Relationships between Bloom's taxonomy, judges' estimation of item difficulty and psychometric properties of items from a progress test: a prospective observational study
São Paulo med. j
; 138(1): 33-39, Jan.-Feb. 2020. tab, graf
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: biblio-1099383
Responsible library:
BR1.1
ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND:
Progress tests are longitudinal assessments of students' knowledge based on successive tests. Calibration of the test difficulty is challenging, especially because of the tendency of item-writers to overestimate students' performance. The relationships between the levels of Bloom's taxonomy, the ability of test judges to predict the difficulty of test items and the real psychometric properties of test items have been insufficiently studied.OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the psychometric properties of items according to their classification in Bloom's taxonomy and judges' estimates, through an adaptation of the Angoff method. DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Prospective observational study using secondary data from students' performance in a progress test applied to ten medical schools, mainly in the state of São Paulo, Brazil.METHODS:
We compared the expected and real difficulty of items used in a progress test. The items were classified according to Bloom's taxonomy. Psychometric properties were assessed based on their taxonomy and fields of knowledge.RESULTS:
There was a 54% match between the panel of experts' expectations and the real difficulty of items. Items that were expected to be easy had mean difficulty that was significantly lower than that of items that were expected to be medium (P < 0.05) or difficult (P < 0.01). Items with high-level taxonomy had higher discrimination indices than low-level items (P = 0.026). We did not find any significant differences between the fields in terms of difficulty and discrimination.CONCLUSIONS:
Our study demonstrated that items with high-level taxonomy performed better in discrimination indices and that a panel of experts may develop coherent reasoning regarding the difficulty of items.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
LILACS
Main subject:
Psychometrics
/
Schools, Medical
/
Educational Measurement
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
São Paulo med. j
Journal subject:
Cirurgia Geral
/
Cincia
/
Ginecologia
/
Medicine
/
Medicina Interna
/
Obstetr¡cia
/
Pediatria
/
Sa£de Mental
/
Sa£de P£blica
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Edudata Informática/BR
/
Faculdade de Medicina de Marília/BR
/
Universidade Estadual Paulista/BR
/
Universidade Estadual de Campinas/BR