Item response theory
Item Response Theory (IRT) is a way to measure how easy or hard it is to answer a multiple-choice question. It looks at the difficulty of the question, and the ability of the person taking the test to answer it correctly.
Think about a multiple choice test. For example, a math test with questions like:
Which number is bigger: 5 or 10?
A. 5
B. 10
IRT looks at how hard or easy it is to answer a question like this. In this case, the answer is very easy to figure out, so the question is rated as “easy” with IRT. But if you had a question like this:
Which number is bigger: 7,123 or 1,456
A. 7,123
B. 1,456
That would be rated as a “hard” question, because it would take more thinking and problem solving skills to answer it correctly.
So, IRT helps us measure the difficulty of different types of questions and make sure that the questions on a test are fair and balanced for everyone. This way, everyone taking the test has an equal chance of doing well.
Think about a multiple choice test. For example, a math test with questions like:
Which number is bigger: 5 or 10?
A. 5
B. 10
IRT looks at how hard or easy it is to answer a question like this. In this case, the answer is very easy to figure out, so the question is rated as “easy” with IRT. But if you had a question like this:
Which number is bigger: 7,123 or 1,456
A. 7,123
B. 1,456
That would be rated as a “hard” question, because it would take more thinking and problem solving skills to answer it correctly.
So, IRT helps us measure the difficulty of different types of questions and make sure that the questions on a test are fair and balanced for everyone. This way, everyone taking the test has an equal chance of doing well.
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