TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

UNIT - III TOOLS & TECHNIQUES FOR CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT Assessment is a systematic process of gathering information about what a student knows, is able to do, and is learning to do. Assessment information provides the foundation for decisionmaking and planning for instruction and learning. Assessment is an integral part of instruction that enhances, empowers, and celebrates student learning. Using a variety of assessment techniques, teachers gather information about what students know and are able to do, and provide positive, supportive feedback to students. They also use this information to diagnose individual needs and to improve their instructional programs, which in turn helps students learn more effectively. Assessment must be considered during the planning stage of instruction when learning outcomes and teaching methods are being targeted. It is a continuous activity, not something to be dealt with only at the end of a unit of study. Students should be made aware of the expected outcomes of the course and the procedures to be used in assessing performance relative to the learning outcomes. Students can gradually become more actively involved in the assessment process in order to develop lifelong learning skills. Evaluation refers to the decision making which follows assessment. Evaluation is a judgment regarding the quality, value, or worth of

a response, product, or performance based on established criteria and curriculum standards. Evaluation should reflect the intended learning outcomes of the curriculum and be consistent with the approach used to teach the language in the classroom. But it should also be sensitive to differences in culture, gender, and socio-economic background. Students should be given opportunities to demonstrate the full extent of their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Evaluation is also used for reporting progress to parents or guardians, and for making decisions related to such things as student promotion and awards. Classroom Assessment is a systematic approach to formative evaluation, used by instructors to determine how much and how well students are learning. Classroom assessment tools and techniques and other informal assessment tools provide key information during the semester regarding teaching and learning so that changes can be made as necessary. The central purpose of Classroom Assessment is to empower both teachers and their students to improve the quality of learning in the classroom through an approach that is learner-centered, teacher-directed, mutually beneficial, formative, context-specific, and firmly rooted in good practice. It helps for assessing course-related knowledge and skills, learner attitudes, values and self-awareness and for assessing learner reactions to instruction.

In the classroom, teachers are the primary assessors of students. Teachers design assessment tools with two broad purposes: to collect information that will inform classroom instruction, and to monitor students’ progress towards achieving year-end learning outcomes. Teachers also assist students in developing self-monitoring and self-assessment skills and strategies. To do this effectively, teachers must ensure that students are involved in setting learning goals, developing action plans, and using assessment processes to monitor their achievement of goals. The different tools and techniques used in classroom assessment are the following ;      

Observation, Self Reporting, Testing; Anecdotal Records, Check Lists, Rating Scale,

OBSERVATION From the earliest history of scientific activity, observation has been the prevailing methods of inquiry. Observation of natural phenomena judged by systematic classification and measurement led to the development of theories and laws of nature’s force. Observation is one of the most refined modern research technique. Observation seeks to ascertain what

people think and do by walking them in action as they express themselves in various situations and activities. It can be made progressively more scientific to meet the needs of the particular situation and observation is a fundamental tool even at the most advanced levels of science. Observation is recognized as the most direct means of studying people when one is interested in their overt behavior. Observation is defined as “a planned methodological watching that involves constraints to improve accuracy.” According to Gardner (1975), observation is the selection, provocation, recording and encoding of that set of behaviours and settings concerning organism “in situ’ whcih arc consistent with empirical aims.” CHARACTERISTICS OF OBSERVATION 1. Observation is at once a physical as well as mental activity. 2. Observation is selective and purposeful. 3. Scientific observation is systematic 4. Observation is specific 5) Scientific observation is objective. 5. Scientific observation is quantitative. 6. The record of observation is immediately. 7. Observation is verifiable 8. Behavior is observed is natural surroundings 9. It enables understanding significant events affecting social

i. relations of the participants. 10.It determines reality from the perspective of observed person himself. 11.It identifies regularities and recurrences in social life by comparing data is one study with those in another study. 12.It focused on hypotheses free inquiry 13.It avoids manipulations in the independent variable. 14.Observation involves some controls pertaining to the observe and to the means he uses to record data. TYPES OF OBSERVATION 1)

