The Effect of Test Administration Procedures on Achievement Test Performance

Abstract

A number of investigators (Gibby, Miller, Walker, 1953; Sacks, 1952; Schachtel, 1945; Egeland, 1967; Marlett and Watson, 1968; Walsh, Engbretson, and O'Brien, 1968) have studied examiners' effect on test performance. The dimensions of examiner behavior such as warm versus cold and rigid versus natural appears to produce predictable effects upon examinees' responses (Exner, 1966; Masling, 1959). A study by Ganzer (1963) indicated that hostility by the examiner in a test situation produced more negative self-statements than did a situation in which the examiner assumed a non-hostile role. Negative self-reports by test takers increased as a function of anger-arousing test instructions in a study reported by Bloxom (1968). Jacobs and Felix (1968) stated, proper administration of achievement tests continues to be a problem. The interactive nature of the individual and situational variables of an affective nature have been analyzed in the studies of Hutchins (1964) and Johnson and Hutchins (1966). Higgins and Archer (1968) found that the test performance of lower socioeconomic status children could be significantly manipulated by factors other than additional instructions. When consideration is given to the effects upon the test performance of children when administered tests under varying types of affective tones together with the results of testee and examiner interactions, (Forrester and Klaus, 1964; and Katz, 1968), it becomes evident that the tendency of lower-class disadvantaged children to perform poorly on standardized tests might be related