Module 7

Intended Learning Outcomes 

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Evaluate additional control over the given test.
2. Assess the quantity and quantity of the test items and of the test as a whole.
3. Increase their skills in test construction.
4. Identify specific areas of course content which need greater emphasis or clarity

Discussions 

ITEM ANALYSIS
 given to a variety of statistical techniques designed to analyze individual items on a test
after the test has been given to a group of examinees
 Suggests why an item has not functioned effectively and how it might be improved
 Provides information for the teacher to decide whether to revise, or replace an item
 To standardize a test for a particular unit or grading period

Item Analysis can tell us:

• How hard or easy the question is
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• How high and low performers do on the question is

• How parts of the answer are doing

COMMON TYPES
Difficulty index- produced by calculating the proportion of students in class who got an item
correct; the larger the proportion, the more students who have learned the content and measured
by the item
- the proportion of students who answer the test item correctly.
(𝑼 + 𝑳)
𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇 =
(𝑵𝑼 + 𝑵𝑳 )
where:
▪ U and L are the number of correct responses in the upper and lower groups respectively.
▪ Nuand NL are the number students from the upper and lower groups

Interpretation of Index of Difficulty (Ebel, 1965)

A test item is: If it has a difficulty index of: Action taken
Very Easy 0.91 and above Revised / Discard
Easy 0.76 to 0.90
Optimum Difficulty 0.26 to 0.75 Retain
Difficult 0.11 to 0.25 Revised / Discard
Very Difficult 0.10 and below

Discrimination index – a basic measure of the validity of an item; it is a measure of an item’s

ability to discriminate between those who scored high on the total test and those who scored low

- indicates whether an item can discriminate between those who know and those who do not
know the answer.
(𝑼) (𝑳)
𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄 = −
(𝑵𝑼 ) (𝑵𝑳 )

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Interpretation of Index of Discrimination

Discrimination If the 𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄is:
Level is:
High 0.40 and above Very good
Moderate 0.20 to 0.39 Reasonably good, subject for
improvement
Low 0.19 and below Poor, to be discarded

Analysis of response options/Distracter analysis- examines the performance of individual

distracters by calculating the proportion of students who chose each option; identifies which
distracters are working

Item 1 A* B C D
Upper Group (27%) 8 4 6 6
Lower Group (27%) 3 6 2 6
IE (Index of Effectiveness) 5 -2 4 0

IE Interpretation
If IE is below 0 A negative IE indicates that the option is plausible since there are more
students in low group who selected the option compared to the high group.
If IE is above 0 A positive IE would show that more examinee in the high group chose the
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option. This also shows that the option is not working well as a distracter
and should be revised.
If IE is If there are no examinees from the 2 groups who selected the option, then
it has to be discarded.

Steps in Item Analysis:

1. Arrange the test scores from highest to lowest
2. Identify an upper group (highest scoring 27%) and a lower group (lowest scoring 27%)
3. For each item, count the number of examinees in the upper group who have correct responses.
Do a similar procedure for the lower group.
4. Solve for the difficulty index of each item.
The larger the value of the index is, the easier the item.
5. Solve for the discrimination index of each item – if more students in the high scoring group
chose the correct answer than did students in the low-scoring group the number will be positive
6. For multiple-choice type of tests conduct distracter analysis
3 information needed for each option
• Count of students from the high group who selected each of the options
• Count of students from the low group who selected each of the options
• Index of effectiveness for each option calculated by using the formula for item
discrimination index

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Example
Below are tabulated the responses of 25 individuals to each of the items on a 15-item test

Indiv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Scores
A 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
B 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 13
C 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 9
D 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 7
E 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 14
F 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 12
G 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 11
H 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
I 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 12
J 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 13
K 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 6
L 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 8
M 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 8
N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
O 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 9
P 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
Q 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 8
R 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 10
S 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15
U 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 9
V 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
W 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
X 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 12
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Y 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14
Number 20 21 19 20 16 22 12 18 11 13 16 10 17 15 13 243
correct

Solution:
1. Arrange the scores from highest to lowest
Indiv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Scores
T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15
E 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 14
Y 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14
B 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 13
J 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 13
N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
W 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
F 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 12
I 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 12
X 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 12
G 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 11
R 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 10
C 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 9
O 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 9
U 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 9
L 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 8
M 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 8
P 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
Q 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 8
D 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 7
A 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
K 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 6
V 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
H 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
S 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Number
20 21 19 20 16 22 12 18 11 13 16 10 17 15 13 243
correct

2. Identify an upper group (highest scoring 27%) and a lower group (lowest scoring 27%)
25 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠𝑥0.27 = 6.75 𝑜𝑟 7

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3. For each item, count the number of examinees in the upper group who have correct responses.
Do a similar procedure for the lower group.
Upper group:
Indiv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Scores
T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15
E 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 14
Y 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14
B 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 13
J 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 13
N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
W 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 13
Total 7 7 6 7 5 7 6 7 6 5 6 5 7 7 7 95

Lower group:
Indiv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Scores
Q 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 8
D 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 7
A 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
K 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 6
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V 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 6
H 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
S 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Total 4 4 5 4 3 6 2 4 0 1 4 0 2 1 0 40

4. olve for the difficulty index of each item.

The larger the value of the index is, the easier the item.
𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.9 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.5
E E E E OD VE OD E OD OD OD OD OD OD OD

5. Solve for the discrimination index of each item – if more students in the high scoring group
chose the correct answer than did students in the low-scoring group the number will be positive

𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.6 0.4 0.9 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.9 1
H H L H M L H H H H M H H H H

6. Selection of good item, to retain, reject or revise.

Indiv. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.9 0.6 0.8 0.4 0.4 0.7 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.5
E E E E OD VE OD E OD OD OD OD OD OD OD
Revise/

Revise/

Revise/

Revise/

Revise/

Revise/
discard

discard

discard

discard

discard

discard
Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

Retain

𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.6 0.4 0.9 0.6 0.3 0.7 0.7 0.9 1
H H L H M L H H H H M H H H H
Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good

Very good
Improve

Improve
Discard

Discard

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Activities 

Glossary 
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