The document discusses examples of qualitative item analysis of test items. It provides examples of analyzing items based on difficulty index, discrimination index, and effectiveness of distractors. Based on the analysis, the teacher would decide to retain, revise, or reject each item. For ambiguous, miskeyed, or guessing items, the conclusion is usually to revise or reject the item. For difficult items with good discrimination, the conclusion may be to retain but modify distractors. The analysis helps teachers improve the quality of test items.

1. Qualitative Item
Analysis

2. Qualitative Item Analysis
Is a process in which the teacher or expert
carefully proofreads the test before it is
administered, to check if are typographical errors,
to avoid grammatical clues that may lead to giving
away the correct answer, and to ensure that the
level of reading materials is appropriate.
(Zurawski, R.M)

3. Qualitative Item Analysis
According to Cohen, Swerdlik, and Smith
(1992) as cited by Zurawski, students who took the
examination are asked to express verbally their
experience in answering each item in the
examination.

4. Improving Test Items
As presented in the introduction of this
chapter, item analysis enables the teachers to
improve and enhance their skills in writing test
items. To improve multiple-choice test item we
shall consider the stem of the item, the distracters
and the key answer.

5. How to Improve the Test Items
Consider the following examples in
analyzing the test item and some notes on how to
improve the item based from the results of item
analysis.

6. Example 1
A class is composed of 40 students. Divide the group
into two. Option B is the correct answer. Based from the
given data on the table, as a teacher, what would you do
with the test item?
Options A B* C D E
Upper Group 3 10 4 0 3
Lower Group 4 4 8 0 4

7. 1. Compute the difficulty
index.
n = 10 + 4 = 14
N = 40
DF
=
n
N
DF
=
14
40
DF
= 0.35 or 35%
2. Compute the
discrimination index.
CUG
= 10
CLG
= 4
D = 20
DI
= CUG
– CLG
D
=
10−4
20
=
6
20
= 0.30 or 30%

8. 3. Make an analysis about the level of difficulty,
discrimination and distracters.
a) Only 35% of the examinees got the answer correctly,
hence, the item is difficult.
b) More students from the upper group got the answer
correctly, hence, it has a positive discrimination.
c) Retain options A,C, and E because most of the students
who did not perform well in the overall examination
selected it. Those options attract most students from the
lower group.

9. 4. Conclusion:
Retain the test item but change option D, make it
more realistic to make it effective for the upper and lower
groups. At least 5% of the examinees choose the incorrect
option.

10. Example 2
A class is composed of 50% students. Use 27% to get
the upper and the lower groups. Analyze the item given
the following results. Option D is the correct answer. What
will you do with the test item?
Options A B C D* E
Upper Group (27%) 3 1 2 6 2
Lower Group (27%) 5 0 4 4 1

11. 1. Compute the difficulty
index.
n = 6 + 4 = 10
N = 28
DF =
n
N
DF =
10
28
DF = 0.36 or 36%
2. Compute the discrimination
index.
CUG = 6
CLG = 4
D = 14
DI = CUG
– CLG
D
DI = 6−4
14
DI = 2
14
DI = 0.14 or 14%

12. 3. Make an analysis.
a) Only 36% of the examinees got the answer correctly,
hence, the item is difficult.
b) More students from the upper group got the answer
correctly, hence, it has a positive discrimination.
c) Modify option B and E because more students from the
upper group chose them compare with the lower
group, hence, they are not effective distracters because
most of the students who performed well in the overall
examination selected them as their answers.

13. d) Retain options A and C because most of the students
who did not perform well in the overall examination
selected them as the correct answers. Hence, options A
and C are effective distracters.
4. Conclusion:
Revised the item by modifying options B and E.

