Certification in the health professions is growing both in number of programs and in quality. Three important components in the development of any sound and defensible certification testing program are presented and discussed. The three are interrelated and sequential, and each has a growing technology. Guidelines are presented and discussed that should assist those involved in establishing new certification program testing that is more adequately preparedfor the difficult challenges typically faced.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Educational Research Association
, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education (1985) Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
2.
ANGOFF, W. H.
(1971) "Scales, norms, and equivalent scores," pp. 508-606 in R. L. Thorndike (ed.) Educational Measurement. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
3.
BLOOM, B. S.
, M. D. ENGELHART, E. J. FURST, W. H. HILL, and D. R. KRATWOHL (1956) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longmans, Green.
4.
BRENNAN, R. L.
(1983) Elements of Generalizability Theory. Iowa City, IA: American College Testing Program.
5.
BRENNAN, R. L.
and M. J. KOLEN (1986) "Practical issues in horizontal equating with special emphasis on the common-item nonequivalent groups design." Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, San Francisco.
6.
CARVER, R. P.
(1974) "Two dimensions of tests: psychometric and edumetric."Amer. Psychologist29: 512-518.
7.
CRONBACH, L. J.
(1970) "Review of 'On the theory of achievement test items,' by J. R. Bormuth."Psychometrika35: 509-511.
8.
CRONBACH, L. J.
(1971) "Test validation," pp. 443-507 in R. L. Thorndike (ed.) Educational Measurement. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
9.
CRONBACH, L. J.
and P. E. MEEHL (1955) "Construct validity in psychological tests."Psych. Bull. 52: 281-302.
10.
D'COSTA, A. G.
(1986) "The validity of credentialing examinations."Evaluation & the Health Professions9: 137-170.
11.
EBEL, R. L.
(1951) "Writingthe test item," pp. 185-249 in R. M. Travers(ed.) Educational Measurements. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
12.
EBEL, R. L.
and D. A. FRISBIE (1986) Essentials of Educational Measurement, 4th edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
GAEL, S.
(1983) Job Analysis: A Guide to Assessing Work Activities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
15.
GLASS, G. V.
(1978) "Standards and criteria."J. of Educ. Measurement15: 237-261.
16.
HALADYNA, T. M.
(1974) "Effects of different samples on item and test characteristics of criterion-referenced tests."J. of Educ. Measurement11: 93-100.
17.
HALADYNA, T. M.
(1975) "On the psychometric-edumetric dimensions of tests."Amer. Psychologist30: 603-604.
18.
HALADYNA, T. M.
(1984) "Increasing information from multiple-choice test items." Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council for Measurement in Education, New Orleans.
19.
HALADYNA, T. M.
(1985) "A quantitative review of research of multiple choice item writing." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
20.
HALADYNA, T. M.
and S. M. DOWNING (1984) "An analysis of knowledge about multiple-choice test item writing." Presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto.
21.
HALADYNA, T. M.
and G. H. ROID (1981) "A comparison of two selection procedures for construction criterion-referenced testing."J. of Educ. Measurement20: 271-282.
22.
HAMBLETON, R. K.
(1984) "Determining test length," pp. 144-168 in R. A. Berk (ed.) A Guide to Criterion-Referenced Test Construction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
23.
HOLMES, S. E.
(1986) "Comments on this special issue."Evaluation & the Health Professions9: 131-136.
24.
KANE, M. T.
(1982) "The validity of licensure examinations."Amer. Psychologist37: 911-918.
25.
KANE, M. T.
(1985) "Definitions and strategies for validating licensure examinations," pp. 45-64 in J. C. Fortune (ed.) Understanding Testing in Occupational Licensing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
26.
KANE, M. T.
(1986) "The future of testing for licensure and certification examinations," pp. 145-181 in B. Plake and J. Witt (eds.) The Future of Testing and Measurement. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
27.
