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Is a Computerized Adaptive Test More Motivating Than a Fixed-Item Test?

ABSTRACT: Computer adaptive tests provide important measurement advantages over traditional fixed-item tests, but research on the psychological reactions of test takers to adaptive tests is lacking. In particular, it has been suggested that test-taker engagement, and possibly test performance as a consequence, could benefit from the control that adaptive tests have on the number of test items examinees answer correctly. However, previous research on this issue found little support for this possibility. This study expands on previous research by examining this issue in the context of a mathematical ability assessment and by considering the possible effect of immediate feedback of response correctness on test engagement, test anxiety, time on task, and test performance. Middle school students completed a mathematics assessment under one of three test type conditions (fixed, adaptive, or easier adaptive) and either with or without immediate feedback about the correctness of responses. Results showed little evidence for test type effects. The easier adaptive test resulted in higher engagement and lower anxiety than either the adaptive or fixed-item tests; however, no significant differences in performance were found across test types, although performance was significantly higher across all test types when students received immediate feedback. In addition, these effects were not related to ability level, as measured by the state assessment achievement levels. The possibility that test experiences in adaptive tests may not in practice be significantly different than in fixed-item tests is raised and discussed to explain the results of this and previous studies.

SUBMITTER: Ling G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5978472 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Is a Computerized Adaptive Test More Motivating Than a Fixed-Item Test?

Ling Guangming G Attali Yigal Y Finn Bridgid B Stone Elizabeth A EA

Applied psychological measurement 20170515 7

Computer adaptive tests provide important measurement advantages over traditional fixed-item tests, but research on the psychological reactions of test takers to adaptive tests is lacking. In particular, it has been suggested that test-taker engagement, and possibly test performance as a consequence, could benefit from the control that adaptive tests have on the number of test items examinees answer correctly. However, previous research on this issue found little support for this possibility. Th ...[more]

PMID: 29881102

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Project description:The purpose of this study was to construct a computerized adaptive test (CAT) for measuring self-care performance (the CAT-SC) in children with developmental disabilities (DD) aged from 6 months to 12 years in a content-inclusive, precise, and efficient fashion.The study was divided into 3 phases: (1) item bank development, (2) item testing, and (3) a simulation study to determine the stopping rules for the administration of the CAT-SC. A total of 215 caregivers of children with DD were interviewed with the 73-item CAT-SC item bank. An item response theory model was adopted for examining the construct validity to estimate item parameters after investigation of the unidimensionality, equality of slope parameters, item fitness, and differential item functioning (DIF). In the last phase, the reliability and concurrent validity of the CAT-SC were evaluated.The final CAT-SC item bank contained 56 items. The stopping rules suggested were (a) reliability coefficient greater than 0.9 or (b) 14 items administered. The results of simulation also showed that 85% of the estimated self-care performance scores would reach a reliability higher than 0.9 with a mean test length of 8.5 items, and the mean reliability for the rest was 0.86. Administering the CAT-SC could reduce the number of items administered by 75% to 84%. In addition, self-care performances estimated by the CAT-SC and the full item bank were very similar to each other (Pearson r = 0.98).The newly developed CAT-SC can efficiently measure self-care performance in children with DD whose performances are comparable to those of TD children aged from 6 months to 12 years as precisely as the whole item bank. The item bank of the CAT-SC has good reliability and a unidimensional self-care construct, and the CAT can estimate self-care performance with less than 25% of the items in the item bank. Therefore, the CAT-SC could be useful for measuring self-care performance in children with DD in clinical and research settings.

Project description:CONTEXT Unlike other areas of medicine, psychiatry is almost entirely dependent on patient report to assess the presence and severity of disease; therefore, it is particularly crucial that we find both more accurate and efficient means of obtaining that report. OBJECTIVE To develop a computerized adaptive test (CAT) for depression, called the Computerized Adaptive Test-Depression Inventory (CAT-DI), that decreases patient and clinician burden and increases measurement precision. DESIGN Case-control study. SETTING A psychiatric clinic and community mental health center. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1614 individuals with and without minor and major depression were recruited for study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The focus of this study was the development of the CAT-DI. The 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Patient Health Questionnaire 9, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale were used to study the convergent validity of the new measure, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used to obtain diagnostic classifications of minor and major depressive disorder. RESULTS A mean of 12 items per study participant was required to achieve a 0.3 SE in the depression severity estimate and maintain a correlation of r = 0.95 with the total 389-item test score. Using empirically derived thresholds based on a mixture of normal distributions, we found a sensitivity of 0.92 and a specificity of 0.88 for the classification of major depressive disorder in a sample consisting of depressed patients and healthy controls. Correlations on the order of r = 0.8 were found with the other clinician and self-rating scale scores. The CAT-DI provided excellent discrimination throughout the entire depressive severity continuum (minor and major depression), whereas the traditional scales did so primarily at the extremes (eg, major depression). CONCLUSIONS Traditional measurement fixes the number of items administered and allows measurement uncertainty to vary. In contrast, a CAT fixes measurement uncertainty and allows the number of items to vary. The result is a significant reduction in the number of items needed to measure depression and increased precision of measurement.

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Is a Computerized Adaptive Test More Motivating Than a Fixed-Item Test?

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Is a Computerized Adaptive Test More Motivating Than a Fixed-Item Test?

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