Casual & Scientific observation An observation may be either casual or scientific. Casual observation occurs without any previous preparations. Scientific observation is carried out with the help of tools of measurement. 2) Simple and systematic observation Observation is found in almost all research studies, at least in the exploratory stage. Such data collection is often called simple observation. Its practice is not very standardized. Systematic observation it employs standardized procedures, training of observers, schedules for recording. 3. Subjective and Objective Observation One may have to observe one’s own immediate experience, it is called subjective

observation. In any investigations, the observer is an entity apart from the thing observed, that type of observation is called objective observation 4. Intra – subjective and inter subjective observation If repeated observation of a constant phenomenon by the same observer yield constant data the observation is said to be intra subjective. If repeated observations of a constant phenomenon by different observers yield constant data the observation is said to be inter subjective 5. Direct and indirect observation The direct observation describes the situation in which the observer is physically present and personally monitors what take place. Indirect observation is used to describe studies in which the recording is done by mechanical, photographic or electronic means. 6. Structured and Un structured observation Structured observation is organised and planned which employs formal procedures, has a set of well defined observation categories, and is subjectd to high levels of control and differentiation. Unstructured observations is loosely organized and the process is largely left to the observer to define. 7. Natural and Artificial Observation Natural observation is one in which observation is made in natural settings while

artificial observation is one in which observation is made in a laboratory conditions 8. Participant and Non-participant observation When the observer participates with the activities of these under study is called participant observation Merits:- Acquiring wide information, Easy in exchange of clear observation of neutral and real behavior. Limitations :- larger time required, greater resources required lack of objectivity. When the observer does not actually participate in the activities of the group to be studied but simply present in the group it is common as non participant observation. The observer in this method makes not effort to his influence or to create a relationship between him and the group. Merits:- Acquiring information with influence , maintaining impartial status, maintaining objectivity and scientific outlet. Limitations:Inadequate and incomplete observation, subjectivity, Unnatural attitude of the subject matter of observation Organization Of Field Observation For valid and useful field observation, the following steps have be taken . 1. Determination of the method of study ie the field observation in relation to the phenomena.

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Determination of the nature and limits of observation is the preparation of a plan of observation 3. Decision as of directness of observation ie the relationship between the observer and the subject must be direct. 4. Determination of Expert investigations /Agency of field observation is the person who makes observation may be the researcher himself or the field workers 5. Determination of time, place and subject to study 6. Provision of mechanical Appliances needed in the usage of various instrumental aids like camera, maps. 7. Data collection, having arranged all the necessary tools and equipments need for research. 8. Data analysis :- The data should be analyzed and processed through classification, tabulation etc. 9. Generalization :- The interpretation leading to draw general conclusion Steps In Observation. 1. Selection of the topic :- This refers to determining the issue to be studied through observations e.g.:- material conflict, riot etc. 2. Formulation of the topic :- This involves fixing up categories to be

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observed and pointing out situations in which cases are to be observed. Research design :- This determines identification of subjects to be observed preparing observation schedule if any and arranging entry in situations to be observed. Collection of data :- This involves familiarization with the setting, observation and recording. Analysis of data :- The researcher analyze the data, prepares tables of interprets. Report writing :- This involves writing of the report for submission to the sponsoring agency or for publication.

Guidelines To Effective Observation 1. 2. 3.

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Obtain Prior knowledge of what to observe. Examine general and specific objective. Define and Establish categories, each category or level of data being collected should be concisely and carefully described by indicating the phenomena the investigator expects to find in each. Observe carefully and critically. Rate specific phenomena independently, using well defined rating scale.

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Devise a method of recording results ie the observation schedule. Become well acquainted with the recording instrument. Observers would separate the facts from their interpretation at a later time. They can observe the facts, and make interpretation at a later time. Observations are to be checked and verified, wherever possible by repetition or by comparison with those of other competent observers.

Instruments In Observation Instruments such as the camera, stopwatch, light meter, audiometer, SET meter, audio and video tape recorders, mechanical counter, and other devices like detailed field notes, checklist, maps, schedules, store cards , socio-metric scales etc make possible observations that are more precise than mere sense observations. Such things are also referred as techniques of control as used in controlled observation. Process Of Observation Observation involves three process ie sensation , attention perception. Sensation in gained through the sense organs which depends upon the physical alertness of the observer. Then

comes attention on concentration which is largely a matter of habit. The third is perception which comprises the interpretation of sensory reports. Thus sensation merely reports the mind to recognize the facts. Qualities Of A Good Observer  The observer should pocess efficient sense organs.  The observer must able to estimate rapidly and accurately  The observer must possess sufficient alertness’ to observer several details simultaneously .  The observer must be able to control the effects of his personal prejudices.  The observer should be in good physical conditions  The observer must be able to record immediately and Accurately  The observer should be a visiting stranger, an attentive, listener eager learner of a participant observer. VARIOUS STEPS OF GOOD OBSERVATION 1.

