AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY OF COMPUTERIZED ADAPTIVE TEST ADMINISTRATION CONDITIONS

This empirical study was designed to determine the impact of computeri zed adaptive test (CAT) administration formats on student performance. Students in medical technology programs took a paper-and-pencil and a n individualized, computerized adaptive test. Students were randomly a ssigned to adaptive test administration formats to ascertain the effec t on student performance of altering: (a) the difficulty of the first item, (b) the targeted level of test difficulty, (c) minimum test leng th, and (d) the opportunity to control the test. Computerized adaptive test data were analyzed with ANCOVA. The paper-and-pencil test was us ed as a covariate to equalize ability variance among cells. The only s ignificant main effect was for opportunity to control the test. There were no significant interactions among test administration formats. Th is study provides evidence concerning adjusting traditional computeriz ed adaptive testing to more familiar testing modalities.