Owing to the increasing speculation over learner assessment methods and data analysis methods in the education sector, the necessity to clear up this speculation and shed more light of the state of affairs is deemed necessary. This paper hence seeks to iron out these highly contentious issues by answering some of the questions which more often than not arouse debate among academic circles.
Ideally suitable for the observation and analysis of large volumes of data, quantitative item analysis can be adequately viewed as that which majorly concern itself with the examination of the usefulness of multiple choice formats. This item analysis hence seeks to breakdown large volumes of data into easily identifiable forms of useful information.
Qualitative item analysis on the other hand puts much emphasis on seeing to it that items and objectives are well matched among sets of data and ensuring that poorly written items are well edited. As opposed to the former, qualitative item analysis focuses on minimal issues while analyzing sets of data and may only point out the presence of problems among sets of data without necessarily identifying the problem itself.
These two item analysis methods come in handy in the learning and assessment process since they enable the instructor to make accurate inferences on the effectiveness of certain learning methods either by analyzing student results of the tests given out. Alternatively, the identification of problems by utilizing qualitative analysis is equally important in learning and assessment.
The failure to improvise these two methods of analysis may have very serious consequences especially as far as learning and assessment are concerned. This is because of the fact that instructors or rather teachers may not be able to identify the areas of difficulty experienced by the learners during the learning process. This may hence put a stumbling block towards the achievement of effective learning (Kubiszyn, 1987).
Examples of imperfect test items to be analyzed by peer students may include; compare variables like classes, tests and even the curricula among students so as to find out if there exists any discrepancy? Secondly, another adequate instance would be; evaluate the effects of using new instructional techniques to evaluate the performance of students in a class of forty students.
Finally, it is important that teachers employ both methods of item analysis since in the absence of this; the effectiveness of the leaning process is completely put in jeopardy. This would consequently result in the failure to achieve one’s educational goals and may ultimately lead in the half-baking of students who may hence be ill equipped to handle real life situations.
The authors opine that marks only reflect academic achievements since they do not give any due consideration to the other important defining characteristics in the general growth of a student. For instance, other important areas like a student’s conduct, study skills and individual responsibility are never reflected in any student’s mark sheet. This hence poses a major setback on the realization of effective learning.
Secondly, this preposition is also informed by the fact that the weighing of non-achievable factors in schools has continuously received much resistance with critics christening it as a hopeless task. This state of affairs leaves analysts with no option but concentrate on achievements based on marks (Kubiszyn, 1987).
The inclusion of data of this nature and magnitude while making institutional decisions would automatically bring drastic changes especially with reference to how marks are awarded in the education system. This is since different students have different abilities and while some may be good academically, others may not be that good but show exemplary performance in other fields like personal responsibility.
This mode of awarding marks would hence encourage the students to excel in the fields they find interesting even though these fields may be non-academic.
In conclusion, the achievement of effective learning processes can be made a reality if the issues discussed in this essay are put into practice. This is with respect to the fact that data analysis and the measures for determining student capabilities play a very important role in the holistic development of the learner.
References
Kubiszyn, T. & Gary, D. Borich (1987). Instructor’s manual to accompany Educational testing and Measurement: Classroom application and practice, second edition. New York: Scott, Foresman Inc.
Kubiszyn, T. (2009). Educational Testing and Measurement: Classroom Aplication and Practice, 9th Editionn. New York: John Wiley and sons.