Analysis of Distractor Difficulty in Multiple-Choice Items

• Published in: Psychometrika Vol. 69; no. 2; pp. 217 - 234
• Main Author: Revuelta, Javier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.06.2004
• Subjects: Bayesian Statistics; Biological and medical sciences; Difficulty Level; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Item Response Theory; Item Sampling; Multiple Choice Tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Psychometrics. Statistics. Methodology; Statistical Inference; Statistics. Mathematics; Test Items; Human; Statistical analysis; Questionnaire; Item response theory; Psychometrics; item-response models; multiple-choice items; Distractor; MCMC simulation; Test difficulty; Multiple choice; Posterior Predictive Checks; EM algorithm

Two psychometric models are presented for evaluating the difficulty of the distractors in multiple-choice items. They are based on the criterion of rising distractor selection ratios, which facilitates interpretation of the subject and item parameters. Statistical inferential tools are developed in...