A Social Validation of College Examinations

Abstract

Social validation procedures were used to compare views held by professors and students concerning college examinations. In the first phase of this project, four groups of participants (21 professors and 126 students representing psychology and biology) listed characteristics of good and poor tests. The characteristics given by the groups were somewhat similar, although very few ideas were given about the results of examinations (e.g., range of scores). A socially valid questionnaire was constructed from the most commonly cited characteristics, and four additional groups of professors (n = 25) and students (n = 102) were asked to rate the importance of each. MANOVAs indicated that the professors and students gave significantly different ratings, but there were only slight differences between the two disciplines, and no differences between those who reported having taken measurement or testing classes and those who had not. The differences between professors and students were especially clear in ratings of Instructions and Question characteristics of tests. In contrast, items from the questionnaire concerning the Coverage and Content of an examination were given similar ratings by the four groups. The results suggest a number of ways that professors can construct examinations which students will respect.