Testing Algorithms
Howard Wainer, Neil J. Dorans, Ronald Flaugher, Bert F. Green, Robert J. Mislevy · 2000
To illustrate the essential ideas involved in an adaptive testing algorithm, in the n~.,t section we describe a noncomputerized adaptive test called theflexilevel test. The flexilevel test show some of the workings of an adaptive algorithm clearly without the clutter of the mathematics of item response theory, and without computation during the test. Then, in the following sections, we describe the computerized adapt:ve testing algorithms that are the subject of this book. It is possible to design an adaptive test that is not computerized, and that does not require the mathematics of Item response theory; an example of such a design, called a self-scoring flexilevel test, was described by Frederic Lord in 1971. The flexilevel test has the disadvantages that it requires complex instructions and a substantial amount of extraneous effort on the part of the examinee; therefore, it has only rarely been used in any practical setting. However, the complete absence of computing and mathematics makes the flexilevel test design ideal as an illustration of an adaptive testing algorithm; it is a minimalist adaptive test, if you will. Therefore, we describe the procedure at some length here before turning to more practical systems.