ABSTRACT
Background: Evaluation is one of the important aspects of teaching activity; and makes it possible to detect the positive and negative aspects of teaching. So evaluation is very important for improvement of quality of higher education in university
Objective: Determining the knowledge and practice of faculty members about validity and reliability of exams
Methods: In this study; 100 faculty members in Ahvaz medical university were selected randomly. Data were gathered via a questionnaire which included 22 questions about validity and reliability. 70 questionnaires returned after 2 months. We used descriptive statistical method for analyzing data
Findings: 80% of subjects knew about content validity; 42.8% about surface validity; 25% about construct validity and 41.5% about possession validity. 41.5% of subjects had knowledge about test-retest; 35.7% about parallel; 42.9% about halves split and 24.2% about kouder-Richardson reliability index. In assessment of practice 45.7% of subjects were using content validity; and 20% test-retest; for validity and reliability of exams. But about other techniques of determining validity and reliability, subjects seemed to fail using them correctly
Conclusion: Knowledge of faculty members about validity and reliability of exams is low; and using of various kinds of validity and reliability in exams is very low too