Item Construction

Item Construction Lindsay Couzens, M.S. UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Question Content • Each question should be mapped to one of your identified and defined objectives • Consider the content, scope and purpose of each item • Response formats • Open-ended or closed-ended? • Survey layout • Items should be grouped by topic AND by response type UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Things to Consider • Clarity of Directions • Levels of measurement • Nominal • Ordinal • Interval • Exhaustiveness • Response alternatives have sufficient range UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Things to Consider • Exclusiveness • Response alternatives are mutually exclusive • Balancing Categories • There should be an even number of alternatives on both sides of neutral UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Numerical Rating Scales • Likert-type scales • Rates attitudes or opinions • Horizontal rating scales • Used to indicate where a respondent’s attitude or opinion falls between two opposite attitude positions UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Numerical Rating Scales • Semantic differential • Opposite adjectives rather than attitude positions • Vertical rating ladder • Ranking UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Scores • Out of 10 • Respondents rate each item • Ranking • Items are ranked relative to other items in the set UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Checklists • Respondent checks all that apply • Binary choice formats • Dichotomous questions • Ex: What is your sex? (M/F); Do you smoke? (Y/N) • Paired comparisons • Respondent chooses between two overlapping options UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Multiple choice formats • Choice between multiple nominal categories • Marital status • Choice between ordinal categories • How often do you eat in the dining commons? UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Response Formats • Multiple choice formats • Choice between ordered attitude statements • Which attitude statement most closely matches your own? • Numerical answers • Salary; how many people live in the household UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Question Wording ChecklistdeVaus, 2002 Is the language simple? Can the question be shortened? Is the question double-barreled? Is the question leading? Is the question negative? UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Question Wording ChecklistdeVaus, 2002 Is the respondent likely to have the necessary knowledge? Will the words have the same meaning for everyone? Is there a prestige bias? Is the question ambiguous? UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Question Wording ChecklistdeVaus, 2002 Is the question too precise? Is the frame of reference for the question sufficiently clear? Does the question artificially create opinions? Is personal or impersonal wording preferable? UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Question Wording ChecklistdeVaus, 2002 Is the question wording unnecessarily detailed or objectionable? Does the question have dangling alternatives? Does the question contain gratuitous qualifiers? Is the question a “dead giveaway”? UNLV Office of Academic Assessment

Item Construction