Effects of the Addition of Color to Assessment Instruments

Abstract

Color has been incorporated in recent revisions of individually administered ability tests, yet, to date, no decisive evaluation of the effect that color has on test performance has been made. To this end, the Absurdities subtest of the Stanford-Binet, Fourth Edition (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986) and the Picture Completion subtest of the WISC-III (Wechsler, 1991) were administered in both a colored and a noncolored version to 80 children. The children were in either kindergarten/first grade or fifth/sixth grade and in either remedial assistance or regular educational placements. Grade differences in test performance were in the predicted direction; however, expected school placement differences were not obtained in all instances. For the Absurdities subtest, there were no differences between the colored and black and white versions; Picture Completion subtest results were complicated by several interactions. Clear student preferences existed for colored stimuli. In general, changing subtests to color appears advantageous.