ITEM ANALYSIS

Assessment Tools Development

 ITEM ANALYSIS
Item analysis is a process of examining the student's
response to individual item in the test. It consists of
different procedures for assessing the quality of the test
items given to the students. Through the use of item
analysis we can identify which of the given are good and
defective test items. Good items are to be retained and
defective items are to be improved, to be revised or to be
rejected.
 USES OF ITEM ANALYSIS

Item analysis data provide a basis

for efficient class discussion of the 1
test results.

Item analysis data provide a basis

for remedial work.
2
Item analysis data provide a basis
for general improvement of class-
room instruction.
3
4
Item analysis data provide a basis
for increased skills in test
construction.

Item analysis procedures provide a

basis for constructing test bank.
5
TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE ITEM ANALYSIS

DIFFICULTY INDEX

DISCRIMINATION INDEX

RESPONSE OPTION ANALYSIS

01
DIFFICULTY INDEX
 DIFFICULTY INDEX

It refers to the proportion of the number of

students in the upper and lower groups who
answered an item correctly. The larger the
proportion, the more students, who have
learned the subject is measured by the item
To compute the difficulty index of an item, use the formula:
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
To determine the level of difficulty of an item, find first the difficulty index
using the formula and identify the level of difficulty using the range given
below.
Index Range Difficulty Level

0.00-0.20 Very Difficult

0.21-0.40 Difficult

0.41-0.60 Average/Moderately Difficult

0.61-0.80 Easy
0.81-1.00 Very Easy
02
DISCRIMINATION INDEX
 DISCRMINATION INDEX

The power of the item to discriminate the

students between those who scored high and
those who scored low in the overall test. In
other words, it is the power of the item to
discriminate the students who know the lesson
and those who do not know the lesson.
 TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION INDEX

Positive discrimination 1

Negative discrimination 2

Zero discrimination 3
POSITIVE DISCRMINATION

happens when more students in the

upper group got the item correctly
than those students in the lower
group.
NEGATIVE DISCRMINATION

occurs when more students in the lower

group got the item correctly than the
students in the upper group.
 ZERO DISCRMINATION
happens when a number of students in the up- per
group and lower group who answer the test
correctly are equal, hence, the test item cannot
distinguish the students who performed in the
overall test and the students whose performance are
very poor.
.
LEVEL OF DISCRIMINTION
Ebel and Frisbie (1986) as cited by Hetzel (1997) recommended the use of Level
of Discrimination of an Item for easier interpretation.

Index Range Discrimination Level

0.19 and below Poor item, should be eliminated or need

to be revised
0.20-0.29 Marginal item, needs some revision

0.30-0.39 Reasonably good item but possibly for

improvement
0.40 and above Very good item
Discrimination Index Formula

D = number of students in either the lower group or upper group.

Note: Consider the higher number in case the sizes in upper and lower group
are not equal.
 STEPS IN SOLVING DIFFICULTY INDEX AND
DISCRIMINATION INDEX

1
Arrange the scores from
highest to lowest
2
Separate the scores into upper group and lower group. There are
different methods to do this: (a) if a class consists of 30 students who
takes an exam, arrange their scores from highest to lowest, then divide
them into two groups. The highest score belongs to the upper group.
The lowest score belongs to the lower group. (b) Other literatures
suggested to use 27%, 30%, or 33% of the students for the upper group
and lower group.
STEPS IN SOLVING DIFFICULTY INDEX AND
DISCRIMINATION INDEX

Count the number of those who chose the alternatives in the

3 upper and lower group for each item and record the
information using the template:

Options Upper Group Lower Group

A
B
C
D
E

NOTE; Put asterisk In every correct answer.

 STEPS IN SOLVING DIFFICULTY INDEX AND
DISCRIMINATION INDEX

4
Compute the value of the difficulty
index and the discrimination index and

5 also the analysis of each response in

the distracters.

Make an analysis for

each item.
CHECKLIST FOR DISCRIMINATION

It is very important to determine whether the test item

will be retained, revised or rejected. Using the
Discrimination Index we can identify the non-
performing question items; just always remember
that they seldom indicate what is the problem. Use
the given checklist below:
 YES NO

1. Does the key discriminate

positively?

2. Does the incorrect options

discriminate negatively?

• If the answers to questions 1 and 2 are both YES, retain the item.
• If the answers to questions 1 and 2 are either YES or NO, revise the item.
• If the answers to questions 1 and 2 are both NO, eliminate or reject the
item.
 ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE OPTIONS

Aside from identifying the difficulty index and discrimination

index, another way to evaluate the performance of the
entire test item is through the analysis of the response
options. It is very important to examine the performance
of each option in a multiple-choice item. Through this, you
can determine whether the distracters or incorrect options
are effective or attractive to those who do not know the
correct answer.
DISTRACTER ANALYSIS

DISTRACTER

MISKEYED ITEM

GUESSING ITEM

AMBIGUOUS ITEM
 DISTRACTER

Distracter is the term used for the incorrect options in

the multiple- choice type of test while the correct
answer represents the key. It is very important for
the test writer to know if the distracters are effective
or good distracters. Using quantitative item analysis
we can determine if the options are good or if the
distracters are effective.
Factors to be considered why students failed to get the correct answer in
the given question;

It is not taught in the class

properly. a
It is ambiguous. b
The correct answer is not in the
given options.
c
It has more than one correct
answer
d
Factors to be considered why students failed to get the correct answer in
the given question;

It contains grammatical clues to

mislead the students. e
The student is not aware of the
content. f
The students were confused by
the logic of the question because g
it has double negatives.

