An analysis of the use of the “in doubt” response by university students on the musical aptitude profile and the iowa tests of music literacy

Abstract

The Musical Aptitude Profile (MAP) and four levels of the Iowa Tests of Music Literacy (ITML) were administered to university non-music majors to investigate the use of the “in doubt” test item response. The “in doubt” response was not used indiscriminately by the university students on either test battery, and it appeared to function in a similar manner to use by public school students. The incidence of use of the “in doubt” response on ITML levels suggests that the students in this investigation felt quite confident of their answers on the achievement test levels and that this confidence remained stable throughout a semester of training. No reason to suspect the process validity of MAP or of ITML when used with university students was ascertained.