Module 4 PDF
Module 4 PDF
Module 4 PDF
Lesson Outline:
Define the basic concepts regarding item analysis;
Identify the steps in improving test items;
Solve difficulty index and discrimination index;
Identify the level of difficulty of an item;
Perform item analysis properly and correctly;
Identify the item to be rejected, revised, or retained; and
Interpret the results of item analysis.
I. Introduction
One of the most important functions of a teacher is to assess the performance of the students.
It is a very complicated task because one will have to consider many activities: Timing of the
assessment process
Format of the assessment tools
Duration of the assessment procedures
assessment as it is in medicine.
Item Analysis
o The technique to help teachers determine the quality of a test item o One of the
purpose is to improve the quality of the assessment tools. o Through this, one can
identify the item that is to be retained, revised or rejected, and the content of the
lesson that is mastered or not.
o Two kinds:
Quantitative Item Analysis
Qualitative Item Analysis
Item Analysis
It consists of different procedures for assessing the quality of the test items given to the
students.
Through the use of this, one can identify which of the given are good and defective test
items.
o Good Test Items: Retained
o Defective Test Items: To be improved; to be revised; or to be rejected Uses of
Item Analysis
1. Item analysis data provide a basis for efficient class discussion of the test results.
2. Item analysis data provide basis for remedial work.
3. Item analysis data provide a basis for general improvement of classroom instruction.
4. Item analysis data provide a basis for increased skills in test construction. 5. Item
analysis procedures provide a basis for constructing test bank.
Difficulty Index
Refers to the proportion of the number of students in the upper and lower groups who
answered an item correctly.
The larger the portion, the more students, who have learned the subject measured by
the item.
Formula:
NOTE: The higher the value of the index of difficulty, the easier the item is. Hence, more
students got the correct answer and the more students mastered the content measured
by the item.
Discrimination Index
The power of the item to discriminate the students between those who scored high and
those who scored low in the overall test.
It is the power of the item to discriminate the students who know the lesson and those
who do not know the lesson.
Refers to the number of students in the upper group who got an item correctly minus the
number of students in the lower group who got an item correctly. Divide the difference by
either the number of the students in the upper group or in the lower group or get the higher
number if they are not equal.
It is the basis of measuring the validity of an item.
It can be interpreted as an indication of the extent to which overall knowledge of the content area or
mastery of the skills is related to the response on an item.
NOTE:
Consider the higher no. in case the sizes in upper and lower group are not equal. Steps in
Solving Difficulty Index and Discrimination Index
Arrange the scores from highest to lowest.
Separate the scores into upper group and lower group. There are different methods to do this:
If a class consists of 30 students who takes an exam, arrange their scores from highest to lowest,
then divide them into two groups. The highest score belongs to the upper group. The lowest score
belongs to the lower group.
Other literatures suggested to use 27%, 30%, or 33% of the students for the upper group and
lower group. However, in the licensure Examinations for Teachers (LET), the test developers
always used 27% of the students who participated in the examination for the upper and lower
groups.
Count the number of those who chose the alternatives in the upper and lower group for each item
and record the information using the template:
Options A B C D E
Upper Group
Lower Group
NOTE:
If the answers to question 1 and 2 are both YES, retain the item. If the answers to question
1 and 2 are either YES or NO, revise the item. If the answers to question 1 and 2 are both
NO, eliminate or reject the item.
Miskeyed Item
The test item is a potential miskey if there are more students from the upper group who choose the
incorrect options than the key.
Guessing Item
Students from the upper group have equal spread of choices among the given alternatives.
Students from the upper group guess their answers because of: The content of
the test is not discussed in the class or in the text. The test item is very difficult.
The question is trivial.
Ambiguous Item
This happens when more students from the upper group choose equally an incorrect option
and the keyed answer.
Qualitative Item Analysis
A process in which the teacher or expert carefully proofreads the test before it is administered
to:
Check if there are typographical errors
Avoid grammatical clues that may lead to giving away the correct answer Ensure that the
level of reading materials are appropriate
These procedures can also include small group discussions on the quality of the
examination and its items, with examinees that have already took the test. According to Cohen,
Swerdlik and Smith (1992), students who took the examinations are asked to express verbally their
experience in answering each item in the examination.
This can help the teacher in determining whether the test takers misunderstood a certain item.
It can also help in determining why they misunderstood a certain item.
Make an analysis about the level of difficulty, discrimination and distracters. Only 35% of the
examinees got the answer correctly, hence, the item is difficult. More students from the upper
group got the answer correctly. Hence it has a positive discrimination.
Retain options A, C, and E because most of the students who did not perform well in the overall
examination selected it. Those options attract most students from the lower group.
Conclusion: Retain the test item but change option D, make it more realistic to make it
effective for the upper and lower groups. At least 5% of the examinees choose the incorrect option.
