Non-Distractors: Non-distractors are item options

that are not chosen by any student. Therefore,

they do not provide any information to
distinguish different levels of student
performance. When an item has too many
non-distractors, it needs to be revisited and
possibly revised.
Types of Quantitative Item Analysis (According to Yonardo A. Gabuyo)

1. Difficulty Index
2. Discrimination Index
3. Analysis of Response Options
Types of Quantitative Item Analysis (According to Yonardo A. Gabuyo)

1. Difficulty Index
Difficulty Index – refers to the proportion of the number of students in the upper
and lower groups who answered an item correctly.

Formula
 Level of Difficulty

Index Range Difficulty Level

0.00 – 0.20 Very Difficult

0.21 -0.40 Difficult

0.41 – 0.60 Average/Moderately Difficult

0.61 – 0.80 Easy

0.81 – 1.00 Very Easy

Types of Quantitative Item Analysis (According to Yonardo A. Gabuyo)

2. Discrimination Index

Discrimination Index – power of the item to discriminate the students between

those who scored high and those who scored low in the overall test. In other words,
it is the power of the item to discriminate the students who know the lesson and
those who do not know the lesson.

Formula
Types of Discrimination Index
1. Positive Discrimination - happens when more students
in the upper group got the item correctly than those students
in the lower group.
2. Negative Discrimination- occurs when more students in
the lower group got the item correctly than the students in
the upper group.
3. Zero Discrimination – happens when there is equal
number of the upper and lower group answer the test
correctly.
 Level of Discrimination (Ebel and Frisbie, 1986, cited by Hetzel 1997)

Index Range Discrimination Level

0.19 – and below Poor item should be eliminated or

need to be revised
0.20 -0.29 Marginal item, need some revision

0.30 – 0.39 Reasonably good item but possibly

for improvement
0.4 and above Very good item
 Checklist of Discrimination Index

YES NO

1. Does the key discriminate positively?

2. Does the incorrect options discriminate negatively?

 If the answer to Questions 1 and 2 are both YES RETAIN the item
 If the answer to Questions 1 and 2 are either YES or NO REVISE the
item
 If the answer to Questions 1 and 2 are both NO ELIMINATE or
REJECT the item
Types of Quantitative Item Analysis (According to Yonardo A. Gabuyo)
3. Analysis of Response Options
• Aside from identifying the difficulty index and the diecrimination
index another way to evaluate the performance of the entire
test item is through the analysis of the response options.
• It is very important to examine the performance of eact option
in a multiple choice item.
• You can detrmine whether the distracters or incorrect options
are effective or attractive to those who do not know the correct
answer.
• Analyzing the incorrect options allows the teachers to improve
the test items so that it can be used again in the future.
Distracters Analysis

What are distracters?

• These are incorrect options in a MC type of
test while the correct answer represent the
key.
• Using quantitative item analysis we can
determine if the options are good or if the
distracters are effective.
There are factors why students failed to get the correct
answer in the given question?
a) It is not taught in the class properly.
b) It is ambiguous.
c) The correct answer is not in the given options
d) It has more than one correct answer
e) It contains grammatical clues to mislead the students
f) The students is not aware of the content
g) The students were confused by the logic of the question
because it has double negatives
h) The student failed to study the lesson
Reasons of guessing
a) The content of the test is not discussed in
the class or in the text
b) The test item is very difficult
c) The question is trivial.
Example 1. A class is composed of 40 students contains the 27% number of the
upper and the lower group. Based from the given data on the table
below, what would you do with the test items?

Options A B* C D E
Upper Group 3 10 4 0 3
Lower Group 4 4 8 0 4
Options A B* C D E
Upper Group 3 10 4 0 3
Lower Group 4 4 8 0 4

1. What is the difficulty index? Answer: 14/40 = 0.35 or 35%

2. What is the Discrimination index? Answer: 6/20 = 0.30 or 30%

3. Make an analysis about the level of difficulty,

discrimination index and distracters?
3. Make an analysis about the level of Options A B * C D E
difficulty, discrimination index and
distracters? UG 3 10 4 0 3
LG 4 4 8 0 4

a. Only 35% of the examinees got the answer correctly,

hence the item is difficult.
b. More students from the upper group got the answer
correcltly , hence, it has a positive discrimination.
c. Retain option A, C, and E because most of the students
who did not perform well in the overall examination
selected it. Those options attract most students from the
lower group.
a. Only 35% of the examinees got the answer Options A B * C D E
correctly, hence the item is difficult.
b. More students from the upper group got the UG 3 10 4 0 3
answer correcltly , hence, it has a positive
LG 4 4 8 0 4
discrimination.
c. Retain option A, C, and E because most of the
students who did not perform well in the overall
examination selected it. Those options attract
most students from the lower group.

