Development of a computerized adaptive test to assess entrepreneurial personality

Abstract Background/objective Entrepreneurial behavior is of great importance nowadays owing to its significance in the generation of economic, social, personal, and cultural wellbeing. This behavior is influenced by cognitive and personality characteristics, as well as by socioeconomic and contextual factors. Entrepreneurial personality is made up of a set of psychological traits including self-efficacy, autonomy, innovation, internal locus of control, achievement motivation, optimism, stress tolerance, and risk-taking. The aim of this research is the development of a computerized adaptive test (CAT) to evaluate entrepreneurial personality.Method: A bank of 120 items was created evaluating various aspects of the entrepreneurial personality. The items were calibrated with the Samejima Graded Response Model using a sample of 1170 participants (Mage = 42.34; SDage = 12.96). Results The bank of items had an essentially unidimensional fit to the model. The CAT exhibited high accuracy for evaluating a wide range of θ scores, using a mean of 16 items with a very low standard error (M = 0.157). Relative validity evidence for the CAT was obtained with two additional tests of entrepreneurial personality (the Battery for the Assessment of the Enterprising Personality and the Measure of Enterpreneurial Tendencies and Abilities), with correlations of .908 and .657, respectively. Conclusions The CAT developed has appropriate psychometric properties for the evaluation of entrepreneurial people.

Implementando o teste adaptativo computadorizado / Implementing computerized adaptative test

Tradicionalmente, a avaliação de conhecimento é composta por itens dos quais os alunos respondem ao mesmo tempo e os mesmos itens, como por exemplo a prova de uma disciplina. Essa avaliação pode ser considerada muito fácil ou difícil pelo aluno. Em ambos os casos, a prova será entediante e fornecerá pouca informação sobre o nível de conhecimento do aluno. Uma forma de resolver esse problema, é criar provas customizadas para cada aluno, sendo que a próxima questão será selecionada baseada no desempenho anterior do aluno. Essa forma de avaliação é conhecida por teste adaptativo computadorizado. O teste adaptativo computadorizado apresenta tanto vantagens educacionais quanto psicométricas quando comparado às provas de formato tradicional. O teste adaptativo computadorizado requer menos itens do que o teste no formato tradicional, algo que consequentemente diminuirá a fadiga dos alunos, aumentando a aprendizagem do aluno. Ademais, o teste adaptativo computadorizado é desenhado especificamente para cada aluno, considerando a dificuldade de cada item. Isso torna o teste mais atrativo e autêntico, pois os itens sempre estarão alinhados ao conhecimento do aluno. Por ser necessária a informação sobre a dificuldade do item e a habilidade do aluno, o teste adaptativo computadorizado utiliza a Teoria de Resposta ao Item, que estabelece uma relação entre a habilidade do sujeito, a dificuldade do item e a probabilidade de acertar o item, essencial para o funcionamento do teste adaptativo computadorizado. Apesar da complexidade técnica para a implementação do teste adaptativo computadorizado, o mesmo traz um maior padrão para a avaliação tanto de um ponto de vista psicométrico como do ponto de vista do alinhamento às teorias modernas de aprendizagem. Por causa de sua alta complexidade, a implementação e a utilização do teste adaptativo computadorizado geralmente estão associadas a provas de decisão de alto impacto e em grande escala. No entanto, com o novo entendimento educacional, onde se faz necessário respeitar a individualidade e o ritmo de cada aluno, o teste adaptativo computadorizado será cada vez mais utilizado.

Traditionally, the assessment of knowledge consists of items, who students answered the same items at the same time, such as test of a specific subject. This assessment may be considered too easy or difficulty by the student. In both cases, the test is likely to be boring by the students and it may provide little information on students' knowledge level. One way of solving this problem is by creating tailored tests for each student, considering that the next question will be selected based on students' performance on previous items. This type of test is known as computerized adaptative test. Computerized adaptative test provides both educational and psychometrics advantages compared to the traditional paper-pen testing. Computerized adaptative test requires less items than the traditional test, which in turns will decrease students' fatigue, and optimizing learning. Furthermore, computerized adaptative test is designed for each student, considering the level of difficulty of each item. This makes the teste more attractive and authentic, since the items will be always aligned with the level of students' knowledge. Since computerized adaptative test requires both the difficulty of the item and students' ability, it requires the use of Item Response Theory, which establish a relation between difficulty of the item, students' ability and the probability of answering a question correctly. Although the implementation of computerized adaptative test is complex, computerized adaptative test has a higher standard in both psychometric point of view and the alignment with modern theories of learning. Because of the high complexity, the implementation of computerized adaptative test is usually in high-stakes test and large scale. However, the new educational paradigm in which requires tailored-made education respecting the pace of each student, the computerized adaptative test will be more used over time.