Preface xv
Acknowledgments xix
About the Authors xxi
Part I The Basics 1
Chapter 1 Why Measurement? An Introduction 3
Learning Objectives 3
A Five-Minute History of Testing 5
So, Why Tests and Measurement? 8
What We Test 9
Why We Test 11
What Makes a Good last Any Good? 12
Some Important Reminders 12
How Tests Are Created 13
So What's New? 13
What Am I Doing in a Tests and Measurements Class? 15
Ten Ways Not to Hate This Book (and Learn About Tests and Measurement at the Same Time!) 16
The Famous Difficulty Index 19
Glossary 19
Summary 19
Time to Practice 19
Chapter 2 Levels of Measurement and Their Importance: One Potato, Two Potato 21
Learning Objectives 21
First Things First 22
The Four Horsemen (or Levels) of Measurement 23
The Nominal Level of Measurement 23
The Ordinal Level of Measurement 25
The Interval Level of Measurement 26
The Ratio Level of Measurement 28
A Summary: How Levels of Measurement Differ 29
Okay, So What's the Lesson Here? 30
The Final Word(s) on Levels of Measurement 31
Summary 32
Time to Practice 33
Want to Know More? 33
Further Readings 33
And on Some Interesting Websites 34
And in the Real Testing World 34
Chapter 3 Reliability and Its Importance: Getting It Right Every Time 37
Learning Objectives 37
Test Scores: Truth or Dare 39
Getting Conceptual 40
Putting a Number on Reliability 42
Computing a Simple Correlation Coefficient 42
Different Flavors of Reliability 46
Test-Retest Reliability 47
Interrater Reliability 49
Parallel Forms Reliability 50
Internal Consistency Reliability 51
Cronbach's Alpha (or α) 56
The Last One: Internal Consistency When You're Right or Wrong, and Kuder-Richardson 57
How Big Is Big? Interpreting Reliability Coefficients 59
Things to Remember 60
And If You Can't Establish Reliability … Then What? 61
Just One More Thing (and It's a Big One) 62
Summary 62
Time To Practice 63
Want to Know More? 64
Further Readings 64
And on Some Interesting Websites 64
And in the Real Testing World 64
Chapter 4 Validity and Its Importance: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth 67
Learning Objectives 67
A Bit More About the Truth 68
Reliability and Validity: Very Close Cousins 69
Different Types of Validity Arguments 70
Content-Based Validity 71
Criterion-Based Validity 73
Construct-Based Validity 76
And If You Can't Establish Validity … Then What? 81
A Last Friendly Word 81
Summary 82
Time to Practice 82
Want to Know More? 83
Further Readings 83
And on Some Interesting Websites 83
And in the Real Testing World 84
Chapter 5 Scores, Stats, and Curves: Are You Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw? 85
Learning Objectives 85
The Basics: Raw (Scores) to the Bone! 87
Percentiles (or Percentile Ranks) 88
What's to Love About Percentiles 91
What's Not to Love About Percentiles 91
Looking at the World Through Norm-Referenced Glasses 91
Computing the Mean 92
Some Things to Remember About the Mean 93
Computing the Mode 95
Understanding Variability 95
Computing the Standard Deviation 96
Some Things to Remember About the Standard Deviation 98
The Normal Curve (or the Bell-Shaped Curve) 99
More Normal Curve 101 100
The Standard Stuff 103
Our Favorite Standard Score: The z Score 103
What's to Love About z Scores 106
What's Not to Love About z Scores 106
T Scores to the Rescue 106
Standing on Your Own: Criterion-Referenced Tests 108
The Standard Error of Measurement 108
What the SEM Means 109
Summary 110
Time to Practice 110
Want to Know More? 111
Further Readings 111
And on Some Interesting Websites 112
And in the Real Testing World 112
Chapter 6 Item Response Theory: The "New" Kid on the Block 113
Learning Objectives 113
The Beginnings of item Response Theory 114
This Is No Regular Curve: The Item Characteristic Curve 116
Test Items We Like-and Test Items We Don't 117
Understanding the Curve 120
Putting a, b, and c Together 122
