Investigating Consequences of Using Item Pre-knowledge in Computerized Multistage Testing

Abstract

The goal of this study is to determine the effects of test cheating in a scenario where test-takers use item pre-knowledge in the c-MST, and to urge practitioners to take additional precautions to increase test security. In order to investigate the statistical consequences of item pre-knowledge use in the c-MST, three different cheating scenarios were created, in addition to the baseline condition (e.g., no pre-knowledge usage). The findings were compared under 30-item and 60-item test length conditions with 1-3-3 c-MST panel design. A total of thirty cheaters were generated from a normal distribution, and EAP was used as an ability estimation method. The findings were discussed with the evaluation criteria of mean bias, root mean square error, correlation between true and estimated thetas, conditional absolute bias, and conditional root mean square. It was found that using item pre-knowledge severely affected the estimated thetas, and as the number of compromised items increased, the results got worse. It was concluded that item sharing and/or test cheating seriously damage the test scores, test usage, and score interpretations.