The student failed to study the

lesson.
h
MISKEYED ITEM

The test item is a potential miskey if

there are more students from the
upper group who choose the incorrect
options than the key.
 GUESSING ITEM
Students from the upper group have equal spread of choices
among the given alternatives. Students from the upper
group guess their answers because of the following
reasons:

a. The content of the test is not discussed in the class or in the

text.
b. The test item is very difficult.
C. The question is trivial.
AMBIGUOUS ITEM

This happens when more students from the

upper group choose equally an incorrect
option and the keyed answer.
 QUALITATIVE
ANALYSIS
a process in which the teacher or expert carefully
proofreads the test before it is administered, to
check if there are typo- graphical errors, to avoid
grammatical clues that may lead to giving away
the correct answer, and to ensure that the level of
reading materials is appropriate.
IMPROVING TEST ITEM

item analysis enables the teachers to improve and

enhance their skills in writing test items. To
improve multiple- choice test item we shall
consider the stem of the item, the distracters
and the key answer.
Examples in analyzing the test item and some notes on how to improve the item
based from the results of item analysis;

A class is composed of 40 students. Divide the group

EX.1 into two. Option B is the correct answer. Based
from the given data on the table, as a teacher, what
would you do with the test item?

Options A B* C D E

Upper Group 3 10 4 0 3

Lower 4 4 8 0 4
Group
STEP 1 Compute the difficulty index
STEP 2 Compute the discrimination index
STEP 3 Make an analysis based on the level of difficulty,
discrimination, and distracters.

a. Only 35% of the examinees got the answer correctly,

hence, the item is difficult.

b. More students from the upper group got the answer

correctly, hence, it has a positive discrimination.

C. Retain options A, C, and E because most of the students

who did not perform well in the overall examination
selected it. Those options attract most students from the
lower group.
STEP 4 Conclusion

Retain the test item but change option D,

make it more realistic to make it effective
for the upper and lower groups. At least
5% of the examinees choose the incorrect
option.
Examples in analyzing the test item and some notes on how to improve the item
based from the results of item analysis;

A class is composed of 50 students. Use 27% to get

EX. 2 the upper and the lower groups. Analyze the item
given the following results. Option D is the correct
answer. What will you do with the test item?

Options A B C D* E

Upper Group 3 1 2 6 2
(27%)
Lower Group 5 0 4 4 1
(27%)
STEP 1 Compute the difficulty index
STEP 2 Compute the discrimination index
 STEP 3 Make an analysis based on the level of difficulty,
discrimination, and distracters.

a. Only 36% of the examinees got the answer correctly, hence, the item is difficult.

b. More students from the upper group got the answer correctly, hence, it has a
positive discrimination.

C. Modify options B and E because more students from the upper group chose them
compare with the lower group, hence, they are not effective distracters because
most of the students who performed well in the overall examination selected
them as their answers.

d. Retain options A and C because most of the students who did not perform well in
the overall examination selected them as the correct answers. Hence, options A
and C are effective distracters.
STEP 4 Conclusion

Revised the item by modifying

options B and E.
TRY THIS!

Guessing Item. Below is the result of an item

TRY. 1 analysis for a test item with students’ answers
mostly based on a guess. Are you going to reject,
revise or retain the test item?

Options A B C* D E

Upper Group 4 3 4 3 6

Lower 3 4 3 4 5
Group
STEP 1 Compute the difficulty index
STEP 2 Compute the discrimination index
 STEP 3 Make an analysis based on the level of difficulty,
discrimination, and distracters.

a. Only 18% of the students got the answer to the test item correctly, hence, the test item is very
difficult.

b. More students from the upper group got the correct answer to the test item; therefore, the test
item is a positive discrimination. The discrimination index is 5%.

C. Students respond about equally to all alternatives, an indication that they are guessing.
Three possibilities why student guesses the answer on a test item:

• the content of the test item has not yet been discussed in the class because the test is designed
in advance;
• test items were badly written that students have no idea what the question is really all about;
and
• test items were very difficult as shown from the difficulty index and low discrimination index.

d. If the test item is well-written but too difficult, reteach the material to the class.
STEP 4 Conclusion

Reject the item because it is very

difficult and the discrimination index
is very poor, and options A and B are
not effective distracters.
THANK YOU!