When I was in high school I took a job interest survey, supposedly to find out the kinds of careers that I would find interesting. That survey and an aptitude test I took at the time revealed that there were only a few areas I should stay away from. One of them was psychology. It’s a good thing that I forgot about those tests when I signed up for my college major: psychology. And my graduate work: experimental psychology.
Apparently I’ve recovered my trust in the interest survey as I have one to administer today to you. This one isn’t about jobs, but more about interest in changing some aspects of our industry, the testing industry, for the better in a big way before we die. So, here are 10 survey questions:
It would be great if…
- A multiple choice test didn’t favor those who already had or who can afford to get test prep training on test taking skills. YES NO
- We could significantly reduce the risk of someone stealing our test content by how we present the multiple choice questions. YES NO
- We didn’t have to spend so much money creating extra test items because there are people who steal them. YES NO
- You could write a multiple choice test question that lasts forever, never needs to be replaced, and can’t be stolen. YES NO
- The same exact test could be finished in significantly less time. YES NO
- Each test question better measured the skill for which it was built and less of other irrelevant skills. YES NO
- Test were more fair to many other groups, such as those who struggle with tests in an unfamiliar language, young children, older folks, individuals with test anxiety, and others. YES NO
- A pool of retired or compromised items could be instantly revitalized. YES NO
- We didn’t have to defend our use of multiple choice questions so vigorously against critics. YES NO
- Our tests actually motivated and required test takers to prepare solely on the basis of the skills the test was built to measure. YES NO
If you thought that these points represented attractive or ideal outcomes, and answered YES to most or all of them, then you need to take the time to find out more about Caveon’s Discrete Option Multiple Choice (DOMC) technology. This new technology has great promise and we could end up with each of the benefits described in the survey questions. Caveon just released a technical paper on what DOMC is, why it is significant, the research that supports it, its psychometric foundations, and many other topics.
To learn more about this exciting new development, download a copy of the DOMC White Paper here, and register for the Caveon Webinar Series session this month, DOMC: Twenty-first century multiple choice items that solve big testing problems with technology.