Developing a Computer‐Based TTCT: Promises and Problems*

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purposes of the present study were to examine the equivalence of paper‐pencil and computer‐based versions of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Figural Forms A and B, and to investigate the patterns of responses involved in the computer‐based TTCT. The participants were 34 fifth‐ and sixth‐grade students currently enrolled in two public schools in southern Texas. The computer‐based TTCT was developed to present all the features of the paper‐pencil TTCT with the additional benefits offered by computer‐based testing. Means, variances, test‐retest reliability, and attitudinal differences were analyzed to investigate equivalence between the paper‐pencil and computer‐based TTCT. Response patterns involved in the figural tasks were explored based on data collected from the computer‐based test (e.g., latency, tool using patterns, correction activities). The findings of the study indicated that the results obtained from the computer‐based TTCT were not equivalent with the paper‐pencil version. However, additional information regarding response patterns obtained from the computer‐based TTCT showed clear indication of different response tendencies among different groups of students and between the two alternate test forms (A and B).