Intelligent planning Intelligent planning should be needed in a good observation, the observer should be fully trained as well equipped, too many variables may

not be observed simultaneously, the conditions of observation should remain constant. 2. Expert execution An expert execution demands utilizing the training received in terms of expertness, proper, arrangement of special conditions for the subject, occupying, phisical observing, focussing attention on the specific well defined activities, observing discreet keeping in mind the length, number and intervals of observation decided up on and handling well the recording instruments to be used. 3. Adequate recording The recording should be as comprehensive as possible to over all the points and not miss any substantive issues 4. Scientific Interpretation The interpretation made and recorded comprehensively need to be interpreted carefully. So adequacies and competencies required for this need to be present in an observer. This alone facilities a good interpretation. ADVANTAGES OF OBSERVATION 1. 2. 3.

It allows collection of wide range of information It is a flexible technique in which research design can be modified at any time It is less complicated and less time consuming.

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It approaches reality in its natural structure and studies events as they evolve. 5. It is relatively inexpenience 6. The observer can assess the emotional reaction of subjects. 7. The observer is able to record the content which gives meaning to respondant’s expression 8. The behaviour being observed in natural environment will not cause any bias. 9. Superior in data collection on dependable and convincing 10. Greater accuracy and reliability of data. 11. Results are more dependable and convincing LIMITATIONS OF OBSERVATION 1. Establishing the validity of observation is always difficult 2. The problem of subjectivity also involved 3. There is the possibility of distortion of the phenomena through the very act of observing. 4. It is a slow and laborious process 5. The events may not be easily classifiable 6. The data may be unmanageable 7. It is going to be a costly affair 8. It cannot offer quantitative generations. SELF REPORTING

Self-reporting is one of the modern technique of assessing student’s views and personality. It gives a clear cut idea about student’s needs, attitudes, wants, etc. A self-report is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without researcher interference. A self-report is any method which involves asking a participant about their feelings, attitudes, beliefs and so on. Examples of self-reports are questionnaires and interviews; self-reports are often used as a way of gaining participants' responses in observational studies and experiments. Questionnaires are a type of self-report method which consist of a set of questions usually in a highly structured written form. Questionnaires can contain both open questions and closed questions and participants record their own answers. Interviews are a type of spoken questionnaire where the interviewer records the responses. Interviews can be structured whereby there is a predetermined set of questions or unstructured whereby no questions are decided in advance. The main strength of self-report methods are that they are allowing participants to describe their own experiences rather than inferring this from observing participants. Questionnaires and interviews are often able to study large samples of people fairly easy and quickly. They are able to examine a large number of variables and can ask

people to reveal behaviour and feelings which have been experienced in real situations. However participants may not respond truthfully, either because they cannot remember or because they wish to present themselves in a socially acceptable manner. Social desirability bias can be a big problem with self-report measures as participants often answer in a way to portray themselves in a good light. Questions are not always clear and we do not know if the respondent has really understood the question we would not be collecting valid data. If questionnaires are sent out, say via email or through tutor groups, response rate can be very low. Questions can often be leading. That is, they may be unwittingly forcing the respondent to give a particular reply. Unstructured interviews can be very time consuming and difficult to carry out whereas structured interviews can restrict the respondents’ replies. Therefore psychologists often carry out semi-structured interviews which consist of some pre-determined questions and followed up with further questions which allow the respondent to develop their answers. Closed questions are questions which provide a limited choice (for example, a participant’s age or their favourite type of football team), especially if the answer must be taken from a predetermined list. Such questions provide quantitative data, which is easy to analyse. However these questions do not allow the

participant to give in-depth insights. Open questions are those questions which invite the respondent to provide answers in their own words and provide qualitative data. Although these type of questions are more difficult to analyse, they can produce more in-depth responses and tell the researcher what the participant actually thinks, rather than being restricted by categories. One of the most common rating scales for self-reporting is the Likert scale. A statement is used and the participant decides how strongly they agree or disagree with the statements. One strength of Likert scales is that they can give an idea about how strongly a participant feels about something. This therefore gives more detail than a simple yes no answer. Another strength is that the data are quantitative, which are easy to analyse statistically. The great advantage of self reporting is that it gives free environment to response or show their emotions. At the same time there may be possibilities for hiding natural emotions as per situations. ANECDOTAL RECORDS A fundamental purpose of assessment is to communicate what the child knows and is able to do. Teacher-generated, anecdotal records provide an insider’s perspective of the child’s educational experience. This perspective is vital to communication with the child and the child’s family about academic progress. Anecdotal records also facilitate assessment conversations as

