Award points for non-answers (modified Traub's rule) to discourage rapid responding on low-stakes tests¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The article instructs test takers to consider non-answering because it can be worth more than a wrong answer, implementing a modified Traub's rule in which "Students were awarded with 0.25 points for all non-answered items" regardless of item type. The authors used this scoring schema for student feedback only, while research scoring used IRT analysis, and report that rapid responding was far rarer than previously reported for low-stakes tests.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Test takers must be instructed before the test that non-answer could bring them more points than a wrong answer, and the award applies uniformly across item types.

Constraints¶

• The scoring schema was used for feedback to students only; for research purposes the authors used IRT analysis instead.

Target Learners¶

• eighth-grade students taking low-stakes computer-based achievement tests

Target Learning Goals¶

• valid measurement of proficiency under low-stakes conditions by reducing rapid guessing and rapid omitting

Claims¶

• Rapid-guessing behavior occurs on only about 1% of item responses in a commercially available low-stakes assessment [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Use response time to identify test taker disengagement as rapid-guessing behavior
• Confidence Based Quizzing

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Srdjan Verbić & Boris Tomić. (2008). Test item response time and the response likelihood. Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. http://sepp.ceo.edu.rs/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=25