Page 299 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Unit 26: Achievement Test: Concept, Types and Construction

to measure mental abilities of children and illiterate persons. These tests are also used in Notes
the measurement of intelligence and personality of all persons whether literate or
illiterate.
(IV) Classification on the Basis of the Construction of the Tests

Tests are divided into two types on the basis of their construction process and characteristics:
1. General Tests : This type of test includes those tests which are constructed by the teachers,
so these are also called Teacher-Made Tests.
These tests are mostly used in the field of education, in all weekly, fortnightly, monthly,
quarterly, half-yearly and annual examinations. Though attempts are being made to
make these tests valid, reliable and objective, yet nothing much can be said with certainty
about their validity, reliability and objectivity. Since fully valid, reliable and objective
tests cannot be constructed for general tests, so much emphasis is laid on making these
tests more and more valid, reliable and objective.
2. Standardized Tests : This type of tests includes those tests which are constructed by
specialists in a specific way. They prepare a draft according to the measurable objectives,
then they administer it on different groups of students, and then they delete unnecessary
material from these tests and add necessary material to them. Thus, they make them
valid, reliable and objective.
Efforts are on to make the achievement tests more and more valid, reliable and objective,
but success has not been tasted so far.
But it should not be taken to mean that we should not standardize the achievement tests.
We should keep endeavouring in this direction so that they are made more and more
valid, reliable and objective. The standardisation of tests has been discussed in an
independent chapter.
(V) Classification on the Basis of Administration of the Tests

The tests are also classified into two types on the basis of their administration :
1. Individual Tests : This type of tests includes those tests which are administered on one
student at one time. Oral tests are generally administered individually. Some intelligence
tests are also administered individually. The chief quality of these tests is that the attention
of the measurer is wholly turned to the particular student, though it needs more time,
energy and money. So these tests can be administered only in necessary situations.
2. Group Tests : This type of tests includes those tests which can be administered on a
group of student at one time. Written tests are generally administered collectively. The
chief characteristic of these tests is that a large number of students can be tested by these
at one time, it saves time, energy and money. However, there is a shortcoming in these
and, that is, the problem of a particular student cannot be paid attention to, for which
individual tests have to be administered.
(VI) Classification on the Basis of the Form of Measurement

American psychologist, Robert Glaser, has classified measurement into two types—Norm
referenced measurement and Criterion referenced measurement. He called the traditional
measurement, by which the relative ability of a student in a subject is measured, as norm
referenced measurement; and the measurement by which the real knowledge of a student in
a subject is measured as criterion referenced measurement. On this basis, some scholars have
divided the tests into two types :
l. Norm Referenced Tests : This type includes those tests which measure norm referenced
measurement, that is they only measure the relative position of a student in a subject in
group. The traditional essay-type tests, in which 5-6 questioned are to be answered out
of 10-12 questions, fall in this type.

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