educational professionals describe their observations of student learning and consider ways to develop appropriate strategies to build on strengths and address academic needs. The more focused the observational records, the more helpful they can be in making daily decisions about instructional approaches. Anecdotal Records are collections of narratives involving first-hand observations of interesting, illuminating incidents in children’s literacy development. Anecdotal records are reports about the teacher informal observations about students. It will helps the teacher to collect details regarding student’s behaviours at different situations. It will be a good tool to bring positive behavioral patterns through daily observation and correction. It involves the following informations ;  Social interactions and literacy exchanges that teacher have observed  Children’s everyday routines, such as what they choose to do in center workshops; a particular writing topic in a journal or on a sheet of paper during independent writing time; the book they choose during independent reading time; and when they spend time with blocks, sand, painting, or other forms of creative expression  Children’s learning styles  Recurring patterns in children’s ways of understanding  Changes in children’s behaviors  Milestones in children’s development

Steps Involved In Preparation Of Anecdotal Records Teachers basically use the following steps for the preparation of Anecdotal records ; 1. Observing children in instructional settings : Formal and information is the starting point in the preparation of anecdotal records. 2. Maintaining a standards-based focus : Follow some criterias as standards at the time of observation. 3. Making anecdotal records : Writing quality anecdotal records is facilitated by keeping in mind the following considerations: Write observable data, use significant abbreviations, write records in the past tense. 4. Managing anecdotal records : Once the records are coded for strengths, needs, or information, simply list an abbreviated summary of the strengths and the needs in the space provided below the records. Separating the records into strengths and needs allows the teacher to summarize what patterns are being exhibited by the student. The summary also helps clarify and generate appropriate instructional recommendations. 5. Analysis of anecdotal records: Anecdotal records assessment is informed by comparing the standards to the child’s performance. The standards also inform the selection of strategies and activities for instructional recommendations. Periodically,

analyze the compiled records for each student. The time between analyses may vary according to your own academic calendar. RATING SCALE Rating scale is one of the scaling techniques applied to the procedures for attempting to determine quantitative measures of subjective abstract concepts. It gives an idea of the personality of an individual as the observer judge the behavior of a person includes a limited number of aspects of a thing or of traits. Rating means the judgment of one person by another. “Rating is in essence directed observation”. Writes Ruth Strang. A.S. Barr and other define, “Rating is a term applied to expression of opinion or judgment regarding some situation, objects or character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale or values. Rating techniques are devises by which such judgments may be qualified.” A rating scale is a method by which we systematize the expression of opinion concerning a trait. The ratings are done by parents, teachers, a board of interviewers and judges and by the self as well. Rating is a term applied to expression of opinion or judgment regarding some situation, object or character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale of values.

Rating scale refers to a set of points which describe varying degrees of the dimension of an attribute being observed. CHARACTERISTICS There are two characteristics of a rating scale. 1. Description of the characteristics to be related, 2. Some methods by which the quality, frequency or importance of each item to be rated may be given. PRINCIPLES GOVERNING RATING SCALE 1. The trait to be treated should be reading observable. 2. The specific trait or mode of behavior must be defined properly. For example, we want to rate a child’s originality in performing a task. First of all we must formulate a definition of ‘originality’ and then try to rate it. 3. The scale should be clearly defined ie, We are rating at a three, four or fire-point scale. 4. Uniform standards of rating scale should be observed. 5. The rater should observe the rates in different situations involving the trait to be rated. 6. The number of characteristics to be rated should be limited.

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In the rating scale, card, some space may be provided for the rater to write some supplementary material. 8. The directions of using the rating scales should be clear and comprehensive. 9. Several judges may be employed to increase the reliability of any rating scale. 10. Well informed and experienced persons should be selected for rating. TYPES OF RATING SCALE A number of rating techniques have been developed which enable the observers to assign numerical values or ratings to their judgments of behavior. According to Guilford (1954, P. 263) these techniques have given rise to five board categories of rating scale. 1. Numerical scale (Itemized rating scale) 2. Graphic scale 3. Standard scale 4. Rating by cumulative points 5. Forced choice ratings. Numerical Scale In the typical numerical scale, a sequence of defined numbers is applied to the rater or the observer, The rater assigns an appropriate number in line to each stimulus. Eg. Guilfor (1954, P 263) used in obtaining ratings of the effective values of colours and orders as follows:-

