Page 45 - DEDU504_EDUCATIONAL_MEASUREMENT_AND_EVALUATION_ENGLISH

Unit 4: Characteristics of a Good Test

• Parallel form method Notes
• Reliability is determined using two equivalent forms of the same test content.
• These prepared tests are administrated to the same group one after the other.
• The test forms should be identical with respect to the number of items, content, difficult
level etc.
• Determining the correlation between the two sets of scores obtained by the group in the two
tests.
• If higher the correlation, the more the reliability.

Discriminating Power
• Discriminating power of the test is its power to discriminate between the upper and lower
groups who took the test.
• The test should contain different difficulty level of questions.

Practicability
• Practicability of the test depends up on...
• Administrative ease
• Scoring ease
• Interpretative ease
• Economy
Comparability
• A test possesses comparability when scores resulting from its use can be interpreted in terms
of a common base that has a natural or accepted meanings
• There are two method for establishing comparability
• Availability of equivalent (parallel) form of test
• Availability of adequate norms
Utility
• A test has utility if it provides the test condition that would facilitate realization of the purpose
for which it is mean.
1. Simplicity
Simplicity means that the test should be written in a clear, correct and simple language, it is
important to keep the method of testing as simple as possible while still testing the skill you
intend to test. (Avoid ambiguous questions and ambiguous instructions).
2. Scorability
Scorability means that each item in the test has its own mark related to the distribution of
marks given by (The Ministry of Education)

4.2 Question
It is necessary for every teacher and evaluator to know : what is the concept of a question; what are
the types of questions; what is a good question; how to frame a good question and how does a
question bring dynamism in the teaching-learning process. Therefore, whatever the type of test we
use in educational testing, the quality of the measuring instrument depends on the quality of the
questions it is composed of and their efficient use. Therefore a question is the most significant and
indispensable tool in the hands of a teacher, who must use it efficiently both in instruction and for
evaluating the students. To visualise its nature, scope and purpose, we may define a question as:
(a) verbal or non-verbal tool of ’inquiry framed in a particular context or setting’;

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