One of the roles of the nurse educator is to develop valid and reliable tests to assess student learning. What are some guidelines the nurse educator should follow to ensure that the test questions developed are valid and reliable? Discuss item analysis and overall test statistics you will use to evaluate and assess for validity and reliability.

Topic 5 Discussion

The concepts of reliability and validity come to test at any time an assessment is carried out to assess if learners have achieved specific goals. A test is considered reliable if it exhibits consistent results. On the other hand, validity refers to how effectively or accurately a test measures what it was supposed to measure (Kim & Yang, 2020). Failure by instructors to effectively assess tests to meet the validity and reliability standards can easily compromise the purpose of the test rendering it useless. Therefore, educators work around the clock to improve the quality of their tests to ensure they are valid and reliable.

There are simple steps educators can use to improve the validity and reliability of the test. Establishing the test purpose is the first step and most important when designing an exam. The purpose of exams can either measure mastery of content or predict success. Understanding the purpose of the exams helps educators to meet the priorities and goals of the exam (Kim & Yang, 2020). The next step is conducting a test analysis which helps in determining the knowledge and skills that should be assessed. Upon determining the required knowledge and skills, the educators can involve a panel of subject matter experts (SMEs) to write a set of assessment items according to the cognitive areas and content areas as directed by the test blueprint shared with learners as well (Kim & Yang, 2020). This helps in generating appropriate and enough exam questions. After creating exam questions, a team of experts should be included to review the exam to ensure no design flaws. The review process includes checking for grammatical errors, correct keying, accuracy, and technical flaws, as well as sensitivity and language of the exam. Finally, data and statistical methods, including psychometrics are used to check for assessment validity during assessment analysis.

Psychometrics are essential statistical measures that use a set of data to improve quality, validate exam reliability, and ensure consistency. Various test statistics are used in psychometrics, including p-value to determine item difficulty index; lower and upper difficulty index to determine how exam items were difficult for top scorers and lowest scores respectively, and discrimination index, which provides a comparative analysis of upper and lower examinees (Backhouse et al., 2021). Psychometric data can be used to differentiate between flawed exams and competitive exams that provide an accurate picture of learners.

References

Backhouse, S., Chiavaroli, N. G., Schmid, K. L., McKenzie, T., Cochrane, A. L., Phillips, G., & Jalbert, I. (2021). Assessing professional competence in optometry – a review of the development and validity of the written component of the competency in optometry examination (COE). BMC Medical Education, 21(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02417-6

Kim, J., & Yang, J. S. (2020). How to improve the reliability of cut-off scores in dental competency exam: A comparison of rating methods in standard setting. European Journal of Dental Education: Official Journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, 24(4), 734–740. https://doi.org/10.1111/eje.12563