ERIC Number: ED166246
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1977-Feb
Pages: 56
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Comparative Racial Analysis of Enlisted Advancement Exams: Item Differentiation. Final Report.
Robertson, David W.; And Others
A comparative study of item analysis was conducted on the basis of race to determine whether alternative test construction or processing might increase the proportion of black enlisted personnel among those passing various military technical knowledge examinations. The study used data from six specialists at four grade levels and investigated item analysis data indicating item difficulty, item-test point-biserial correlation, item-subtest correlation, item differentiation (between high scoring and low scoring groups), and item-criterion correlation (where the criterion was the performance factor rating). It was found that item differentiation was generally lower for blacks than for whites; that the highest item-differentiation values tended to be for easier items; that items that were nearly equal in difficulty for blacks and whites tended to be very difficult items; and that items with high item-criterion correlations tended to have low item-test correlations. It was also found that tests of 20 to 30 items selected by the item-criterion correlation method were more valid than longer tests up to 150 items. Various aspects of item analysis are discussed and data are provided for a variety of comparisons. (Author/CTM)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Navy Personnel Research and Development Center, San Diego, CA.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A