Practical Considerations in Computer-Based Testing (Statistics for Social and Behavioral Sciences)

This book emphasizes the practical side of computer-based testing and presents suggestions, information, and ideas for its actual implementation. Most current references on computer-based testing either cover the topics from a theoretical point of view or present numerous examples of different and often disparate topics that have been assessed using computer-based testing methods. This book is different. It assumes that the reader may have little or no experience in actually implementing a computer-based testing program, even if knowledgeable about the psychometrics and measurement principles that govern it. It provides guidance and information that can be used to make wise, informed decisions, including the type of computer-based test that should be administered, possible cost to examinees, examinee reactions to the test, scoring issues, computer mode effects, the development of innovative item types, the time and cost needed to create and maintain an item pool, and many more.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.