10. Most pleasant imaginable 9. Most pleasant 8. Extremely pleasant 7. Moderately pleasant 6. Mildly present 5. Indifferent 4. Mildly unpleasant 3. Modularity unpleasant 2. Extremely unpleasant 1. Most unpleasant 0. Most unpleasant imaginable Thus in a typical numerical scale, numbers are assigned to each trait. If it is a seven point scale the number of 7 represents the maximum amount of that trait in the individual and 4 represents the construct. Numerical rating scale are easiest to construct and to apply. They are simplest in handling the results. But this rating scales are rejected in favor of other types of scales because it is believed that they suffer from many biases and errors. Graphic Scale Graphic scale is the most popular and widely used type of rating scale. In this scale, a straight line is shown. Vertically or horizontally, The line is either segmented in units or it is continuous. Scale points with brief description may be indicated along the line. There are many advantages of graphic scale. Simple and easy to administer

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Require little added motivation Provides opportunity for fine discrimination It has certain limitation also. The respondents may check at almost any position along the line which fact may increase the difficulty of analysis. The meaning of the terms like ‘very much’ and ‘some what’ may depend upon respondent’s frame of reference. Standard scales. In standard scales a set of standards is presented to the rater. The standards are usually objects of some kind to be rated with preestablished scale values. The man to man scale and portrait matching scale are other two forms that conform more or less to the principle of standards scales. Man – to – man scale is used in connection with military personal. The portrait – matching technique was first used in connection with the studies of character by Hartyshorne and May (1929) Rating By Cumulative PointS Here the rates is asked to give the percentage of the group that prosses the trait on which the individual is rated Forced Choice Ratings: In this method, the rater is asked, not to say whether the rate has a certain trait or to say how much of a trait the ratee has but to say essentially whether he was more of one trait than another of a

pair. In the construction of a forced – choice rating instrument, descriptions are obtained concerning persons who are recognized as being at the highest and lowest extremes of the performance continue for a particular group to be rated. Descriptions are analyzed into simple behavior qualities stated in very short sentences, which have been called – ‘elevents’ by Sission (1945) and preference value are determined for each element. In forming an item, elements are paired. Two statements or terms with the same high preference value are paired, one of which is valid and the other not. Two statements or terms with about equally low preference value are also paired, one being valid and the other not. USE AND SCALES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

ADVANTAGES

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RATING

Helpful in measuring specified outcomes or objectives of education Helpful in supplementing other sources of understanding about the child. Helpful in their simulating effect upon the individuals who are rated. Helpful in writing reports to parents Helpful in filling out admission Helpful in finding out student’s needs Helpful in making recommendations to the employers. Helpful to the students to rate himself.

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Some characteristics are more different to rate. 2. Subjective element is present. 3. Lack of opportunities to rate students. 4. Rates tend to be generally generous. ERRORS IN RATING Rating scales have several limitations. Some of them are discussed as under. a) Generosity Error. Sometimes raters would not like to bring down their own people by giving them low ratings. The result is that high ratings are given in almost all cases. Such an error is known as generosity error. b) Stringency Error The opposite of generosity error may be called stringency error. Some raters have a tendency to rate all individuals low. c) Halo Error : ‘Halo’ means a tendency to rate in terms of general impressions about the rates formed on the basis of some previous performance. d) Error Of Central Tendency. There is a tendency in some observers to rate all or most of the rates near the midpoint of the scale. They would like to put most of the rates as ‘Average’ etc.

e) The Logical Error. Such an Error occurs when the characteristics or the trait to be rated is misunderstood. CHECK LIST A checklist is a simple device consisting of a prepared list of items which are thought by the researcher to be relevant to the problem being studied. A checklist is a selected list of words, phrases, or sentences following which an observer records a check ( ) to denote the presence or absence of whatever being observed. When we want to asses whether some traits are present or absent in the behavior of an individual, we can use check list method. This consists of a number of statements on various traits of personality. The statement which applies to the individuals is checked. Thus responses to the checklist items are a matter of ‘fact’, not of ‘judgment’. The checklist is an important tool in gathering facts for educational surveys, that is for checking of library, laboratory, game facilities, school building, textbooks, instructional surveys, that is for checking of library, laboratory procedures, etc. checklist are sometimes used in the form of a questionnaire. Which are completed by the respondent rather than by the observer. CONSTRUCTION OF A CHECKLIST

The items are determined may be arranged in logical and psychological order. There are various ways of writing and arranging the items in a checklist. Kempler (1960) has suggested four ways and the researcher may make use of all or some of them to serve his purpose best. 1. The form in which the observer or respondent is asked to check all items found in a situation for example, put a tick mark (*) in the blank provided before each game played in your school. * Football * Hockey * Cricket * Volleyball * Basket ball 2. The form in which questions with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ are asked to be encircled, underlined or checked in response to the item given. Eg. Does your university have a Teacher’s Union? Yes/No. 3. The form in which items are positive statements and the respondent or observer is asked to put a tick mark ( ) in the space provided Eg. Our school has a student’s union 4. The form where items can best be put in sentences and the observer on respondent is asked to check, underline or encircle the appropriate word/words.

