Very short response times (rapid guessing) indicate disengaged test taking in both high-stakes and low-stakes testing contexts¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoreticalr?·q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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q2 i? Rapid guessing, operationalized as very short response time on individual multiple-choice items, signals disengaged test taking regardless of whether the test is high-stakes or low-stakes. → Steven Wise 2017
Evidence¶
Steven Wise 2017¶
Steven Wise. (2017). Rapid‐guessing behavior: Its identification, interpretation, and implications. Educational Measurement Issues and Practice 36 (4) 52-61. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12189
q2 · i? · theoretical · r?
The article's abstract reports prior research showing that "very short response time—termed rapid guessing—has been shown to indicate disengaged test taking" across both high-stakes and low-stakes contexts. No effect size or study sample is printed in the available text.
"In particular, very short response time—termed rapid guessing—has been shown to indicate disengaged test taking, regardless whether it occurs in high‐stakes or low‐stakes testing contexts."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Rapid guessing can be identified from item-level response time, and its proper interpretation depends on contextual requirements — related
- Identifying rapid guessing is important for the validity of achievement test scores, particularly with low-stakes tests — related
- E-M scoring leaves residual score distortion, suggesting some disengaged test responses are nonrapid rather than rapid guesses — related
- Rapid-guessing behavior can distort test scores and adversely affect measurement — related
- Test-taking disengagement distorts both individual and aggregated test scores — related
- Rapid-guessing behavior is consistently very low across demographic subpopulations — related
- Disengaged test-taking responses can distort the content representation of test items — related
- Rapid-guessing behavior occurs on only about 1% of item responses in a commercially available low-stakes assessment — related
- Disengaged test taking materially impacts individual state summative test scores but may have relatively minor impact on score aggregations — related
- Responses used in effort-moderated scoring can sometimes reflect less-than-full, or partial, engagement, making E-M scores less trustworthy — related
- Rapid guessing is a validated indicator of disengaged item responding — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
- RTE provides an assessment of test-taking effort down to the level of individual item responses — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
rapid-guessing-indicates-disengaged-test-taking |
title |
Very short response times (rapid guessing) indicate disengaged test taking in both high-stakes and low-stakes testing contexts |
description |
Very short response times (rapid guessing) indicate disengaged test taking in both high-stakes and low-stakes testing contexts |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2017 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-09 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — steven-wise-2017 |
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