Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:09:39.178Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Test Manuals and Test Wiseness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2020

Danny B. Adkinson
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University
Kathleen Seip
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University

Extract

Most college instructors that teach an introductory American government course use multiple choice questions on examinations. Do these instructors give the answers away during the examination? They may be doing so unintentionally. Furthermore, the manner in which they give away the answers may be helping a select group of students and penalizing others.

Multiple choice questions may be written in such a way that students who are test-wise are given clues as to which answers are correct. Testwiseness has been defined as the ability to manifest test-taking skills which utilize the characteristics and formats of a test and/or test-taking situation in order to receive a score commensurate with the abilities being measured (Oakland & Weilert, 1971).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burns, J.M.Peltason, J.W., and Cronin, T.E. (1981). Government by the People. Englewood Clifts, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Cummings, M.C. Jr. and Wise, D. (1981). Democracy Under Pressure. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Diamond, J.J. and Evans, W.J. (1972). “An Investigation of the Cognitive Correlates of Test-Wiseness.Journal of Educational Measurement. 9,2:145150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebenstein, W.Pritchett, C.H.Turner, H.A.Mann, D., and Merill, P. (1980). American Democracy in World Perspective. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Edwards, David V. (1979). The American Political Experience. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Gerow, J.R. and Lyng, R.D. (1975). How to Succeed in College: A Student Guidebook. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.Google Scholar
Gronlund, N.E. (1971). Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
McKeachie, W.J. (1978). Teaching Tips: A Guidebook for the Beginning College Teacher. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.Google Scholar
Oakland, T., and Weilert, E., “The effects of Test-Wiseness Materials on Standardized Test Performance of Pre-School Disadvantaged Children,” Paper presented at February 1971 Convention of the American Educational Research Association, New York.Google Scholar
Rowley, G.L. (1974). “Which Examinees are Most Favored by the Use of Multiple Choice Tests?Journal of Educational Measurement. 11, 1:1523.10.1111/j.1745-3984.1974.tb00966.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar