CHAPTER 4 Analyzing the Test

ADMINISTERING, ANALYZING AND IMPROVING TEST After administering and scoring the test, the teacher should analyze
the quality of each item in the test. Through this you can identify the
Introduction item that is good, item that needs improvement or items to be
One of the most important functions of a teacher is to removed from the test.
assess the performance of the students. This is a very complicated
task because you will consider many activities such as the timing of ITEM ANALYSIS
the assessment process, the format of the assessment tools the • A process of examining the students response to individual item in
duration of the assessment procedures. the test.
* Consist of different procedures
PACKAGING AND REPRODUCING TEST ITEMS * Use To indentify good and defective test items

1. Put the items with the same format together. USES OF ITEM ANALYSIS
2. Arrange the test items from easy to difficult. * To provide basis for:
3. Give proper spacing for each item for easy reading.
4. Keep questions and options in the same page. 1. efficient class discussion of test result
5. Place the illustrations near the options. 2. Remedial works
6. Check the key answer. 3.general improvement of classroom instructions
7. Check the direction of the test. 4.increased skill in test construction
8. Provide space for name, date and score. 5. Constructing test book
9. Proofread the test.
10. Reproduce the test. TYPES OF QUANTITIVE ITEM ANALYSIS

1. Difficulty Index
ADMINISTERING THE EXAMINATION -It refers to the proportion of the number of students in the upper
and lower groups
After constructing the test items and putting them in order, the next who answered an item correctly.
-The larger the proportion, the more students, who have learned the
step is to administer the test to the students. Below are the
subject is
guidelines in administering the test before, during and after the test. measured by the item.

GUIDELINES BEFORE ADMINSTRATION Level of Difficulty

-To determine the level of difficulty of an item, find first the difficulty
1. Try to induce positive test-taking attitude index using the
2.inform the students about the purpose of the test formula and identify the level of difficulty using the range given
3. Give oral directions as early as possible below.
4.give test taking hints about guessing, skipping and are strictly
prohibited Level of Difficulty of an Item
5. Inform students about the length of time allowed for the test
6. Tell the students how to signal or call your attention if they have a Index Range Difficulty Level
question 0.00-0.20 Very Difficult
7. Tell the students what to do with their papers when they are done 0.21-0.40 Difficult
answering 0.41-0.60 Average/Moderately Difficult
8.tell the students when they are done with the test 0.61-0.80 Easy
9.rotate the method of distributing papers 0.81-1.00 Very Easy
10. Make sure the room is well lighted and has comfortable
temperature The higher the value the index of difficulty, the easier the item is.
11. Remind the students to put their names on their papers Hence, more students got the
12.if the test has more than one page, have each student check to correct answer and more students mastered the content measured
see that all pages are done by that item.

