Thursday, 12 November 2015

Qualities of a Good Test

Different types of Tests
•      Oral Test: Here the examiner asks questions to which the examinee responds orally.
•      Performance Test: This includes activities involving psychomotor bahaviour.
•      Written Test: It is a time bounded test, here the examiner have to write the questions which are prepared in advance.
A good test should possess the following qualities.
•      Objectivity
•      Objective Basedness
•      Comprehensiveness
•      Validity
•      Reliability
•      Practicability
•      Comparability
•      Utility
Objectivity
•      A test is said to be objective if it is free from personal biases in interpreting its scope as well as in scoring the responses.
•      Objectivity of a test can be increased by using more objective type test items and the answers are scored according to model answers provided.
Objective Basedness
•      The test should be based on pre-determined objectives.
•      The test setter should have definite idea about the objective behind each item.
Comprehensiveness
•      The test should cover the whole syllabus.
•      Due importance should be given all the relevant learning materials.
•      Test should be cover all the anticipated objectives.
Validity
•      A test is said to be valid if it measures what it intends to measure.
•      There are different types of validity:
–      Predictive validity
–      Content validity
–      Construct validity
–      Congruent validity
•      Predictive Validity
–      A test has predictive validity if scores on it predict future performance
•      Content Validity
–      If the items in the test constitute a representative sample of the total course content to be tested, the test can be said to have content validity.
•      Construct Validity
–      Construct validity involves explaining the test scores psychologically. A test is interpreted in terms of numerous research findings.
•      Congruent validity
–      If there exist a high correlation between the a set of score of a test with another set of scores obtained by test using similar testing tool, then we can say that the fist test possess Congruent validity 
Reliability
•      Reliability of a test refers to the degree of consistency with which it measures what it indented to measure.
•      A test may be reliable but need not be valid. This is because it may yield consistent scores, but these scores need not be representing what exactly we want to measure.
•      A test with high validity has to be reliable also. (the scores will be consistent in both cases)
•      Valid test is also a reliable test, but a reliable test may not be a valid one
Different method for determining Reliability
•      Test-retest method
–      A test is administrated to the same group with short interval. The scores are tabulated and correlation is calculated. The higher the correlation, the more the reliability.
•      Split-half method
–      The scores of the odd and even items are taken and the correlation between the two sets of scores determined.
•      Parallel form method
–      Reliability is determined using two equivalent forms of the same test content.
–      These prepared tests are administrated to the same group one after the other.
–      The test forms should be identical with respect to the number of items, content, difficult level etc.
–      Determining the correlation between the two sets of scores obtained by the group in the two tests.
–      If higher the correlation, the more the reliability.
Discriminating Power
•      Discriminating power of the test is its power to discriminate between the upper and lower groups who took the test.
•      The test should contain different difficulty level of questions.
Practicability
•      Practicability of the test depends up on...
•      Administrative ease
•      Scoring ease
•      Interpretative ease
•      Economy
Comparability
•      A test possesses comparability when scores resulting from its use can be interpreted in terms of a common base that has a natural or accepted  meanings
•       There are two method for establishing comparability
–      Availability of equivalent (parallel) form of test
–      Availability of adequate norms
Utility

•      A test has utility if it provides the test condition that would facilitate realization of the purpose for which it is mean.

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