KLEIN, L.
and D. JARJOURA (1985) "The importance of content representation for common-item equating with non-random groups."J. of Educ. Measurement22: 197-206.
28.
LADUCA, A.
, D. D. TAYLOR, and I. K. HILL (1984) "The design of a new physician licensure examination."Evaluation & the Health Professions7: 115-140.
29.
LINN, R. L.
(1986) "Test standards and credentialing examinations."Evaluation & the Health Professions9: 250-264.
30.
LLOYD, J. A.
(1983) "Validity and reasonableness," pp. 65-85 in D. G. Langsley (ed.) Legal Aspects of Certification and Accreditation. Evanston, IL: American Board of Medical Specialties.
31.
LOEVINGER, J.
(1957) "Objective tests as instruments of psychological theory."Psych. Reports3: 635-694 (monograph supplement 9).
32.
LORD, F. M.
(1977) "Optimal number of choices per item: a comparison of four approaches."J. of Educ. Measurement14: 33-38.
33.
LORD, F. M.
(1982) Applications of Item Response Theory to Practical Testing Problems. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
34.
McCORMICK, E. J.
(1979) Job Analysis: Methods and Applications. New York: AMACOM.
35.
MEHRENS, W. J.
and I. J. LEHMANN (1984) Measurement and Evaluation in Education and Psychology. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
36.
MESKAUSKAS, J. A.
(1986) "Setting standards for credentialling examinations: an update."Evaluation & the Health Professions9(2): 187-203.
37.
MESSICK, S.
(1984) "The psychology of educational measurement."J. of Educ. Measurement21: 215-237.
38.
National Commission for Health Certifying Agencies
(n.d.) General Information Booklet. Washington, DC: Author.
39.
NITKO, A.
(1984a) "Defining 'criterion-referenced test,"' pp. 8-28 in R. A. Berk (ed.) A Guide to Criterion-Referenced Test Construction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
40.
NITKO, A.
(1984b) Educational Tests and Measurement: An Introduction. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
41.
O'BRIEN, T. L.
(1986) "Legal trends affectingthe validity of credentialing examinations."Evaluation & the Health Professions9: 171-186.
42.
POPHAM, W. J.
and T. R. HUSEK (1969) "Implications of criterion-referenced measurement."J. of Educ. Measurement6: 1-9.
43.
ROID, G. H.
and T. M. HALADYNA (1982) A Technology for Test Item Writing. New York: Academic Press.
44.
SCHMEISER, C. B.
and C. E. ESTES (1986) "Translating task analysis results into test specifications: clarity or confusion?" Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, San Francisco.
45.
SHEPARD, L. A.
(1984) "Setting performance standards," pp. 169-198 in R. A. Berk (ed.) A Guide to Criterion-Referenced Test Construction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
46.
SMITH, R. J.
(1982) "Subcertification for hand surgery."J. of Hand Surgery7: 107-113.
47.
SUBKOVIAK, M. J.
(1984) "Estimating the reliability of mastery-nonmastery classifications," pp. 267-291 in R. A. Berk (ed). A Guide to Criterion-Referenced Test Construction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
48.
THORNDIKE, R. L.
(1971) "The analysis and selection of test items." in D. N. Jackson and S. Messick (eds.) Problems in Human Assessment. New York: McGraw-Hill.
49.
WESMAN, A. G.
(1971) "Writing the test item," pp. 99-116 in R. L. Thorndike (ed.) Educational Measurement. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
50.
WHITTINGTON, C. D.
(1983) "The impact on test quality of item revision after pretesting: a study of the SAT." Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education.
51.
WILLIAMS, R. G.
and T. M. HALADYNA (1982) "Logical operations for generating intended questions (LOGIQ): a typology for higher level test items," pp. 161-187 in G. H. Roid and T. M. Haladyna (eds.) A Technology for Test-Item Writing. New York: Academic Press.
52.
WRIGHT, B. D.
and M. H. STONE (1979) Best Test Design: Rasch Measurement. Chicago: MESA.