GUIDELINE DURING THE EXAMINATION 2. Discrimination Index

1. Do not give instruction or avoid talking during examination.
2. Avoid giving hint. -the power of the item to discriminate the students between those
3. Monitor to check student progress and discourage cheating who scored high and those
4. Give time warning if student are not pacing their work who scored low in the overall test.
5. Make a note of any question student ask during the test. -Also refers to the number of students in the upper group who got
6. Test papers must be collected uniformly to save time and avoid an item correctly minus the
misplaced number of students in the lower group who got an item correctly.
Divide the difference by
GUIDELINES AFTER THE EXAMINATION either the number of the students in the upper group or number of
After the examination the next activity a teacher needs to do is to students in the lower group
score the test or get the higher number if they are not equal.
paper, record the result, and return the test papers and lastly to
discuss the test -This is the basis of measuring the validity of an item. It can be
items in the class so that you can analyse and improve the test items interpreted as an indication of
for future the extent to which overall knowledge of the content are or mastery
use. of the skills is related to the response of an item.
1. Grade the papers (add comments if you can), do test analysis (see
the Types of Discrimination Index
module on the test analysis) after scoring or before returning papers
to 1. Positive Discrimination- more students in the upper group got the
students if at all possible. item correctly than
2. If you are recording grades or scores, record them in pencil in your those students in the lower group.
class 2. Negative Discrimination -more students in the lower group got
record before returning the papers. the item correctly than
3. Return papers in a timely manner. the students in the upper group.
4. Discuss test items with the students.
3. Zero Discrimination happens-number of students in the upper incorrect options is determined when more students in the lower
group and lower group group than in the upper group choose it.
who answer the test correctly are equal, hence, the test item cannot
distinguish the Distracter Analysis
students who performed in the overall test and the students whose
performance are 1. Distracter
very poor. -Distracter is the term used for incorrect options of the
multiple-choice type of test while the correct answer represents
Level of Discrimination the key.
Ebel and Frisbie (1986) as cited by Hetzel (1997) recommended the -It is very important for the test writer to know the distracters
use of Level of Discrimination of an Item for easier interpretation. are very effective or good distracters.
-We can determine if the options are good or if the distracters
Index Range Discrimination Level are effective using Quantitative Analysis.
0.19 and below Poor item, should be eliminated or need to -Item Analysis can identify non-performing test items, but this
be revised item seldom indicates the error or
0.20-0.29 Marginal item, needs more revision the problem in the item.
0.30-0.39 Reasonably good item but possibly for improvement
0.40 and above Very good item These are the factors to be considered why students failed to
get the correct answer in the given question:

a.) It is not taught to the class properly.

b.) It is ambiguous.
c.) The correct answer is not in the given options.
d.) It has more than one correct answer.
e. ) It contains grammatical clues to mislead the student.
f.) The student is not aware of the content.
g.) The students were confused by the logic of the question
because it has double negatives.
h.) The student failed to study the lesson.

2. Miskeyed Item
-the test item is a potential miskey if there are more students from
STEP IN SOLVING DIFFICULTY INDEX AND DISCRIMINATION INDEX the upper group who choose the incorrect options than the key
1. Arrange the score from highest to lowest
2. Separate the score into upper part and lower part 3. Guessing Item
3. Count the number of those who chose the alternatives in the - Students from the upper group guess their answers because of the
upper and lower group for each item and record the information following reasons: A. The content of the test is not discussed in the
using template class time or in the text. B. The test item is difficult C. The question is
trivial.

4. Ambiguous Items
*this happens when more students from the upper group choose
equally an incorrect option and the keyed answer

IMPROVING TEST ITEMS

4.compute the value of the difficulty index and discrimination index. Example 1. A class is composed of 40 students, divide the class into
5. make an analysis for each item. two. Option B
is the correct answer. Based from the given data on the table, as a
CHECKLIST FROR DISCRIMINATION INDEX teacher, what
would you do with the test item?
It is important to determine whether the test item will be retained,
revised or
rejected. Using the Discrimination Index we can identify the non-
performing
question items, just always remember they seldom indicate what the
problem is. 1. Compute the Difficulty Index
n= 10 + 4 = 14
N = 40
=
=
= 0.35 or 35%

2. Compute the Discrimination Index

= 10
If the answers to question 1 and 2 are both YES, retain the item. =4
D= 20
If the answers to question 1 and 2 are either YES or NO, revise the
item. = 0.30 or 30%
If the answers to question 1 and 2 are both NO, eliminate or reject
the item. 3. Make an analysis about the level of difficulty , discrimination and
distracter.
3. Analysis of Response Option a. Only 35% of the examines got the answer correctly, hence the
item is
it is very important to examine the performance of each option in difficult
multiple- choice item. Through this, you can determine whether the b. More student from the upper group got the answer correctly ,
distracters or incorrect options are effective or attractive to those hence it
who do not know the correct answer. The attractiveness of the has a positive discrimination
c. Retain options A,C, and E because most of the student who did not
perform well in the overall examination selected it. Those options
attract most student from the lower group.
4. Conclusion: retain the test ietm but change option D, make it
more realistic
to make it effective for the upper and lower groups atleast 5% of the
examinees choose the incorrect option.