ITEM ANALYSIS

Introduction
It is a statistical technique which is used for selecting & rejecting the items of a test on the basis of
their difficulty value & discriminative power. Item analysis technique helps in selecting the best
items for final draft of the test and poor items are rejected and some items are modified.
In addition, item analysis is valuable for increasing instructors' skills in test construction, and
identifying specific areas of course content which need greater emphasis or clarity. The procedure
used to judge the quality of an item is called as item analysis.

Definition
“Item analysis is a process which examines student responses to individual test items
(questions) in order to assess the quality of those items and of the test as a whole.”

“Item analysis is an aspect of test analysis which involves examination of the characteristics of test
items”

“The effectiveness of each test item can be determines by analyzing the pupils response to the item
this is item analysis.

Purpose of Item Analysis

1. To judge the worth or quality of a test.
2. Classification of students or candidates.
3. Selection of the candidates for the job.
4. Promotion & prognosis of the candidates or students.
5. Provide more diagnostic information on students.
6. Establishing individual differences.
7. Aids in subsequent test revisions.
8. Increase skill in test construction.
9. Bring about improvement in testing methods & techniques
10. Make decisions about promotion of students to the next higher grade.

Objectives of Item analysis

1. To select the appropriate items for the final draft & reject the poor items which do not
contribute in the functioning of the test. Some items are to be modified.
2. Item analysis obtains the difficulty values of all the items of preliminary draft of the test.
The items are classified difficult, moderate, easy items.
3. It provides the discriminative power (item reliability/ validity) to differentiate to
differentiate between capable and less capable examinees of all the items.
4. The reliability & validity of test depends upon the characteristics of test. Both these indexes
are considered simultaneously in selecting & rejecting the items of a test.
5. Item analysis is a cyclic technique. The modified items are tried out & their items analysis is
done again to obtain these indexes (difficulty & discrimination). The empirical evidences are
obtained for selecting the items for the final draft.

Functions of item analysis

The main function of item analysis is to obtain the indexes of the items which indicate its basic
characteristics. The characteristics are
Item difficulty value (D.V)
According to J.P.Guilford
“The difficulty value of an item is defined as the proportion or percentage of the examinees who
have answered correctly.”

Example: If an items is not answered correctly by any of the examinee.None could answer
correctly it means the item is most difficult, the difficulty value is zero percent . this item will not
serve any purpose so such items are usually rejected.

Davis Formula : D.V = P + P

Discrimination power (D.P)

According to Blood and Budd
“Index of discrimination is that ability of an item on the basis of which the discrimination is made
between superiors and inferiors”

Example: If an item is not answered correctly by any of the examinee. None knows the answer of
the question neither superior nor the inferiors. It means the the items does not discriminate between
superiors & inferiors. Thers is no use to select such items for a test. Such items are rejected.
Davis Formula : D.P = ( P - P )

Types of try out

After preparing the item, trying out of items on a group of subjects is made to select good
items. Three types of tryout are there
1. Pre –Tryout or preliminary tryout: Made to improve & modify language difficulty &
ambiguity of item. This tryout done on 5-10 students.
2. Proper Tryout for item analysis: Done on a group of at least 40 students. Purpose to select
good items.
3. Final tryout for reliability & validity: Done on a large sample of 400 students.

Steps involved in item analysis

1. For each item count the number of students in each group who answered the item correctly
2. For alternate response type of items, count the number of students in each group who choose
each alternative.
3. Award or score to each student. A practical, simple & rapid method is to perforate on your
answer sheet the boxes corresponding to the correct answer, placing the perforated sheet on
the student’s answer sheet the raw score can be found almost automatically.

A B C D

Ranking in order of merit & identifying high & low groups

 Arrange the answer sheets from the highest score to the lowest score
 Make two groups ie, highest scores in one group, lowest scores in other group or top
& bottom halves.
Basic item analysis Statistic
A number of items statistics are reported which aid in evaluating the effectiveness of an
item.

1. Item Difficulty Index

For each item compute the percentage of student who gets the item correct is called “ item
difficulty index”

D = R/N x 100

‘R’ is the no. of pupils who get the item right

‘N’ is the total no. of people who tried them

2. Discriminative Index
It refers to the degree showing how significantly a question discriminates between high &
low students. It varies from -1 to +1

DI = 2 x (H –L) / N

“ H” no. of correct responses from upper group

“L” no. of correct responses from upper group
“N” no. students who tried them

Criteria for selection & rejection of items.

In the procedure of item analysis, the items are selected & rejected on the basis of the following
criteria.
1) The items of positive discrimination indexes are selected for the final draft. The negative
discrimination & no discrimination are rejected or dropped.
2) The items of high difficulty values & low difficulty values are also rejected.
3) Both indexes of an item are considered simultaneously in selecting & rejecting the items.
The marginal items are to be modified and tryout is done to observe the improved indexes.
4) The extreme cases of the items, most difficult or most easy are rejected. The negative
discrimination & no discrimination are also rejected.

Interpreting item Analysis

90 % of item analysis is just common sense based on
1) Identifying Ambiguous items
2) Equal distribution to all alternatives
3) Alternatives are not working
4) Distracters too attractive
5) Questions not discriminating
6) Negative discrimination
7) Items too easy
8) Items is mostly omitted
Methods of item Analysis
Recent review literature on items indicates that there are at least 23 different techniques
of items analysis. Following 2 methods are more popular

1) Davis method of item analysis

It is the basic method of item analysis. It is used for the prognostic test for selecting and
rejecting items on the basis of difficulty value and discriminative power. Right
responses are considered in obtaining the indexes for the characteristics of an item. The
proportion of right responses on the items are considered for this purpose.

2) Stanley method of item Analysis

Used for diagnostic test items. Wrong responses are considered in obtaining the indexes.
Wrong responses provide the cause of weakness of the learner. The proportions of
wrong responses on an item is considered for this purpose.

Stanley Method of Item Analysis

(N=10) in each group

Item No High group Low group P P D.V D.P

Wrong Wrong
Responses Responses
1. 1 5 .10 .50 .30 .40
2. 2 7 .20 .70 .45 .50
3. 4 8 .40 .80 .60 .40
4. 8 10 .80 1.00 .90 .20
5. 0 2 .00 .20 .10 .20
6. 3 8 .30 .80 .55 .50
7. 7 4 .70 .40 .55 -.30
8. 4 8 .40 .80 .60 -.40
9. 8 8 .80 .80 .80 .00
10. 6 5 .60 .50 .55 .10

Example : D.P = (P - P )
D.P = ( .10- .50)
= .40

Conclusion
Thus item analysis is an effective way to select the appropriate items for the final draft & reject
the poor items which do not contribute in the functioning of the test.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Dr.Sharma. A., (2004), Essential of Measurement in Education and Psychology
(Measurement and evaluation), Edition- 4th, Merrut: R.lall Book depot , pp-168-170-1191-
195
2. Neerja.K.P (2003), Textbook of nursing Education, Edition 1st, New Delhi: Jaypee
Brothers, pp-416-417
 CHOITHRAM COLLEGE OF NURSING

SUBJECT
NURSING EDUCATION

TOPIC on
ITEM ANALYSIS

SUBMITTED TO:
SUBMITTD BY:-
Madam manju joshi ms.anjulata rai
Lecturer m.sc. (n) i year
 CHOITHRAM COLLEGE OF NURSING

SUBJECT
NURSING EDUCATION

TOPIC on
ITEM ANALYSIS

SUBMITTED TO:
SUBMITTD BY:-
Madam manju joshi ms.FAGANI
Lecturer m.sc. (n) i year