Psychological Achievements

The classical test theory and its limitalions

Document Type : Research Article

Author

H. Sepasi

Faculty member of Department of Educational Sciences, Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

10.22055/psy.1995.16532
Abstract
The principle of the classical test theory (CCT) have long been used by test developers to construct educational and psychological tests and scales. In recent years, however, it has been found that the CTT is not capable of offering solution for certain problems that the test developer is facing with. For example, it is said that the CCT is unable to provide a clear indication of the relationship between test items and the examinee's ability that test items are to measure.
In other words, classical item analyses statistics don't provide information about how examinees at different ability levels on the trait have performed on the item. Having discovered the limitations of the CCT, psychometricians have tried to introduce new test theory.
This article will briefly discuss the basic assumptions of the CCT on which most of the educational and psychological tests and scales are built. Next the test reliability, one of the most powerful and they're lying concepts in the CCT, which was first introduced by the British psychologist, Spearman, in early 20th century, will be reviewed. Finally, the limitations of CCT will be pointed out and the common views of the critics regarding the shortcomings of the CCT will be discussed. Proponents of the new theory believe that any psychological and educational test or scale should provide a clear indication of the true estimation of what is intended to be measured. Therefore the need for new test theories has to be satisfied.
Anastasi, A. (1988). Psychology testing (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Baker, B. F. (1985). The basics of item response theory. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heineman. 
Bloom, S. B, (1978). Toward a theory of testing, measurement, evaluation, and assessment. Cseir Report # 10 UCB. 
Cronbach, L. J. (1969). Review of the theory of Achievement Test Issues. Psychometrika, 35: 509 - 511. 
Ebel, L. R. & Frisbie. A. D. (1991). Essentials of educational measurement. Englewood Cliffs, New York: Prentice Hall. 
Feldet, L. S. (1975). Estimation of the reliability of a test divided into two parts of unequal length. Psychometrika, 40: 557-561. 
Guilford, J. P. (1930). Psychometric methods (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
Guliksen, H. (1945). Theory of Mental Test. New York: John Wiley. 
Hambleton, K. R & Novick, M. R. (1973). Toward an integration of theory and methods for criterion testing and measurement. Journal of Educational Measurement, 11: 159-170. 
Hambelton, K. R. (1984). Item Response Theory. Boston: Kluwer Nijhof Publishing. 
Hoyt. E. J. (1941). Test reliability estimated by analysis of variance. Psychometrika­, 6: 153-160. 
Hulin. C. L, & Drasgow, D. E. (1982) Recovery of two and three parametric logistic item characteristic courses. Applied Psychology Measurement, 6: 153-160. 
Hulin, C. L. & Drasgow, D. E (1983). Item Response Theory. Homewood, Ill: Dow Jonse Boston. 
Levin. J. R. (1978). Correcting planning on experiment in the company of measurement errors. Applied Psychology Measurement. 2: 382-85. 
Lord, M. F. (1980). Application of Item Response Theory to practical testing problems. New Jersy: Larrence Association Publisher. 
Lord, M. F & Novick, M. R. (1968). Theories of Mental Test Scores. Reading, Massachusset: Addison-Wesley. 
Mehrens, A. W & Kaminiski, D. C. (1989). Methods of improving standardised test scores. Educational Measurement Issues & Practice, 8: 14-22. 
Mehrens, A. W & Lehman, J. C. (1984). Measurement and evaluation in education and psychology. New York: Rienhart & Winston, Inc. 
Magnuson, D. (1967). Test Theory. Boston: Addison – Wesley. 
Romberg, A. T. (1992). Mathematic Assessment and evaluation. New York: State University of New York. 
Spearman. C. (1907). Demonstration of formula for true measurement correlation. American Psychology, 18: 161-196. 
Spearman, C. (1913). Correlation of sum and differences. British Journal of Psychology, 5: 17-42. 
Stevens, S. S. (1946). On the theory of scales of measurement. New York: John Wiley. 
Torgerson. W. S. (1958). Theory of scores of measurement. Science, 103: 677-680. 
Weiss, J. D. (1981). Test theory and methods. Annual Review of Psychology, 32: 629-658. 
Psychological Achievements
Volume 2, Issue 2
December 2019
Pages 132-146

  • Receive Date 30 September 1995
  • Revise Date 31 October 1995
  • Accept Date 02 December 1995

Home

Submit Manuscript

Reviewers

Contact Us