as per the advice
of the experts the test can be tried out on experimental basis, which is done to prune out any
inadequacy or weakness of the item. It highlights ambiguous items, irrelevant choices in
multiple choice questions, items that are very difficult or easy to answer. Also, the time
duration of the test and number of items that are to be kept in the final test can be ascertained,
this avoids repetition and vagueness in the instructions. This is done in following three
stages:
a) Preliminary try-out – First administration is known as pre try out. It is to detect any gross
weaknesses, omissions. This is performed individually and it helps in improving and
modifying the linguistic difficulty and vagueness of items. It is administered to around 100
people and modifications are done after observing the workability of the items.
b) The Second preliminary administration – It is also known as try out proper and it is
administered to approximately 400 people wherein the sample is kept same as the final
intended participants of the test. This test is done to remove the poor or less significant items
and choose the good items and includes two activities. The sample for this must be similar to
those for whom the test is intended. Item analysis is a technique of selecting discriminating
items for the final composition of the test. It aims at obtaining three kinds of information
regarding the items.: the difficulty value of the item, the discrimination index of the item and
the effectiveness of the distractors.
* The difficulty value of the item- It is the proportion or percentage of the examinees or
individuals who answer the item correctly. If an item is answered correctly by 90 % of the
examinees it obviously means that the item is relatively easy and is not discriminating well at
the very bottom of the scale of the trait being measured and or is discriminating well at the
very bottom of the scale of the trait being measured. If an item is answered correctly by only
3% of the examinees it means that the item is difficult one. If an item is answered correctly
by 100% and 0% examinees has no differentiating significance.
* Index of discrimination- It is the ability of the item on the basis of which the
discrimination or distinction is made between superiors and inferiors. The discriminatory
power or validity of the item is the extent to which success and failure on that item indicate
the possession of the trait or achievement is being measured. All test items can be divided
into items that are either positively discriminating, negatively discriminating and non-
discriminating. A positively discriminating item is the proportion or percentage of correct
answers is higher in the upper group. A negatively discriminating item is the proportion or
percentage of correct answers is lower in the upper group. Nondiscriminating item is the
percentage or proportion of correct anwers is equal or approximately equal in both the upper
and lower groups.
* Effectiveness of distractors- If a particular item is not functioning well or is found to be
defective we have to examine its possible reasons and one obvious method is to examine the
distractibility of the incorrect options. This procedure is called distractor analysis. Usually,
the number of examinees answering each distractor of an item in both the upper group and
lower group is counted.
C) Third try-out – It is known as the final trail administration. It is carried out to detect any
minor defect that may not have been detected by the first two preliminary administrations. At
this stage, the items are selected after item analysis and they constitute the test in the final
form. It indicates how effective the test will really be when it would be administered on the
sample for which it is really intended. Thus, the third preliminary administration would be a
kind of dress rehearsal providing a sort of final check on the procedure of administration of
the test and its time limit. After the final trial administration is over no material change is
ordinarily to be included on the test. It is administered on a large sample in order to estimate
the reliability and validity. It provides an indication to the effectiveness of the test when the
intended sample is subjected to it.
REFERENCES
Niwlikar, AuthorDr. B. (2022, December 11). Steps in psychological test construction "
Careershodh. Careershodh. [Link]
construction/
Singh, A. K. (2021). Tests, Measurements and Research Methods in Behavioural Sciences.
(6th ed.). Patna: B. B. Printers.
