CONSEQUENCE OF PERFORMANCE, TEST MOTIVATION, AND MENTALLY TAXING ITEMS

The relation between characteristics of test takers and characteristic s of items was examined in a quasi-experimental study. High-school sop homores and juniors were administered a mathematics exam that was of c onsequence to the sophomores but not the juniors. The juniors had more mathematics course work as a group but less motivation to perform wel l. Items were characterized by item difficulty (from p values), the de gree to which they were mentally taxing (how much mental effort was ne cessary to reach a correct answer), and item position (as an index of the level of fatigue of the test taker). A differential item functioni ng (DIF) analysis was conducted to look at differences between sophomo res and juniors on an item-by-item basis. It was found that all three item characteristic measures were related to the DIF index, with the m ental taxation measure showing the strongest relation. Results are int erpreted in relation to the expectancy value model of motivation as fo rmulated by Pintrich (1988, 1989).