CAHAKANG PANIKKI 

QUALITIES OF GOOD TEST INSTRUMENTS

II.  DEFINITION OF TERMS

 Validity – refers to the extent to which the test serves its purpose or the efficiency with which it measures what it
intends to measure.
 Content validity – means that extent to which the content of the test is truly a representative of the content of the
course. 
 Concurrent validity – is the degree to which the test agrees with or correlates with a criterion which is set up an
acceptable measure.
 Predictive validity – is evaluated by relating the test to some actual achievement of the students of which the test is
supposed to predict his success. 
 Construct validity – is the extent to which the test measures a theoretical trait.
 Reliability – means consistency and accuracy. It refers then to the extent to which a test is dependable, self
consistent and stable.
 Usability – means the degree to which the tests are used without much expenditure of time, money and effort. It
also means practicability.
III.    INTRODUCTION 
            Good test instruments in education refer to all those standardized tools which help in assessing student’s
performance. Whether a test is standardized or teacher-made, it should apply the qualities of a good test instrument.
Besides, in this topic, we are discussing the various important tools which help in the assessment of student’s performance.

IV.   DISCUSSION 
            A good measuring instruments posses’ three qualities, which include: validity, reliability and usability.
VALIDITY
            The most important characteristics of any good test are validity. Moreover, it refers to the amount to which the test
serves its purpose. Or in other words, is describes the efficiency at which it measures the performance what it aims to
measure. 
            This validity also tests the concern and measures and how well it does its work. For example, to judge the validity of
any test it is necessary to know what is this test for. Also, it ascertains what is the purpose of the test.
            If a test doesn’t fulfill the real purpose still after showing consistent score then it is invalid. An example of this that, if
class 8 is given to class 5 then it is invalid.
            Moreover, the validity of a test is classified into 4 types:
 Content validity - It refers to the extent to which the content of the test represents the content of the course. In
addition, a well-constructed test should not only contain the subject matter. But, also the objective of instructions.
Example:   A mathematics teacher develops an end-of-semester algebra test for her class. The test should cover
every form of algebra that was taught in the class. If some types of algebra are left out, then the results may not be
an accurate indication of students’ understanding of the subject. Similarly, if she includes questions that are not
related to algebra, the results are no longer a valid measure of algebra knowledge.
            To produce valid results, the content of a test must cover all relevant parts of the subject it aims to measure.
If some aspects are missing from the measurement or if irrelevant aspects are included, the validity is threatened.
 Concurrent validity - This refers to the degree to which the test correlates to the criterion of the test and
acceptable for the measure. Moreover, at the time of testing this criterion is always available. Also, it establishes a
statistical tool that correlates and interpret test results.
Example:   Let’s say students are given two final exams to assess their knowledge. One exam is a practical test and
the second exam is a paper test. If the students who score well on the practical test also score well on the paper
test, then concurrent validity has occurred. If, on the other hand, students who score well on the practical test score
 poorly on the paper test (and vice versa), then you have a problem with concurrent validity. In this particular
example, you would question the ability of either test to assess knowledge.
 Predictive validity - This relates the actual performance of a student in a test with its achievement so that we can
predict they are true results. This is very helpful to predict the future outcomes of the test giver. Also, this predicted
result is available for future use of validation after a long pperiod.      
            A test score can predict an individual’s behavior in a narrowly defined set of circumstances, and is said to
have predictive validity when it yields consistent, reliable measurements. 
Example:   An honesty test has predictive validity if persons who score high are later shown by their behaviors to be
honest.
 Construct Validity - refers to the degree to which a test or other measure assesses the underlying theoretical
construct it is supposed to measure.
Example:   Think about a general knowledge test of basic algebra. If a test is designed to assess knowledge of facts
concerning rate, time, distance, and their interrelationship with one another, but test questions are phrased in long
and complex reading passages, then perhaps reading skills are inadvertently being measured instead of factual
knowledge of basic alalgebra.            
            Construct validation requires the compilation of multiple sources of evidence. In order to demonstrate
construct validity, evidence that the test measures what it purports to measure as well as evidence that the test
does not measure irrelevant attributes are both required. These are referred to as convergent and discriminant
validity.
Convergent validity consists of providing evidence that two tests that are believed to measure closely related skills
or types of knowledge correlate strongly. That is to say, the two different tests end up ranking students similarly.
Discriminant validity, by the same logic, consists of providing evidence that two tests that do non measure closely
related skills or types of knowledge do not correlate strongly (i.e., dissimilar ranking of students).
            
