Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-76mfw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-23T22:52:44.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maximizing Test Validity by Item Selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Harold Webster
Harold Webster*
Affiliation:
Mellon Foundation Vassar College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The exact condition for discarding k items from a test in order to obtain a residual test with higher validity is derived. A proof that validity always increases is given for the case k = 1. The lack of uniqueness of maximum validity when achieved by use of the condition is discussed. With the use of additional restrictions on items to be included in the initial test, a practical test construction procedure which has several advantages over previous methods is developed. The homogeneity of tests constructed by the method is discussed, and applications are given.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1956 , pp. 153 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © 1956 The Psychometric Society

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, Else, Levinson, D. J., and Sanford, R. N.. The authoritarian personality, New York: Harper, 1950Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. Coefficient α and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 1951, 16, 297–334CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, R. A. The precision of discriminant functions. Ann. Eugen., Lond., 1940, 10, 422–429CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, J. C. A short method of selecting the best combination of test items for a particular purpose. Psychol. Bull., 1936, 33, 603–604Google Scholar
Flanagan, J. C. The effectiveness of short methods for calculating correlation coefficients. Psychol. Bull., 1952, 49, 342–348CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gleser, G. C., and DuBois, P. H. A successive approximation method of maximizing test validity. Psychometrika, 1951, 16, 129–139CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guilford, J. P. Psychometric methods 2nd Ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954Google Scholar
Gulliksen, H. Theory of mental tests, New York: Wiley, 1950CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horst, P. Item selection by means of a maximizing function. Psychometrika, 1936, 1, 229–244CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hotelling, H. Relations between two sets of variates. Biometrika, 1936, 28, 321–377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loevinger, Jane, Gleser, Goldine C., and DuBois, P. H.. Maximizing the discriminating power of a multiple-score test. Psychometrika, 1953, 18, 309–317CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lord, F. M. Sampling fluctuations resulting from the sampling of test items. Psychometrika, 1955, 20, 1–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, M. W., and Adkins, Dorothy C.. A rapid method of selecting test items. J. educ. Psychol., 1938, 29, 547–552CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toops, H. A. The L-method. Psychometrika, 1941, 6, 249–266CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tukey, J. W. Unsolved problems of experimental statistics. J. Amer. statist. Assoc., 1954, 49, 706–731Google Scholar
Webster, H. Approximating maximum test validity by a non-parametric method. Psychometrika, 1953, 18, 207–211CrossRefGoogle Scholar