Example 2: A class is composed of 50 students. Use 27% to get the upper and the lower groups.
Analyze the item given the following results. Option D is the correct answer. What will you do with
the test item?
Options A B C D* E
Upper Group 3 1 2 6 2
Lower Group 5 0 4 4 1
Make an analysis about the level of difficulty, discrimination and distracters. Only 36% of the
examinees got the answer correctly, hence, the item is difficult. More students from the upper
group got the answer correctly. Hence it has a positive discrimination.
Modify options B and E because more students from the upper group chose them compare with the
lower group, hence, they are not effective distracters because most of the students who performed
well in the overall examination selected them as their answers. Retain options A and C because
most of the students who did not perform well in the overall examination selected it. Hence, options A
and C are effective distracters. Conclusion: Revised the item by modifying options B and E.
Example 3: A class is composed of 50 students. Use 27% to get the upper and lower groups.
Analyze the item given the following results. Option E is the correct answer. What will you do with
the test item?
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 2 3 2 2 5
Lower Group 2 2 1 1 8
Compute for the difficulty index.
n = 5 + 8 = 13 N = 28
D_f=n/N
D_f=13/28
D_f=0.46 or 46%
Make an analysis about the level of difficulty, discrimination and distracters. a. 46% of
the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence, the test item is moderately
difficult.
More students from the lower group got the answer correctly, therefore, it is a negative
discrimination. The discrimination index is -21%.
No need to analyze the distracters because the item discriminates negatively. Modify
all the distracters because they are not effective. Most of the students in the upper
group chose the incorrect options. The options are effective if most of the students in
the lower group chose the incorrect options.
Conclusion: Reject the item because it has a negative discrimination index.
Example 4: Potential Miskeyed Item. Make an item analysis about the table below. What
will you do with the test that is a potential miskeyed item?
Options A* B C D E
Upper Group 1 2 3 10 4
Lower Group 3 4 4 4 5
Make an analysis about the level of difficulty, discrimination and distracters. More students
from the upper group chose option D tan option A, even though option A is supposedly the
correct answer.
Most likely the teacher has written the wrong answer key. The teacher checks and finds out that
he/she did not miskey the answer that he/she thought is the correct answer.
If the te
test papers before giving them back.
If option A is really the correct answer, revise to weaken option D, distracters are not supposed to
draw more attention than the keyed answer.
Only 10% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence the test item is very
difficult.
More students from the lower group got the item correctly, therefore, a negative discrimination
resulted. The discrimination index is -10%.
No need to analyze the distracters because the test is very difficult and discriminates
negatively.
Conclusion: Reject the item because it has a negative discrimination index.
Example 5: Ambiguous item. Below is the result of item analysis of a test with an ambiguous test
item. What can you say about the item? Are you going to retain, revise or reject it?
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 7 1 1 2 8
Lower Group 6 2 3 3 6
CUG = 8 CLG = 6 D = 20
D_I=(C_UG-C_LG)/D
=(8-6)/20
=2/20
=0.10 or 10%
Make an analysis.
Only 36% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence, the test item is difficult.
More students from the upper group got the item correctly, hence, it discriminates positively. The
discrimination index is 10%.
About equal numbers of top students went for the option A and option E, this implies that they
could not tell which is the correct answer. The students do not know the content of the test, this, a
reteach is needed.
Conclusion: Revise the test item because it is ambiguous.
Example 6: Guessing item. Below is the result of an item analysis for a test item with swers mostly
based on a guess. Are you going to reject, revise or retain the test item?
Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 4 3 4 3 6
Lower Group 3 4 3 4 5
CUG = 4 CLG = 3 D = 20
D_I=(C_UG-C_LG)/D
=(4-3)/20
=1/20
=0.05 or 5%
Make an analysis.
Only 18% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence, the test item is very
difficult.
More students from the upper group got the correct answer to the test item; therefore, the test item
is a positive discrimination. The discrimination index is 5%. Students respond equally to all
alternatives, an indication that they are guessing. Three possibilities why student guesses the
answer on the test item: The content of the test item has not yet been discussed in the class
because the test is designed in advance;
Test items were badly written that students have no idea what the question is really all about;
and
Test items were very difficult as shown from the difficulty index and low discrimination
index.
If the test item is well-written but too difficult, reteach the material to the class. Conclusion: Reject
the item because it is very difficult and the discrimination index is very poor, and options A and B
are not effective distracters.
Example 7: The table below shows an item analysis of a test item with ineffective
distracters. What can you conclude about the test item?
Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 5 3 9 0 3
Lower Group 6 4 6 0 4
Make an analysis.
Only 38% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence, the test item is difficult.
More students from the upper group answered the test item correctly; as a result, the test got a
positive discrimination. The discrimination is 15%.
Options A, B, and E are attractive and effective distracters.