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Speculating about the right answer in achievement tests, personality and intelligence
Valentin Bucik
Full text (pdf) | Views: 13 | Written in Slovene. | Published: December 1, 2001
Abstract: When solving multiple-choice items (MCI) in the objective tests of achievement (abilities or attainment), respondents use different strategies when dealing with items which they find to be too difficult to be solved. Some studies have shown that answering to such items is not dependent only on cognitive factors, but the results are not entirely unisonant about how the individual differences in the structure of personality and intelligence influence the level of guessing proneness. The participants were put in the position to face some MCI in an 'erudition test' with no correct answer at all. Then, the distinction was made between the subjects who were more and those who were less prone to guess when trying to answer such items. Differences in the structure of personality according to the Big Five model were established. Because of the hypothesised relationship between intellectual abilities and guessing in MCI, general intelligence (g) was also controlled for. The results showed that guessing proneness is one of the personality traits, which should not be neglected in MCI test applications, especially when testing abilities. One of the possibilities to control its influence would be to provide exact testing instructions for all participants.
Keywords: individual differences, achievement, multiple-choice-items, guessing proneness, Big Five, personality model, general intelligence