Analyzing Test Data Using IRTPRO 123
Seeing Is Believing 125
Summary 126
Time to Practice 127
Want to Know More? 127
Further Readings 127
And on Some Interesting Websites 128
And in the Real Testing World 128
Part II Types of Tests 129
Chapter 7 Achievement Tests: Is Life a Multiple-Choice Test? 131
Learning Objectives 131
How Achievement Tests Are Used 132
Teacher-Made (or Researcher-Made) Tests Versus Standardized Achievement Tests 133
Criterion- Versus Norm-Referenced Tests 134
How to Do It: The ABCs of Creating a Standardized Test 136
The Amazing Table of Specifications 138
What They Are: A Sampling of Achievement Tests and What They Do 142
Validity and Reliability of Achievement Tests 143
Summary 146
Time to Practice 146
Want to Know More? 147
Further Readings 147
And on Some Interesting Websites 147
And in the Real Testing World 148
Chapter 8 Aptitude Tests: What's in Store for Me? 149
Learning Objectives 149
What Aptitude Tests Do 150
How to Do It: The ABCs of Creating an Aptitude Test 151
Types of Aptitude Tests 154
Mechanical Aptitude Tests 154
Artistic Aptitude Tests 154
Readiness Aptitude Tests 154
Clerical Aptitude Tests 155
What They Are: A Sampling of Aptitude Tests and What They Do 155
Validity and Reliability of Aptitude Tests 158
Summary 158
Time to Practice 158
Want to Know More? 159
Further Reading 159
And on Some Interesting Websites 159
And in the Real Testing World 160
Chapter 9 Intelligence Tests: Am I Smarter Than My Smart Phone? 161
Learning Objectives 161
The ABCs of Intelligence 161
The Big g 162
More Than Just the Big g: The Multiple-Factor Approach 163
"Book Smart" or "Street Smart"? 164
The Three-Way Deal 164
Way More Than One Type of Intelligence: Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences 165
Emotional Intelligence: An Idea That Feels Right 166
From the Beginning: (Almost) All About the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale 167
A Bit of History of the IQ 167
What's the Score? Administering the Stanford-Binet (and Other Tests of Intelligence) 169
And the Fab Five Are … 170
Validity and Reliability of intelligence Tests 170
Summary 173
Time to Practice 173
Want to Know More? 174
Further Readings 174
And on Some Interesting Websites 174
And in the Real Testing World 175
Chapter 10 Personality and Neuropsychology Tests: It's Not You, It's Me 177
Learning Objectives 177
What Personality Tests Are and How They Work 178
Objective or Projective: You Tell Me 178
Developing Personality Tests 181
Using Content and Theory 181
Using a Criterion Group 182
The Many Dimensions of Factor Analysis 184
What They Are: A Sampling of Personality Tests and What They Do 186
What Neuropsychological Tests Are and How They Are Used 189
Not Just One: The Focus of Neuropsychological Testing 190
Intelligence 190
Memory 191
Language 191
Executive Function 191
Visuospatial Ability 192
Forensic Assessment: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth 192
What Forensic Assessment Does 192
Validity and Reliability of Personality Tests 193
Summary 194
Time to Practice 194
Want to Know More? 195
Further Readings 195
And on Some Interesting Websites 195
And in the Real Testing World 196
Chapter 11 Career Choices: Have We Got a Job for You! 197
Learning Objectives 197
What Career Development Tests Do 198
Let's Get Started: The Strong Interest Inventory 199
John Holland and the Self-Directed Search 201
Some Major Caveats: Career Counseling 101 203
Five Career Tests 204
Validity and Reliability of Career Development Tests 207
Summary 207
Time to Practice 207
Want to Know More? 208
Further Readings 208
And on Some interesting Websites 209
And in the Real Testing World 209
Part III Classroom Assessment 211
Chapter 12 Picking the Right Answer: Choose Your Own Destiny 213
Learning Objectives 213
Your Old Friends 214
