Guess where: The position of correct answers in multiple-choice test items as a psychometric variable

Journal of Educational Measurement

Volumn 40, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 109-128

  Attali, Yigal ^a   Bar Hillel, Maya ^b  

^a EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE   (United States)

^b HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM   (Israel)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0038373158     PISSN: 00220655     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-3984.2003.tb01099.x     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Ayton, P., & Falk, R. (1995). Subjective randomness in hide-and-seek games. Paper presented at the 15th bi-annual conference on Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making, Jerusalem, Israel.
2. Bar-Hillel, M., & Attali, Y. (2001). Seek whence: Answer sequences and their consequences in key-balanced multiple-choice tests. Manuscript submitted for publication.
3. Bar-Hillel, M., & Wagenaar, W. A. (1991). The perception of randomness. Advances in Applied Mathematics, 12, 428-454.
4. Bereby-Meyer, Y., Meyer, J., & Budescu, D. (2000). Decision making under uncertainty and partial knowledge: The case of multiple-choice tests. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Measurement in Education, New Orleans, LA.
5. Berg, I. A., & Rapaport, G. M. (1954). Response bias in an unstructured questionnaire. The Journal of Psychology, 38, 475-481.
6. Christenfeld, N. (1995). Choices from identical options. Psychological Science, 6, 50-55.
7. Claman, C. (1997). 10 real SATs. New York: College Entrance Examination Board.
8. Clark, E. C. (1956). General response patterns to five-choice items. Journal of Educational Psychology, 47, 110-117.
9. Cohen, Y., & Bodner, G. (1989). A manual for NITEST - A program for estimating IRT parameters (CAT Project Report No. 1). Jerusalem, Israel: National Institute for Testing and Evaluation.
10. Cronbach, L. J. (1946) Response sets and test validity. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 6, 475-494.
11. Cronbach, L. J. (1950). Further evidence on response sets and test design. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 10, 3-31.
12. Fagley, N. S. (1987). Positional response bias in multiple-choice tests of learning: Its relation to testwiseness and guessing strategy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 95-97.
13. Falk, R. (1975). The perception of randomness. Unpublished doctoral dissertation (in Hebrew, with English abstract), Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
14. Gibb, B. G. (1964). Test-wiseness as secondary cue response (Doctoral dissertation, Stanford University). Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms (No. 64-7643).
15. Graduate Management Admission Council. (1992). GMAT review, The official guide. Princeton, NJ: Author.
16. Gustav, A. (1963). Response set in objective achievement tests. Journal of Psychology, 56, 421-427.
17. Haladyna, T. M., & Downing, S. M. (1989). Validity of a taxonomy of multiple-choice item-writing rules. Applied Measurement in Education, 2, 51-78.
18. Inbar, N. (2002). Middle bias in numerical answers to multiple-choice questions. Unpublished master's thesis, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
19. Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais. (1998). Avaliacao de concluantes do ensino media em nove estados, 1997: Relatorio final. O Instituto.
20. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1972). Subjective probability: A judgment of representativeness. Cognitive Psychology, 3, 430-454.
21. Keillor, G. (1997). Wobegon boy. New York: Penguin.
22. Kiddum. (1995). Preparation for the Psychometric Entrance Test. Israel: Author.
23. Kubovy, M., & Psotka, J. (1976). Predominance of seven and the apparent spontaneity of numerical choices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2, 291-294.
24. Marcus, A. (1963). The effect of correct response location on the difficulty level of multiplechoice questions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 47, 48-51.
25. McNamara, W. J., & Weitzman, E. (1945). The effect of choice placement on the difficulty of multiple-choice questions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 36, 103-113.
26. Mentzer, T. L. (1982). Response biases in multiple-choice test item files. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 42, 437-448.
27. Metfessel, N. S., & Sax, G. (1958). Systematic biases in the keying of correct responses on certain standardized tests. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 18, 787-790.
28. Offir, R., & Dinari, N. (1998). Chemistry for matriculation exams. Tel Aviv, Israel: Lachman.
29. Open University, The. (1998). Psychological development: A study guide. Tel Aviv, Israel: Author.
30. Rapaport, G. M., & Berg, I. A. (1955). Response sets in a multiple-choice test. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 15, 58-62.
31. Rubinstein, A., Tversky, A., & Heller, D. (1996). Naive strategies in competitive games. In W. Albers, W. Guth, P. Hammerstein, B. Moldovanu, & E. van Damme (Eds.), Understanding strategic interaction. New York: Springer-Verlag.
32. Shaw, J. I., Bergen, J. E., Brown, C. A., & Gallagher, M. E. (2000). Centrality preferences in choices among similar options. The Journal of General Psychology, 127, 157-164.
33. Trivia. (1999). Retrieved from http://www.triviawars.com
34. Ullmann-Margalit, E., & Morgenbesser, S. (1977). Picking and choosing. Social Research, 44, 757-785.
35. Vale, C. D., & Gialluca, K. A. (1985). ASCAL: A microcomputer program for estimating logistic IRT item parameters (ONR-85-4). St. Paul, MN: Assessment Systems Corporation.
36. Yoel, A. (1999). A collection of questions from the matriculation tests in biology. Tel Aviv, Israel: Lachman.