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Building Algebra Testlets: A Comparison of Hierarchical and Linear Structures
Author(s) -
Wainer Howard,
Lewis Charles,
Kaplan Bruce,
Braswell James
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of educational measurement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.917
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-3984
pISSN - 0022-0655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3984.1991.tb00361.x
Subject(s) - computerized adaptive testing , excursion , test (biology) , computer science , mathematics , algebra over a field , statistics , econometrics , psychometrics , pure mathematics , paleontology , political science , law , biology
Earlier (Wainer & Lewis, 1990), we reported the initial development of a testlet‐based algebra test. In this account, we provide the details of this excursion into the use of testlets. A pretest of two 15–item algebra tests was carried out in which examinees' performance on a 4‐item subset of each test (a 4–item testlet) was used to predict performance on the entire test. Two models for constructing the testlets were considered: hierarchical (adaptive) and linear (fixed format). These models are compared with each other. It was found on cross–validation that, although an adaptive testlet is superior to a fixed format testlet, this superiority is modest, whereas the potential cost of that superiority is considerable. It was concluded that in circumstances similar to those we report a fixed format testlet that uses the best items in a pool can do almost as well as the optimal adaptive testlet of equal length from that same pool.