Multiple-Choice Items 214
Multiple-Choice Anatomy 101 215
How to Write Multiple-Choice Items: The Rules 215
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match 217
How to Write Matching Items: The Rules 218
Are You Lying Now, or Were You Lying Then? 218
How to Write 'Em: The Guidelines 219
Supply Items That Score Like Selection Items Are Fill in the _? 220
Selected Rules for These Objectively Scored Supply Items 220
Validity and Reliability of Objectively Scored Items 222
Summary 223
Time to Practice 223
Want to Know More? 224
Further Readings 224
And on Some Interesting Websites 224
And in the Real Testing World 224
Chapter 13 Building the Right Answer: Construction Work Ahead 227
Learning Objectives 227
Performance Anxiety: Measuring Skill and Ability 228
Putting It Together: Constructed-Response Items 228
What Constructed-Response Items Look Like 229
Designing Good Constructed-Response Items 230
Doing Things the Write Way 231
How to Write Essay Items: The Guidelines 232
Quality Is Job One: Rubrics 233
What Does a Good Rubric Look Like? 233
What's So Great About Rubrics? 235
More Than a Number: Portfolios 235
Validity and Reliability of Constructed-Response and Performance-Based Items 237
Summary 238
Time to Practice 238
Want to Know More? 239
Further Readings 239
And on Some Interesting Websites 239
And in the Real Testing World 239
Part IV Researcher-Made Instruments 241
Chapter 14 Surveys and Scale Development: What Are They Thinking? 243
Learning Objectives 243
Surveying the Landscape 244
Steps in Scale Development 244
How Do I Ask It in the Form of a Question (for $200, Alex)? 246
Questions About Facts: Where Were You on the Night of the 7th?! 246
Questions About Attitudes: You Feel Me? 248
Our Feelings About Attitude: Most Like Likert (but Some Like Thurstone More) 249
The Thurstone Method 251
Don't Ignore Me! Strategies for Increasing Response Rate 253
Summary 255
Time to Practice 256
Want to Know More? 256
Further Readings 256
And on Some Interesting Websites 256
And in the Real Testing World 256
Part V Fair Testing 259
Chapter 15 Truth and Justice for All: Test Bias and Universal Design 261
Learning Objectives 261
The $64,000 Question: What Is Test Bias? 262
Test Bias or Test Fairness? 263
Moving Toward Fair Tests: The FairTest Movement 264
Models of Test Bias 265
The Difference-Difference Bias 265
Item by Item 266
On the Face of Things Model 267
The Cleary Model 268
Playing Fair 268
Universal Design 269
Riddle Me This: When Are a Building and a Test the Same? 270
Designing the Best Tests in the Universe 270
Summary 272
Time to Practice 272
Want to Know More? 272
Further Readings 272
And on Some Interesting Websites 273
And in the Real Tasting World 273
Chapter 16 Laws, Ethics, and Standards: The Professional Practice of Tests and Measurement 275
Learning Objectives 275
What the Government Says 276
Essa and Nickleby: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) 276
Full Inclusion and Universal Access: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act 278
The Truth in Testing Law: High-Stakes Testing 280
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act: What It Is and How It Works 282
The Right Way to Do Right 283
From Whence We Came 283
How the Pros Roll 289
What's in the Standards? 289
And More Stuff to Be Concerned About (No, Really) 290
The Flynn Effect: Getting Smarter All the Time 291
Teacher Competency: So You Think You're Ready for the Big Time? 291
School Admissions: Sorry, No Room This Year 292
Cyril Burt: Are We Born With It? 293
Summary 294
Time to Practice 294
Want to Know More? 294
Further Readings 294
And on Some Interesting Websites 295
And in the Real Testing World 295
Appendix A The Guide to Finding Out About (Almost) Every Test in the Universe 299
Appendix B Answers to Practice Questions 305
Glossary 321
Index 327