QUALITIES OF A GOOD TEST

QUALITIES OF A GOOD TEST


A good test should possess the following qualities.
• Objectivity
• Objective Basedness
• Comprehensiveness
• Validity
• Reliability
• Practicability
• Comparability
• Utility
Objectivity 
• A test is said to be objective if it is free from personal biases in interpreting its scope as well as in scoring the responses.


  •   Objectivity means that definite item in the answers expected . If the answer expected is not definite students will interpret in different ways resulting in different answers . If more than one examiners is involved they will give their own subjective interpretation and score answers with different criteria
    • Objectivity of a test can be increased by using more objective type test items and the answers are scored according to model answers provided.
    Objective Basedness
    • The test should be based on pre-determined objectives.
    • The test setter should have definite idea about the objective behind each item.

  • Care has to be taken in deciding upon the weightage tobe given various objectives before constructing the test. The weightage for various objectives will be different depending on the nature of subject or unit tested
    Comprehensiveness
    • The test should cover the whole syllabus.
    • Due importance should be given all the relevant learning materials.
    • Test should be cover all the anticipated objectives.

  Before Taking items for the test , areas to be tested have to be divided in to the convenient number of units and assigns weightage to be given to each unitsThen items covering all the units have to be constructed according to desire
Validity 
• A Test is said to be valid if it measures what it intends to measure.
• There are different types of validity:
– Operational validity
– Predictive validity
– Content validity
– Construct validity
• Operational Validity
– A test will have operational validity if the tasks required by the test are sufficient to evaluate the definite activities or qualities.
• Predictive Validity
– A test has predictive validity if scores on it predict future performance
• Content Validity
– If the items in the test constitute a representative sample of the total course content to be tested, the test can be said to have content validity.
• Construct Validity
– Construct validity involves explaining the test scores psychologically. A test is interpreted in terms of numerous research findings.
Reliability 
• Reliability of a test refers to the degree of consistency with which it measures what it indented to measure.
• A test may be reliable but need not be valid. This is because it may yield consistent scores, but these scores need not be representing what exactly we want to measure.
• A test with high validity has to be reliable also. (the scores will be consistent in both cases)
• Valid test is also a reliable test, but a reliable test may not be a valid one
Different method for determining Reliability
• Test-retest method
– A test is administrated to the same group with short interval. The scores are tabulated and correlation is calculated. The higher the correlation, the more the reliability.
• Split-half method
– The scores of the odd and even items are taken and the correlation between the two sets of scores determined.
• Parallel form method
– 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.


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