TEACHER EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

Lesson 3.4: Test Analytics

Lesson Summary
After administering the test, the teacher needs to find out how students performed in the different
test items. You need to analyze which among the items your students found very difficult and very easy to
answer. You also need to determine the ability of the items to discern learners who have already learned or
not yet.

Learning Outcomes
1. Calculate and interpret the difficulty and discrimination index of test items;
2. Improve test items based on the results of the item analysis; and
3. Interpret results of online test analytics using Mentimeter.

Motivation Question
Should a teacher celebrate when many of her students find it very difficult to answer her test? Or
when her students find the test very easy to answer?

Discussion
Item analysis is a very useful process as it allows teachers to determine which items in the test
students found very difficult or very easy to answer. This will allow teachers to identify which particular
concept of the lessons covered in a particular term students have not learned yet because it can be a basis
for them to decide if there is a need for remedial instruction to make sure learning has taken place in the
students. In addition, if the teacher intends to use the same test with another group of students, they may
decide to discard or improve some of the test items.
Items in a test can be analyzed for difficulty and discrimination using a practical way called upper-
lower group method. Student’s answers for each item is tabulated and the scores are arranged according to
magnitude like from highest to lowest. Then, the scores are divided into three groups, the higher one-third
is referred as upper group, then the lower one-third as the lower groups and then there is the middle one-
third group. The middle group is not included in the analysis, the reason why it is called upper-lower group
method. The number of students who got correct answers both in the upper and lower groups is determined
and the difficulty and discrimination indices are computed using the following formulas:
 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

𝑈+𝐿
𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 (𝑝) =
𝑁
Where:
U = Number of correct answers in the upper group
L = Number of correct answers in the lower group
N = Total number of scores or students
𝑈−𝐿
𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 (𝑞) =
𝑁
Where:
U = Number of correct answers in the upper group
L = Number of correct answers in the lower group
N = Number of scores or students in either the upper or lower group

Test items should not be too easy nor too difficult for students to answer. Items that are very easy
no longer pose challenge to students’ thinking skills. Difficulty index values below 0.40 indicate very easy
test item and those exceeding 0.70 very difficult. The ideal range is 0.41 to 0.69 as it is neither too difficult
nor too easy. While a discrimination index of less than 0.30 is considered for the item not being able to
discriminate those that who have already learned from those who have not learned yet the concept contained
in the test item.
The item discrimination index (d) is a measure of the effectiveness of an item in discriminating
between high and low scorers on the whole test. The higher the value of d, the more effective the item is.
When d is 1.00, all test takers in the upper group and no test takers in the lower group answered the item
correctly. Conversely, if none of the upper group but all of the lower group answered an item correctly, the
d value would be -1.00. Both of these circumstances are rare, and we will probably never see a value of -
1.00. The range of values for the item discrimination index is -1.00 to 1.00. Generally speaking, an item is
considered acceptable if its d index is 0.30 or higher.
Example:
Below is the tabulated answers of 17 students in a 10-item quiz. Letters appearing below the item number
are the correct answers.
Given:
Student Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item 10 Score
Number
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c) (d) (e) (d) (d) (c)
1 a b a a c c b d d c
2 b c d e d d e d e c
3 c e d a c c e c d d
4 c d e b c d d d e c
 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

5 a b d e c c e d d c
6 e b a d e b c d e d
7 a b c d a d e c d c
8 a b d e c c e d d c
9 e b a d c b e d e d
10 a b c d a d e d d c

Required: Determine the difficulty and discrimination index of each of the items and interpret the values,
and formulate the decision whether to retain, improve or discard the item.
Solution:
Step 1. Transform the answers into 0 and 1, 1 if the answer is correct and 0 if the answer is not correct
and determine the score for each student.
Student Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item Score
Number 10
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c) (d) (e) (d) (d)
(c)
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 6
2 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 5
3 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 4
5 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
6 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
7 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 7
8 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
9 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6
10 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8

Step 2. Arrange the scores from highest to lowest.

Student Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item Score
Number 10
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c) (d) (e) (d) (d)
(c)
5 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
8 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
10 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8
 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

7 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 7
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 6
9 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6
2 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 5
3 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 4
6 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3

Step 3. Divide the total number of students which is 10 by 3; hence, the upper group should have 4
then the lower group should have also 4, with 2 students in the middle group. Student
numbers 1 and 9 belong to the middle group and whose test result will not be included in
the computing for the difficulty index and the item discrimination index.

Student Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item Score
Number 10
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c) (d) (e) (d) (d)
(c)
5 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
8 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
10 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8
7 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 7
1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 6
9 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 6
2 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 5
3 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 4
6 0 1 0 1 0 0 c 1 0 0 3

Step 4. Determine the numbers of students both in the upper and lower group who got correct answers.
Student Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item Score
Number 10
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c) (d) (e) (d) (d)
(c)
 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

5 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
8 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 8
10 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 8
7 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 7
U 4 4 2 2 2 2 4 3 4 4

2 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 5
3 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 4
6 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
L 0 1 2 1 2 2 2 3 1 2

Step 5. Solve for the difficulty index and discrimination index of the 10 test items
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5
(a) (b) (d) (d) (c)
U 4 4 2 2 2
L 0 1 2 1 2
p 0.50 0.63 0.50 0.38 0.50
Right Right Right Right
Interpretation
difficulty difficulty difficulty Very easy difficulty
q 1.00 0.75 0.00 0.25 0.00
Very Very
effective, able effective, able Not effective, Not effective, Not effective,
Interpretation
to to not able to not able to not able to
discriminate discriminate discriminate discriminate discriminate
Retain the item Retain the item Retain the item Improve or Improve or
Decision: discard the discard the
item item

Difficulty index of item no. 1:

4+0
𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 (𝑝) = = 0.50, item no. 1 is neither easy nor difficult, right diffiulty
8
 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

Discrimination index of item no. 1:

4+0
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑞) = = 0.50, item no. 1 is able to discriminate learners who were able to answer
8
correctly and those who were not able to answer correctly. This suggest that item no. 1 is effective in
identifying students who have already learned and those who have not learned yet the concept contained in
the test item.
Due to advances in information and communication technology (ICT), there are available
applications that can be used by teachers in assessing student learning. Examples of this App include
Mentimeter, Testmoz, Googleforms, Zoompol and many others. In the case of mentimeter, you need to
access the official website (http://www.mentimeter.com) and you need to sign up for an account. These
Apps can outright generate the test analytics at the end of the test, so the teacher no longer need to do the
item analysis.
Below are pictures of the desktop for the Mentimeter App.

Figure 1. Desktop image of Mentimeter

Figure 7. Desktop image of Mentimeter

 TEACHER EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY-ALANGALANG
Binongtoan,Alangalang, Leyte, 6517, PHILIPPINES
Tel. Number : (053) 525-0140
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.vsu.edu.ph

Learning Task/Activity

1. Write a commentary of the video clip in Youtube on how to create in interactive quiz using
Mentimeter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsasywVt6E8)

Assessment
 Using the same result in the sample data, determine the difficulty index and discrimination index
of item numbers 6 to 10, then interpret the values and formulate the decision whether to retain,
improve or discard the item. Write your answer on a yellow paper using the table format below:
Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item 10
(d) (e) (d) (d) (c)
U 2 4 3 4 4
L 2 2 3 1 2

p
Interpretation
q
Interpretation
Decision