            Both convergent and discriminant validity provide important evidence in the case of construct validity. As
noted previously, a test of basic algebra should primarily measure algebra-related constructs and not reading
constructs. In order to determine the construct validity of a particular algebra test, one would need to demonstrate
that the correlations of scores on that test with scores on other algebra tests are higher than the correlations of
scores on reading tests.
RRELIABILITY
            The meaning of reliability is accuracy and consistency. Also, it refers to the extent to which a test is consistent, stable
and dependent. In other words, the test approves what it represents. In addition, the result in it is consistent and taking a
test, again and again, will not change the result. Furthermore, it gives the same result every time.
Example:   Suppose if a student scores 70 in the maths test on Wednesday. And on the next Wednesday on the same test
she/he scores 25 then we cannot rely on this ddata.     
            Besides, the inconsistency of the result of a single test limit and affect the person score. In addition, it limits the
samples to certain areas of the subject matter. Also, the disturbed mind of examinee also affects his score.
USABILITY
            It refers to the extent to which the test can be used without much expenditure of money effort and time. Most
noteworthy, it also means practicability. Besides, there are certain factors that determine the usability that we have
mentioned below.
Administrability - It means that a test can be administered with clarity, ease, and uniformity. Also, the direction is simple,
concise, and clear. Besides, it specifies a time limit, sample questions, and oral instructions. The provision for the test
material is definite.
Scoreability - It concerns the score of the test. Also, a good test is easy to score. Scoring direction, scoring key is simple, and
an answer is available. Most noteworthy the test score is useful for evaluation of students.

V.   INSIGHTS
            Any good test should be comprehensive, i.e., it should assess knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes etc., as adequately
as possible. No aspect of the curriculum should be ignored while making evaluation. It should be easy to administer,
economical in time and money, easy to score and interpret. The direction of the test should be clear-cut and there should
be answer keys for scoring. 
            Any good test should be able to capture the interest of the students and maintain it. Thus it should be interesting for
the students. A good test is motivating for the students and stimulates their best effects. It should be neither too easy nor
too difficult. It should never be used as a means of punishment.
            A good test is useful in various ways. For example a test result may be used for improvement of teaching, may be
useful to measure some desired quality/ability in the student, useful in finding out deficiencies in pupils so that the remedial
measures may be taken up. 

BEBE REYMARK
Introduction:

Validity is commonly understood as referring to the outcomes of an assessment and whether the evidence known
about the assessment supports the way in which the results are used. Test users need to be sure that the particular assessment
they are using is appropriate for the purpose they have identified. They may find it useful to review evidence in the
accompanying teacher’s guide or the technical guide.

Discussion:

Construct Validity

There are a number of different measures that can be used to validate tests, one of which is construct validity.
Construct validity is used to determine how well a test measures what it is supposed to measure. In other words, is the test
constructed in a way that it successfully tests what it claims to test? Construct validity is usually verified by comparing the
test to other tests that measure similar qualities to see how highly correlated the two measures are. For example, one way to
demonstrate the construct validity of a cognitive aptitude test is by correlating the outcomes on the test to those found on
other widely accepted measures of cognitive aptitude.

Construct validity is the appropriateness of inferences made on the basis of observations or measurements (often test
scores), specifically whether a test measures the intended construct. Constructs are abstractions that are deliberately created
by researchers in order to conceptualize the latent variable, which is correlated with scores on a given measure (although it is
not directly observable). Construct validity examines the question: Does the measure behave like the theory says a measure of
that construct should behave?

Convergent construct and divergent construct are ways to assess the construct validity of a measurement procedure.
If you are unsure what construct validity is, we recommend you first read:  Construct validity. Convergent construct helps to
establish construct validity when you use two different measurement procedures and research methods in your dissertation to
collect data about a construct. Divergent construct helps to establish construct validity by demonstrating that the construct
you are interested in is different from other constructs that might be present in your study. To assess construct validity in your
dissertation, you should first establish convergent construct , before testing for divergent validity. In this article, we explain
what convergent and divergent construct are, providing some examples.

Conclusion:

Construct validity refers to the degree to which inferences can legitimately be made from the operationalization in
your study to the theoretical constructs on which those operationalization were based. Like external validity, construct
validity is related to generalizing.