Eg. The school organizes debates weekly, fortnightly, monthly, annually, irregularly. The items of the checklist should be phrased in such a way that they are discriminative in quality. It will increase the validity of the check list. A preliminary tryout of the check list may also prove helpful in making the tool one objective. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF CHECK LIST RESPONSES. The tabulation, qualification and interpretation of the checklist response is done in very much the same way as that of the questionnaire responses. PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES The word projection has been described in many ways. According to Covillo Costallo and othrs. It is “the mechanism by which the individuals projects himself from awareness of his own undesirable traits or feelings by contributing them to others’ Projection, according to Freud, means externalizing of conflicts or other internal conditions that has given rise to conscious pain and anxiety. Projective tests of personality assessment are those which evoke responses from the unconscious and provide an opportunity to ** into the depth of unconscious built of an individual’s personality.

DEFINITIONS FOR PROJECTION TECHNIQUES Lindzev (1961) defines “A projective techniques is an instruments that is considered especially sensitive to connect or unconscious aspects of behavior, it permits or encourage a wide variety of subject responses, it is highly multidimensional and it evokes usually rich response data with a minimum of subject awareness concerning the purpose of the test” Frank (1939) Projective techniques as a king of ‘X-ray” into those aspects of personality which subjects either cannot or will not openly reveal. CHARACTERISTICS OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES. 1. Ambiguous material : Projective tests often use ambeyours material to which the subject must respond freely often in descriptive form. Ambigious material mean that every subject can interpret the test stimulate in his own way. 2. Evoke responses from unconscious : The test stimulate evoke responses from unconscious of the subject. The subject projects his inner feelings in the test situation. 3. Multi dimensionality of responses: The dimensions in which the subject can respond are various as physical, intellectual, social and emotional. There is more

freedom to respond against the instrumental stimuli of the tests. It is possible for the subject to make a great variety of responses to the test task. 4. Freedom to respond. The projective techniques provide full freedom to the subject to test stimuli. He is not restricted as regards the nature of responses. 5. Holistic approach : It means that projective tests attempt to study the totality of behavior. They do not explore the molecular behavior of the individual. They emphasizes the moral approach to understand personality. 6. Answers are not right or wrong : The responses of the subject are not second or evaluated as right or wrong. They are evaluated qualitatively. 7. Purpose of the test is disguised. The purpose of the test is not disclosed to the subject otherwise he becomes test conscious and may hide his real feelings. 8. Types of projective measures. 9. Pictorial Technique • Rorschach Inkbot test • Thematic apperception test (TAT) • Pictures Verbal Techniques • Story or sentence completion test • Word association test (WAT) Play Techniques

• Doll play Psycho drama or socio drama techniques • Role playing Rorchach Inknot test This is the best known projective technique developed by a Swiss Psychiatrict Heemann thorschach in 1942. In this test ten standard cards, each bearing an inkblot, representing different diagnostic categories, are administered to subjects, who are then asked to interpret and describe what they see. The test administrator notes down this description for subsequent analysis i.e. the individual is arise in his mind etc. The scoring is done objectively on the basis of colour, form, movement, content speed originality . Scores can be categorized three….. 1. Location 2. Contents 3. Determinants. Location involves seeing of the whole. Determinant includes shape, colour, shading movement human figure, animal figures. This thorschach technique has been used in clinical personality as also some aspects of subjects mental life , adjustment process, depression define mechanism etc. Thematic apperception test TAT This test was devised by morgan and Murray in 1935. It consists of 20 pictures (Morgan) Each picture is ambiguous enough to permit a variety of interpretations. Presenting the

