Introduction to classical and modern test theory

Abstract

This text was written to help the reader acquire a base of knowledge about classical psychometrics and to integrate new ideas into that framework of knowledge. The material is organized into five units: (1) introduction to measurement theory; (2) reliability; (3) validity; (4) item analysis in test development; and (5) test scoring and interpretation. The first unit provides background information for readers with little formal education in measurement or statistics. Each of the subsequent units presents classical theory in the initial chapters, followed by more recent developments in later chapters, with a discussion of how these procedures relate to the traditional concepts. In effect, an introduction to classical test theory can be obtained from Chapters 1 through 7 and chapters 10 14, 17, and 19, while an introduction to recent topics in psychometrics can be derived from Chapters 8, 9, 15, 16, 18, and 20. Computational exercises and questions follow each chapter to illustrate appl