Off-campus UNL users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your NU ID and password. When you are done browsing please remember to return to this page and log out.
Non-UNL users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
An exploratory analysis of item parameters and characteristics that influence item level response time
Abstract
This research examines the relationship between item level response time and (1) item discrimination, (2) item difficulty, (3) word count, (4) item type, and (5) whether a figure is included in an item. Data are from the Graduate Management Admission Test, which is currently offered only as a computerized adaptive test. Analyses revealed significant differences in response time between the five item types: problem solving, data sufficiency, sentence correction, critical reasoning, and reading comprehension. For this reason, the planned pairwise and complex analyses were run within each item type. Pairwise curvilinear regression analyses explored the relationship between response time and item discrimination, item difficulty, and word count. Item difficulty significantly contributed to the prediction of response time for each item type; two of the relationships were significantly quadratic. Item discrimination significantly contributed to the prediction of response time for only two of the item types; one revealed a quadratic relationship and the other a cubic relationship. Word count had significant linear relationship with response time for all the item types except reading comprehension, for which there was no significant relationship. Multiple regression analyses using word count, item difficulty, and item discrimination predicted between 35.4% and 71.4% of the variability in item response time across item types. The results suggest that response time research should consider the type of item that is being administered and continue to explore curvilinear relationships between response time and its predictor variables.
Subject Area
Educational evaluation|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Smith, Russell Winsor, "An exploratory analysis of item parameters and characteristics that influence item level response time" (2000). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9973602.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9973602