Administering the tests developed and formulated for the nursing-based curriculum entails providing reliable test items. Reliability is important because it helps counteract human error both on the part of the student taking the test and the person grading the test. "Reliability is the quality of a test which produces scores that are not affected much by chance. Students sometimes randomly miss a question they really knew the answer to or sometimes get an answer correct just by guessing" (KU, 2016). By increasing the reliability of the test items, the quality remains consistent in the test and offers a superior level of testing that avoids the pitfalls of unavoidable human error.
For instance, there are different ways to construct a test. With each different way, there are various measuring methods to help provide reliable outcomes. Essay questions and multiple-choice questions can contain qualitative or quantitative data that are measured differently. Multiple-choice questions are measured quantitatively and some ways to measure such data is the Kuder-Richardson, the alpha coefficient, or the split-half.
The Kuder and Richardson Formula 20 test allows the person to check for "internal consistency of measurements with dichotomous choices" (Real Statistics, 2016). It is equal to the aforementioned split half methodology in "all combinations of questions" (Real Statistics, 2016), remaining applicable whether the question is wrong or right. The value for a wrong answer/question is 0 and the value for a right answer/question is 1. With values ranging from 0 to 1 and reliability is indicated from a high value, an excess of .90 is a major indicator of a homogenous test.
The alpha coefficient goes by a different name. It is Cronbach's alpha and is a measure of how closely associated a set of items exist as a group (internal consistency). If there is a 'high' value for alpha this...
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