14. Example 3.
A class is composed of 50 students. Use 27% to get
the upper and the lower groups. Analyze the item given
the following results. Option E is the correct answer. What
will you do with the test item?
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group
(27%)
2 3 2 2 5
Lower Group
(27%)
2 2 1 1 8

15. 1. Compute the
difficulty index.
n = 5 + 8 = 13
N = 28
DF =
n
N
DF =
13
28
DF = 0.46 or 46%
2. Compute the discrimination
index.
CUG = 5
CLG = 8
D = 14
DI = CUG
– CLG
D
DI = 5−8
14
DI = −3
14
DI = -0.21 or -21%

16. 3. Make an analysis.
a) 46% of the students got the answer to test item
correctly, hence, the test item is moderately difficult.
b) More students from the lower group got the item
correctly, therefore, it is a negative discrimination. The
discrimination is -21% index.
c) No need to analyze the distracters because the item
discriminates negatively.
d) Modify all the distracters because they are not
effective. Most of the students in the upper group
chose the incorrect options. The options are effective if
most of the students in the lower group chose the
incorrect options.
4. Conclusion: Reject the item because it has a negative
discrimination index.

17. Example #4
Potential Miskeyed Item. Make an item analysis
about the table below. What will you do with the test that
is a potential miskeyed item?
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group (27%) 1 2 3 10 4
Lower Group (27%) 3 4 4 4 5

18. 1. Compute the difficulty
index.
n = 1 + 3 = 4
N = 40
DF =
n
N
DF =
4
40
DF = 0.10 or 10%
2. Compute the
discrimination index.
CUG = 1
CLG = 3
D = 20
DI = CUG
– CLG
D
DI = 1−3
20
DI = −2
20
DI = -0.10 or -10%

19. 3. Make an analysis:
a) More students from the upper group choose option D
than option E, even though option E is supposedly the
correct answer.
b) Most likely the teacher has written the wrong answer
key.
c) The teacher checks and finds out that he/she did not
miskey the answer that he/she thought is the correct
answer.
d) If the teacher miskeyed it, he/she must check and
retally the scores of the students’ test papers before
giving them back.
4. Conclusion
Reject the test items.

20. Example 5.
Ambiguous Item. Below is the result of item
analysis of a test with an ambiguous test item. What can
you say about the item? Are you going to retain, revise or
reject it?
Options A B C D E*
Upper Group 7 1 1 2 8
Lower Group 6 2 3 3 6

21. 1. Compute the
Difficulty Index.
n = 8 + 6 = 14
N = 39
Df =
𝑛
𝑁
Df =
14
39
Df = 0.36 or 36%
2. Compute the
Discrimination Index.
CUG = 8
CLG = 6
D = 20
DI =
𝐶𝑈𝐺 −𝐶𝐿𝐺
𝐷
=
8−6
20
DI =
2
20
DI = 0.10

22. 3. Make an analysis
a. Only 36% of the students got the answer to the test
item correctly, hence, the test item is difficult.
b. More students from the upper group got the item
correctly, hence, it discriminates positively. The
discrimination index is 10%.

23. c. About equal numbers of top students went for option A
and option E, this implies that they could not tell which is
the correct answer. The students do not know the content
of the test, thus a reteach is needed.
4. Conclusions:
Revise the test item because it is ambiguous.

24. Example 6
Guessing Item. Below is the result of an item
analysis for a test item with students’ answers mostly
based on a guess. Are you going to reject, revise or retain
the item?
Options A B C* D E
Upper Group 4 3 4 3 6
Lower Group 3 4 3 4 5

25. 1. Compute the
difficulty index.
n = 4 + 3 = 7
N = 39
Df =
𝑛
𝑁
Df =
7
39
Df = 0.18 or 18%
2. Compute the
discrimination index.
CUG = 4
CLG = 3
D = 20
DI =
𝐶𝑈𝐺 −𝐶𝐿𝐺
𝐷
DI =
4−3
20
DI =
1
20
DI = 0.05 or 5%

26. 3. Make an analysis
a. Only 18% of the students got the answer to the test
item correctly, hence, the test item is very difficult.
a. More students from the upper group got the correct
answer to the test item; therefore, the test item is a
positive discrimination. The discrimination index is
5%.

27. c. Students respond about equally to all alternatives, an
indication that they are guessing.
Three possibilities why student guesses the answer on
a test item:
 The content of the test item has not yet been
discussed in the class because the test is designed
in advance;
 Test items were badly written that students have
no idea what the question is really all about; and
 Test item were very difficult as shown from the
difficulty index and low discrimination index.

28. d. If the test item is well-written but too difficult,
reteach the material to the class.
4. Conclusion:
Reject the item because it is very difficult and
the discrimination index is very poor, and options
A and B are not effective distracters.