Question E was answered by all 27 high-school pupils, establishing a zero-difficulty reference 2.191 units below the median¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · design r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1922 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? A supplementary list of ten easy questions was ranked by ten judges and answered by a class of 27 high-school pupils; question E was answered by all pupils, and interpolation placed the zero of difficulty 2.191 units below the median. → Sackett 1922 q2 i? Ten competent judges ranked the easy questions for easiness, with question E judged the easiest of the group. → Sackett 1922 (2)

Evidence¶

Sackett 1922¶

Sackett, L. W. (1922). A Scale in Ancient History. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu

q2 · i? · design · r2

Small verification study in the article's zero-point section: a class of 27 high-school pupils attempted the easy-question list, and question E was answered by every pupil. The article cautions this "does not establish the fact" of zero difficulty universally but makes it a safe assumption.

"This list was also submitted to a class of 27 high school pupils who attempted to answer the question. It was found that question E was answered by all the pupils; i. e., it has zero difficulty for them."

Sackett 1922 (2)¶

Sackett, L. W. (1922). A Scale in Ancient History. The Journal of Educational Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu

q2 · i? · design · r2

Judge-ranking procedure reported in the article's zero-point section and Table II: ten judges ranked the ten easy questions, producing ten judgments per question, with question E indicated as easiest. The rankings were used with standard deviations of judgment to interpolate the zero point.

"These questions were submitted to ten competent judges who ranked them as to easiness, leading to ten judgments for each question. These rankings are shown in Table II. Standing out prominent in these judgments is the indication that question E is the easiest of the group."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• A 933-pupil survey of ancient-history recall provided the data for scaling question difficulty — related
• No question among the sixty had zero difficulty; the easiest averaged 7.83, 7.62, and 7.23 — related
• The P.E. (median deviation) serves as an equal-step unit of difficulty, defined as the distance cutting off 25% of measures next the median — related
• Standardized easy opposites lists can be built from words answered correctly by ninety percent or more of subjects — a broader claim this one bears on
• Wells' proposed equally-difficult easy list was not fully standardized, with sick, open, and glad producing non-uniform responses — related
• The zero point of the scale is located from the zero-scoring pupils, giving a weighted average distance O-MIII of 1.654 P.E. — related