What Are You Thinking? Postsecondary Student Think-Alouds of Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning Items

Abstract

To investigate the cognitive validity of scientific and quantitative reasoning items, “think-alouds” (verbal solutions) were elicited for a general education instrument. Several items were not aligned in terms of anticipated versus actual content, and the instrument's accuracy is questioned. We discuss study weaknesses and merits of this framework and analysis.