WHAT PUPILS AND TEACHERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT GUESSING

Abstract

A recent advance in educational measurement has made it possible for the first time to obtain valid and reliable measurements of a pupil's degree of confidence in the answers to objective test questions. The meaning and qualitative significance of guessing on objective tests is examined by using decision-theoretic psychometrics. The origin of the 'guessing problem' is traced to the conventional 'number of rights' scoring system and three types of guessing are defined: blind guessing, partially blind guessing, and rational guessing. These three types of guessing are shown to affect both the reliability and validity of a pupil's test score as well as the ability of a teacher to classify pupils for remedial help. Four unsuccessful attempts to remedy the guessing problem are illustrated. This leads to an explanation of how admissible confidence measurement techniques completely eliminate guessing.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1967
Accession Number
AD0677205

Entities

People

  • Emir H. Shuford Jr.
  • H. Edward Massengill

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Classification
  • Corporations
  • Decision Theory
  • Department Of Defense
  • Dermatologic Agents
  • Instructions
  • Instructors
  • Measurement
  • New York
  • Programmed Instruction
  • Reliability
  • Scientific Research
  • Textbooks
  • Triangles
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Theoretical Analysis.