ITEM ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

Item analysis will expose the technical

defects in constructing the questions, poor
quality questions as well as questions that
were too difficult for the students. Thus it
provides a basis for remedial work as it brings
to light general areas of weakness of students
requiring more extended attention.
 DEFINITION

A type of analysis used to assess whether

items on a scale one tapping the same
construct and are sufficiently discriminating.
 PURPOSES OF ITEM ANALYSIS
1. To determine whether the item is of appropriate
level of difficulty for the batch of students tested
2. To determine whether the item is capable of
discriminating between knowledgeable and the
poor students.
3. Item analysis describes the statistical analysis
which allow measurement of the effectiveness of
individual test items.
4. It helps in selecting the best item for the final test
and reject poor items and modify some of the
items
 PARAMETERS FOR ITEM ANALYSIS

Item analysis is a measure of three important

parameters of a multiple choice items after it has been
administer to a group of students. They are
1. Difficulty index
2. Discrimination index
3. Functionality or effectiveness of
distracters
 DIFFICULTY INDEX
STEPS
1.Score the whole test for all students.
2.Rank the students in order of merit based on their test
scores.
3.Take the bottom third on the low achievers and the top
third as the high achievers.
4.Prepare a table for each item as follows.
For example:- Suppose 12 pupil out the 24 pupils in the
upper group and 5 pupils in the lower group selected the right
alternative. That makes a total of 17 out of 24, who got the item
correct indicating that the item has a low level of difficulty.
Since more pupils in the upper group than the lower group got
them right, indicating that it is discriminating positively
Estimating item difficulty:
Item difficulty of a test is indicated by the
percentage of pupils who get the item right. The
formula for this is,
Difficulty = (R/t x 100)
Where, R - is the number of pupils who got the item
right.
T - is the number of pupils who tried in the item.
 DISCRIMINATION INDEX

An indicator showing how significant a question

discriminate between ‘high’ and ‘low’ students. It
varies from -1 to +1.
Calculations:
The following formula is used (Guilbert)
Discrimination index 2 x (H-L / N)
 DISCRIMINATION INDEX

Guilbert suggests the following index to judge

questions.
0.35 and over – Excellent questions
0.25 to 0.34 – Good Questions
0.15 to 0.24 – Marginal questions, to be revised
Under 0.15 – poor questions, to be discarded.
 EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
DISTRACTORS (FUNCTIONALITY)

• When a distractor attracts more pupils from the upper

group & less pupils form the lower group, it is
because the distractor is a poor one.
• An item ie maximum positive discrimination power
would be one where all the pupils in the upper group
got the item correct and all the pupil from the lower
group got the item wrong. This results is an index of
1.00.
• An item & no discrimination power would be one
which an equal number of pupils in both the upper &
lower groups got the item right & the index will be 00.
CAUTION WHEN INTERPRETING ITEM ANALYSIS
RESULTS

• Item analysis data are not synonymous item

validity
• The discrimination index is not always a measure
of item quality
• Item analysis data are tentative
 USES OF ITEM ANALYSIS

• Creation of item banks

• It gives the feedback to the teacher
• It can be used to improve teaching methods, introduce
audio-visual aids or use them more effectively of
determine areas requiring emphasis and reinforcement
• It also pinpoint the questions on which good students are
confused and which students did not attempt
• Teachers consequently can examine the amount of time
allocated to those areas/and/or clarify of teaching