4. Conclusion: Retain the test item but change option D,

make it more realistic to make it effective for the upper
and lower groups. At least 5% of the examinees choose
the incorrect option.
Example 2. A class is composed of 50. Use 27% to get the upper and the lower
groups. Analyze the item given the results. Option D is the correct
answer. What will you do with the test item?

Options A B C D* E
Upper Group 3 1 2 6 2
Lower Group 5 0 4 4 1
Options A B C D* E

Upper Group 3 1 2 6 2

Lower Group 5 0 4 4 1

1. The difficulty index is 0.36 or 36%

2. The discrimination index is 0.14 or 14%
3. Analysis:
a) 36% got the answer correctly hence the item is difficult.
b) positive discrimination
c) modify option B and E because more students from the upper group
choose them compare with the lower group, hence they are not effective
distracters because most of the students who performed well in the overall
examination selected them as their answers.
d) retain option A nd C because most of the students who did not perform
well in the overall examination selected them as the correct answer.
Hence option A and C are effective distracters.
1. Conclusion: Revise the item by modifying option B and E.
Example 3. A class is composed of 50. Use 27% to get the upper and the lower
groups. Analyze the item given the results. Option E is the correct
answer. What will you do with the test item?

Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 2 3 2 2 5
Lower Group 2 2 1 1 8
Options A B C D E*

Upper Group 2 3 2 2 5

Lower Group 2 2 1 1 8

1. The difficulty index is 0.46 or 46%

2. The discrimination index is -0.21 or -21%
3. Analysis:
a) 46% moderately difficult.
b) negative discrimination
c) no need to analyze the distracters because the item discrimination
negatively.
d) modify all the distracters because they are not effective. Most of the
students in the upper group chose the incorrect option. The options are
effective if most of the students in the lower group chose the incorrect
option.
1. Conclusion: Reject the item because it has a negative discrimination index.
Example 4. Make an item analysis. What will you do in the test? (M)

Options A* B C D E
Upper Group 1 2 3 10 4
Lower Group 3 4 4 4 5
Options A* B C D E
Upper Group 1 2 3 10 4
Lower Group 3 4 4 4 5

1. The difficulty index is 0.10 or 10%

2. The discrimination index is -0.10 or -10%
3. Analysis:
a) Only 10% of the students got the answer , the item is difficult
b) More students from the lower group got the correc answer -10%
c) Make students from the upper group choose option D than option A, the correct
answer
d) Most likely the teacher ha written the wrong answer key.
e) The teacher checks and finds out that s/he did not miskey the answer that s/he
thought is the correct answer
f) If the teacher miskeyed it, s/he must check and retally the scores of the students’
test papers beforre giving them back.
g) Option A is they answer, revise option D to weaken.
h) No need to analyze the distracters because it is very difficult and discriminates
negatively
4. Conclusion: Reject the item because it has a negative discrimination index.
Example 5. Make an item analysis. What will you do in the test? (A)

Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 7 1 1 2 8
Lower Group 6 2 3 3 6
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 7 1 1 2 8
Lower Group 6 2 3 3 6

1. The difficulty index is 0.36 or 36%

2. The discrimination index is 0.10 or 10%
3. Analysis:
a) Only 36% of the students got the answer , the item is difficult
b) More students from the upper group got the item correctly poisitive
10%
c) About equal number of top students wewnt for option A and option
B, this implies that the key could not tell which is the correct
answer. The students do not know the content of th etest, thus, a
reteach is needed.
4. Conclusion: Revise the item because it is ambiguous.
Example 6. Make an item analysis. Are you going to reject, revise or retain the
test item? (G)

Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 4 3 4 3 6
Lower Group 3 4 3 4 5
Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 4 3 4 3 6
Lower Group 3 4 3 4 5

1. The difficulty index is 0.18 or 18%

2. The discrimination index is 0.05 or 5%
3. Analysis:
a) Only 18% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence the test
item is very difficult.
b) More students from the upper group got the correct answer, therefore, the test item
is positive discrimination at 5%
c) Students respond about equally to all alternatives, an indication that they are
guessing.
• The content of the test item not yet been discussed because the test is
designed in advance.
• Test items were badly written that students have no idea what the question is
really all about
• Test item were very difficult and low discrimination index
d) If the item is well – written but too difficult them reteach the material
4. Conclusion: Reject the item because it is very difficult and very poor.
Example 7. Make an item analysis of the test item. What can you conclude about
the test item?

Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 5 3 9 0 3
Lower Group 6 4 6 0 4
Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 5 3 9 0 3
Lower Group 6 4 6 0 4
1. The difficulty index is 0.38 or 38%
2. The discrimination index is 0.15 or 15%
3. Analysis:
a) Only 38% of the students got the answer to the item correctly, hence the
test item is difficult.
b) More students from the upper group answered the test correctly; the test
item got a positive discrimination of 15%
c) Option A, B and E are attractive and effective distracters.
d) Option D id ineffective; tehrefore, change it with more realistic one.

4. Conclusion: Revise the item by changing option D.