Investigating whether aberrant response behaviour in classroom maths tests is a stable characteristic of students

Panayides, P.; Tymms, P.

Abstract

This study investigated whether aberrant response behaviour is a stable characteristic of high school students taking classroom maths tests as has been implied in the literature. For the purposes of the study, two maths tests were administered; the first to 25 classes (635 students) and the second to 18 out of the original 25 classes (445 students). The tests contained multistep mathematical problems with partial credit awarding for partially correct answers, together with some multiple choice items. The Rasch Partial Credit Model was used for the analyses and the infit and outfit mean square statistics with six different cut-off scores were used to identify students with aberrant response behaviour (misfitting students). Six Chi-square tests were then performed, one for each cut-off score, leading to a very clear conclusion: contrary to expectations the same students do not misfit in the two tests administered; aberrance does not seem to be a stable characteristic of students. Explanations for aberrant responses such as carelessness, plodding or guessing need to be reconsidered. They may have validity for particular test situations but this has yet to be demonstrated and thus investigation calls them into question.

Citation

Panayides, P., & Tymms, P. (2013). Investigating whether aberrant response behaviour in classroom maths tests is a stable characteristic of students. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 20(3), 349-368. https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2012.723610

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 20, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Sep 12, 2012
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Oct 16, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 6, 2013
• Journal: Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice
• Print ISSN: 0969-594X
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-329X
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 349-368
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0969594x.2012.723610
• Keywords: Aberrance, Classroom maths tests, Rasch.