Determining item & task effectiveness Simplified item-analysis procedures Limitations in interpreting item-analysis results

i.

ii.

iii.

Effectiveness of each test item can be determined by analyzing how students response to it. Item-analysis: Generally associated with norm-referenced perspective (best discriminate between high and low achieving students). It is useful in identifying faulty item & can provide information about student misconceptions & topics that need additional work . Item analysis is often produced to answer questions such as the following: a) Did the item function as intended? b) Were the test items of appropriate difficulty?

 a.

The advantages of item analysis: Enhancement of individual test items.

Special value to classroom teachers as the following;

b.

Item analysis data provide: i. A basis for efficient class discussion of the test results. ii. A basis for remedial work. iii. A basis for the general improvement of classroom instruction. Item analysis procedures provide: i. A basis for increase skill in test construction.

Examle: We have 50 test papers. Rank tests from highest to lowest. Take the top 10 and bottom 10. Check each questions to see what the difficulty and discrimination is. For difficulty: The percentage of students who answered the item correctly.
High (Difficult) Medium (Moderate) Low (Easy)

<= 30%

> 30% AND < 80%

>=80%

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Number of students who answered each item = 50

Item No.

No. Correct Answers

% Correct

1
2 3 4

15
25 35 45

30
50

Difficulty Level High Medium

70
90

Medium
Low

What is Item Discrimination?

Generally, students who did well on the exam should select the correct answer to any given item on the exam. The Discrimination Index distinguishes for each item between the performance of students who did well on the exam and students who did poorly. How does it work? For each item, subtract the number of students in the lower group who answered correctly from the number of students in the upper group who answered correctly. Divide the result by the number of students in one group. The Discrimination Index is listed in decimal format and ranges between -1 and 1.

i.

ii. iii.

Number of Students achieving each Score

30 20 10 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Hard Exam

Normal Exam

Easy Exam

For exams with a normal distribution, a discrimination of 0.3 and above is good; 0.6 and above is very good. Values close to 0 mean that most students performed the same on an item. The index should never be negative.

 Item

discrimination power does not indicate item validity. A low index discriminating power does not necessarily indicate a defective item.