Instructor Resource Furr, Psychometrics, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2022 Chapter 11: Test Bias Test Bank Multiple Choice 1. A researcher wants to test whether there are sex differences in math ability. He gives his students a multiplication test and finds that females score lower, on average, than males. In terms of construct bias, why might he need to be very cautious before interpreting this finding as evidence that females truly have lower “multiplication ability” (on average) than males? a. The males and females in his class might not accurately represent the “population” of males and females. b. The test scores might not reflect multiplication ability equally well in the two groups (e.g., the test scores might not be a good measure of multiplication ability for most/many females). c. The males in his class might have had more lucky guesses than females, thus earning higher scores. d. Math ability is not an important construct, so bias is inherent in its examination. Ans: B Learning Objective: 11-1: Describe the procedures used to estimate the existence and degree of construct bias. Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location: Detecting Construct Bias: Internal Evaluation of a Test Difficulty Level: Medium 2. Suppose we are cross-cultural psychologists, and we study cultural differences in negative emotionality (NE, the tendency to experience negative emotions). We administer a three-item test of NE to a group of Canadians and a group of Russians. Because we’re aware of the potential for construct bias, we conduct a factor analysis of the NE items separately for each group. Within each group, we seem to have a onefactor structure, with the factor loadings in the table below. Based on these results, which of the following can we not conclude about the NE test? Item Anger Sadness Guilt
Factor Loadings Canadians Russians .80 .00 .00 .80 .20 .20
a. There is no concern about construct bias, according to these results. b. Among Canadians, NE test scores generally reflect differences in Anger. c. Among Russians, NE test scores generally reflect differences in Sadness. d. If we compare the NE test scores across cultures, we’re mainly comparing Anger (for Canadians) to Sadness (for Russians).
