Analyzing Test-Taking Behavior: Decision Theory Meets Psychometric Theory

David Budescu () and Yuanchao Bo

Psychometrika, 2015, vol. 80, issue 4, 1105-1122

Abstract: We investigate the implications of penalizing incorrect answers to multiple-choice tests, from the perspective of both test-takers and test-makers. To do so, we use a model that combines a well-known item response theory model with prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk, Econometrica 47:263–91, 1979 ). Our results reveal that when test-takers are fully informed of the scoring rule, the use of any penalty has detrimental effects for both test-takers (they are always penalized in excess, particularly those who are risk averse and loss averse) and test-makers (the bias of the estimated scores, as well as the variance and skewness of their distribution, increase as a function of the severity of the penalty). Copyright The Psychometric Society 2015

Keywords: multiple-choice tests; guessing; formula scoring; partial information; decision theory; loss aversion; mis-calibration of probabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11336-014-9425-x

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