picture, the testee is asked to make up a stony of what is happening in the picture. Most people when they makeup such stories identify themselves with one of the characters in the picture and their stories may be little more than thirty disguised autobiographies. If makes an hour to administer the test and the testee may be asked to appear before an interview. The stories are analyses to know the testee attitudes wishes and mental life. These stories reflect the repressed motivations of the subject. The test is more useful in knowing general personality rather than the diagnostic aspects. If can be used with Thorchach to obtain better results. The children’s appreciation test has been made for children in which pictures of animal have been used. Each story is scored out under four main Categories vectors levels conditions qualifies. Vectors : drives, feeling direction of Behaviour Levels : Object description, wish intention night dream Conditions : psychological, physical, social, valences, depression,anxiety, security and Qualifies : temporal characteristics contingency casualty,negation This test is being employed in clinical studies of the maladjusted and abnormal section of students normal group. It is permitting wide

quantitative and qualitative frustrstion modes of adjustments. Pictures Instead if using dolls, the researcher presents pictures to the child and ask questions about them one could present pictures of rural and urban persons, Rajasthani and Gujarathi females, Hindus and Muslims, Brahmins and lalits and soon and ask with whom the child would like to play with. VERBAL TECHNIQUES Story Or Sentence Completion Test Lindzey call this completion technique. The respondents are given some incomplete stories on sentences for completion. In the story , the end is not given but the children are asked to finish it. A partial sentence is asked to complete with the first word or phrase that comes to mind. For example. • A female teacher should be ………… • A male teacher should not be. ………. • A good house wife is……………. • An efficient manager is ……………… • When someone interferes in may studies, I feel ……….. Words Association Test (WAT) Lindzey calls this also as association techniques in this test, the subject is given a list of words, one at a time, and asked to link it with the word that immediately comes to his the mind. These wards are recorded. For example, a teacher is asked about the roles which a teacher is

expected to perform. It is not necessary that all respondents will point out all roles which a teacher is to perform. Say, to teach, to guide, to control, to increate, values, and so on. Every respondent will answer the question as he perceives it… A doctor is described as commercial – minded, greedy, inefficient, careless. A vegetable, seller is seen as cheat, liar greedy, impolite. A college / University lecture / Professors, is described thee days as a politician, class – cutting person asking for more and more pay and privileges and less and less and less interested in studies, research, publications and seminars / conferences. It is assumed that respondent’s first thought is a spontaneous answer because the subject does not have much time to think about it. It is only is face association process that the person reveals him inner feelings about the subject. Ward association test are affected by clasped time. If a person is caught asserting a your girl, and the man who watched it is immediately asked how to deal with the assaulter his immediate replay could be “severe, retributive and deterrent punishment’. But if he is asked the same questions after a month or so, he could only say, “he should be punished”. PLAY TECHNIQUE DOLL PLAY This projective method is used extensively both in theory and in data gathering interviews. For example, the interviewer studying sibling

rivalry can setup a scene containing a mother doll breast – feeding respondent looking on. The investigator then asks the child what he/ She encounters the mother and baby (Yarrow, 1960 : 584). Dolls have also been used extensively in studying prejudies. PSYCHO – DRAMA OR SOCIO DRAMA TECHNIQUE Role playing Sometimes students in a college are asked to organize a ‘mock parliament’ session and different students are asked to play the role of as speaker, Prime Minister, foreign minister, Opposition leader, MPs of different political parties an independent MP and so on. This is called a third person technique because it is a dynamic –re-enactment of the third person technique in a given situation. The role player acts our someone else’ behavior in a particular setting. Many a time a student is asked to perform a teacher’s task. This techniques can be used to determine a true feeling of a student about a teacher in a class situation. Role playing is particularly useful in investigating situations. Where interpersonal relationship are the subject of the research, eg : husband – wife, shop keeper – customer – employer-employee officers – clerk etc. ADVANTAGES OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

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2. 3.

4. 5.

An individual reveals himself in various situations and sometimes he is not aware of this fact. Thus we get reliable information. The connection between diagnosis and the situation is very close It is not possible for the individual to give readymade habitual or conventional responses as the tasks presented are novel and instrumented. These techniques encourage spontaneous responses. These enable us to have a total view of the personality of an individual rather than in piece – meal.

