Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Planning a Test
• General Rules for Item Writing
• Selected Response Items
• Constructed Response Items
• Context-Dependent Items

Nurs 791 - Instructional Strategies and Assessment

Module 10: Test Planning to Item Development

Context-Dependent Items

Context dependent items present the respondent with some “new information” that frames the context from which items that follow can be answered. This “new information” is typically introduced in a brief (e.g. a few sentences or short paragraph or a figure such as a genogram, diagram, etc.) scenario followed by several items relating to that scenario. The items that follow all relate to the scenario or object provided as the “context”. Often the items that follow are multiple choice, but they can actually be of other types as appropriate. The number of items related to each “context” can vary, but usually there are from three to five.

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The Oermann & Gaberson text that you purchased for this course offers you an exceptional resource on many aspects of item writing, so please be sure to read the assigned readying.  If you have purchased the most recent version (Sixth Edition), you will see that exact page numbers are not listed for assigned readings.  That is because my book is at my SON office where I haven’t worked since March of this year due to the virus.  You can find correct page numbers in Volume 10, by looking up the topic of each related module.   This link offers you a broad overview of types of advantages and disadvantage of various types of items that you will be learning to write in this course. 

https://testing.wisc.edu/Handbook%20on%20Test%20Construction.pdf