Hypothetical Psychology Test

Hypothetical Psychology Test

EDU 645

Jessica Hall

Barry Morinaka

12/24/12

  

The Hypothetical psychology test consisted of 5 questions. Four of the questions were multiple choice and the other was an essay or short answer question. There are some things that could have been changed when assembling this test. According to Kubiszyn & Borich, “There are several packaging guidelines worth remembering, including grouping together items of similar format, arranging test items from easy to hard, placing illustrations near the descriptive material, checking for randomness in the answer key, providing space for the test taker’s name, checking the test directions for clarity and proofreading the test before distribution.”

Overview of Hypothetical Psychology Test

1. Who came up with the psychosexual stages?

*Sigmund Freud
Skinner
Gardner
Lada Gaga

2. Which psychologist tested classical conditioning with dogs?

B. F. Skinner
*Ivan Pavlov
Igor Pavlov
Sigmund Freud

3. Explain the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning, and provide an example of each

4. The act of removing a stimulus to reinforce a certain behavior                                               

*...is called negative reinforcement   
positive reinforcement
punishment
all of the above

5. Psychology is                                                                                                                           

*the study of the psyche

First and foremost, this test should have been proofread before being distributed to the test takers. The test had a few errors that should have been corrected. According to Kubiszyn & Borich, pg. 224, there is a test assembly checklist that should be followed before reproducing the test. Another error was the test questions not being grouped together. According to Kubiszyn & Borich, pg. 223, if you have all similar questions grouped together, the students will not have to switch gears to adjust to new formats. This will allow them to include more items in a given time than if item formats were mixed throughout the test. By grouping items of a given format together, only one set of directions per format section is necessary, which is another time saver.

According to Kubiszyn & Borich, you should decide how you want students to record answers. In lower elementary grades, it is best to have them record the answers directly on the test. In upper elementary and secondary grades, a separate answer sheet can be used which will enable scoring accuracy and cut down scoring time. Also, it will allow students in upper grades to become familiar with the process they will be using when taking standardized tests.

 

According to Kubiszyn & Borich, “quantitative item analysis is a technique that will enable us to assess the quality or utility of an item. It does so by identifying distractors or response options that are not doing what they should be doing.” Quantitative item analysis is preferably appropriate for examining the effectiveness of multiple choice questions. With this test, it is difficult to determine the quantitative item analysis because there is no evidence of which student chose what answer. We can only determine which question each student got right by the number of points that were awarded for each question.

From viewing the test, we see that 9 out of 10 students got item number one correct. This means that 9 students chose A as the correct answer. Let’s assume the student that chose the wrong answer, chose letter B and no one chose letters C & D. We can assume the quantitative item analysis for this item is as follows:

P= total number of students selecting correct answer

      Total number of students attempting the item

P= 9/10 = 0.90

From this analysis, we can determine that 90% of the class got this questions right and the other items should be modified to be better distractors.

Qualitative item analysis involves screening and editing test items for precision, style, cultural content and conciseness. Since these tests are given to all students using the same instructions and procedures, the person administering the test follows a distinct, well-rehearsed format. Thus, test developers make an immense effort to know the distinctiveness of their audience and compose instructions and questions that students will comprehend. At this stage of test development, questions are also examined for cultural content. This means that test developers eliminate or revise test questions or tasks containing knowledge or pictures that are more familiar to one segment of the population (for example, one cultural group) than another. Questions also are carefully screened for ethnic, racial, and gender stereotypes. ("What teachers need," )

When preparing test, you have to keep in mind that there are some guidelines that should be followed to ensure that the test are packaged correctly so that the reproduction, administration, scoring and analyzing flows smoothly.

  

References

Kubiszyn, T. & Borich, G. (2010). Educational testing & measurement: Classroom application and practice (9th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ.

What teachers need to know about. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ows.edb.utexas.edu/sites/default/files/users/borichgd/book/chapter11.pdf