ITEM WRITING AND MODERATION

In this chapter we shall be discussing what is involved in writing good test items. we shall describe some of the pitfalls to avoid and the procedures to follow that will help ensure that many obvious mistake are caught before the test is pretested. We shall attempt to answer the following questions : what makes a good item writer - are they born or can they be trained ? Where do you start when writing an item? What methods are most suitable for testing particular abilities? When people disagree about the quality of a test item, how can we resolve the disagreement? What principles and guidelines should we follow when writing test items? What is the role of the moderating committee, and how do such committees best work?