PSI Assessment & Evaluation Methods 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A fire instructor wants to measure a student's ability to don SCBA equipment correctly in under one minute. Which assessment type best fits this goal?
- Written examination
- Performance-based assessment (Correct answer)
- Oral questioning
- Peer review checklist
Correct answer: Performance-based assessment
Performance-based assessments directly measure a student's ability to execute a psychomotor skill under realistic conditions.
Question 2: In norm-referenced evaluation, a student's score is interpreted by comparing it to:
- A fixed passing standard set by the instructor
- The student's previous test scores
- The performance of other students in the same group (Correct answer)
- A national competency checklist
Correct answer: The performance of other students in the same group
Norm-referenced evaluation ranks or compares individual performance against a reference group rather than against an absolute standard.
Question 3: Which term describes the degree to which a test consistently measures what it is intended to measure across multiple administrations?
- Validity
- Reliability (Correct answer)
- Objectivity
- Authenticity
Correct answer: Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency of a test's results when administered repeatedly under the same conditions.
Question 4: An instructor discovers that high-achieving students consistently miss question 14 on a written exam. This finding suggests the question may have a problem with:
- Test blueprint alignment
- Item discrimination (Correct answer)
- Response time allocation
- Oral delivery clarity
Correct answer: Item discrimination
Poor item discrimination occurs when a question fails to distinguish between students who know the material and those who do not.
Question 5: A public safety instructor uses a scenario where students must triage simulated casualties and document findings. This is best described as:
- Summative assessment
- Authentic assessment (Correct answer)
- Diagnostic pre-test
- Criterion-referenced quiz
Correct answer: Authentic assessment
Authentic assessment presents real-world tasks that require students to apply knowledge and skills in context.
Question 6: Which statistical measure indicates the percentage of students who answered a test item correctly, used in item analysis?
- Difficulty index (p-value) (Correct answer)
- Standard deviation
- Discrimination index
- Kuder-Richardson coefficient
Correct answer: Difficulty index (p-value)
The difficulty index (p-value) is calculated as the proportion of students who answered the item correctly, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0.
Question 7: Formative assessment differs from summative assessment primarily because formative assessment is designed to:
- Assign final grades at the end of training
- Monitor learning progress and guide instructional adjustments (Correct answer)
- Certify competency for licensure
- Rank students against a normative population
Correct answer: Monitor learning progress and guide instructional adjustments
Formative assessment provides ongoing feedback during instruction to improve learning before a final evaluation.
PSI Assessment & Evaluation Methods 2
A fire instructor wants to measure a student's ability to don SCBA equipment correctly in under one minute.
Which assessment type best fits this goal?