Published December 18, 2013 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Characterization of Mathematics tests' level of difficulty and discrimination through roughness analysis

  • 1. University of San Jose - Recoletos
  • 2. University of the Visayas

Description

This paper is an exploratory study that deals with fractal dimensions in assessment and evaluation. Specifically, the study sought to determine how the tests characteristics: test difficulty and discrimination, may be quantified through knowledge of the fractal dimensions of the tests. As a by-product of the analysis, we may be able to identify which among the subjects in mathematics (from first year to fourth year) is found most difficult through analyzing and evaluating the ruggedness and irregularities of students’ performance. The researcher made use of fractal statistics and segmentation to determine the test difficulty and the mathematical capability of the students. Results reveal that test fractal dimensions can be used as surrogate measures of both test difficulty and test discrimination indices. Both traditional test characteristics monotonically increase and decrease with increasing or decreasing fractal dimensions. High fractal dimensions indicate huge variances in student performance which are tell-tale symptoms of uneven understanding of mathematical concepts.

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