LIMITATIONS -

They are very subjective They require a lot of training in their administration only trained psychologist can administer them. It is time consuming Difficult to interpret There are very few standardized tests. QUESTIONNAIRE Questionnaire is the structured set of questions . It is described as a “A document that contains a set of questions , the answers to which are to be provided personally by the respondents.” It is a device for securing answer to questions by

using from which the reaspondent fill by himself . It is the most flexible tool in collecting both quantitative and qualitative information. A questionnaire cannot be judged as good or bad , efficient or inefficient unless the job it was intended to accomplish is known. Developing a questionnaire requires a certain amount of technical knowledge. The researcher must decide the points like method of data collection , procedure to be followed in approaching the respondent order of sequence of questions structured vs unstructured questions while framing a questionnaire. Scope of Questionnaire. 1. When very large samples are desired . 2. Cost have to be kept low. 3. The target groups who are likely to have high response rates are specialized. 4. Ease of administration is necessary. 5.Moderate response rate is considered satisfactory . It has been used for wide range of problems like ; 1.The problem of teacher training . 2. Administrative difficulties , 3. suitability of the curriculam. 4. Method of teaching. 5 Study habits 6. Testing of achievements. 7. Duties difficulties of teachers. 8.Rating of school textbooks, etc . Characteristics of A Good Questionnaire.

1. It deals with an important or significant topic so that it enthuses respondent to give response. Its significance is carefully stated on the questionnaire itself. 2. It seeks only that data which cannot be obtained from the resources like books reports and records . 3.It is as short as possible because long questionnaire are frequently thrown away into the waste paper –basket. 4.It is at the same time as much comprehensive as necessary so that it does not leave out any relevant and crucial information. 5. It is attractive in appearance, neatly arranged and clearly duplicated or printed . 6. Directions are clear and complete , important terms are clarified each question deals with single idea and is worded in simple and clear manner as possible and provide an opportunity for easy accurate unambiguous response. 7.The questions are objective with no clues ,hints or suggestions as to the responses desired . Leading questions are carefully avoided . 8.Questions are presented in good psychological order proceeding from general to more specific responses. 9. The offending annoying or embarrassing questions have to be avoided as far as possible. 10. Items are arranged in categories to ensure easy and accurate responses. 11. Descriptive adjectives and adverbs that have no agreed up on meaning are avoided .

12. Double negatives are also avoided. 13. The questions carry adequate number of alternatives . 14. Double barreled questions or putting two questions in one questions or putting two questions in one question are also avoided. 15. It is easy to tabulate summarize and interpret. Various Forms of questionnaire Questions in the questionnaire may vary with respect to a number of criteria. 1.Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Questions On the basis of the nature of information elicited questions may be classified as primary , secondary, and tertiary . Primary questions elicit information directly related to the research topic. Secondary questions elicit information which do not relate directly to the topic , ie, the information is of secondary importance. Tertiary questions only establish a frame work that allows convenient data collection and sufficient information without exhausting or biasing the respondent. 2. Closed –ended and open –ended questions The closed- ended are the fixed choice questions. They require the respondent to choose a response from those provided by the researcher . It is easy to fill out, takes less time keeps the respondent on the subject is relatively more objective , more acceptable and convenient to respondent and is fairly easy to tabulate and analyse.

The open-ended type questions which respondents to answer in their own words. The subject reveals his mind gives his responses . This type of item is some times difficult to interpret, tabulate and summarize in the research report. 3. Structured and non- structured questions The structured questions contains definite concrete and direct questions where as non – structured may consist of partially compleated questions or statements . A non- structured questionnaire is often used as the interview guide which is non – directive. The interviewer posses only a blue print of the enquires and he is largely free to arrange the from or statements of the questions. Steps In Questionnaire Construction Questionnaires are constructed in a systematic manner .The process goes through a number of interrelated steps. They are; 1. Preparation; The researcher thinks of various items to be covered in the questionnaire and arrangement of these items in relation to another . 2. Constructing the first draft; The researcher formulates a number of questions including all types of questions. 3. Self evaluation; The researcher thinks about relevance systemtically, clarity in language, etc. 4. External evaluation; The first draft is given to one or two experts/ colleges for scrutiny and suggestions for changes.

5. Revision ; After receiving suggestions some questions are eliminated some changed and some questions are added . 6. Pre – test or pilot study; A pre test is undertaken to check the suitability of the questionnaire as a whole . 7. Revision ; The minor and major change may be made on the basis of experience gained in pretesting. 8. Second pre –testing ; The revised questionnaire is then subjected to a second test and amended if necessary. 9. Preparing final draft; After editing ,checking ,spelling , space for response , pre coding, the final –draft is prepared. Administering Questionnaire It can be administered in several ways; 1. Self Administered questionnaire ; there are two type of self administered questionnaires . They are a) Self administered questionnaires in the presence of the researcher ; The presence of a researcher is helpful in that it enables any queries or uncertainties to be added immediately with the questionnaire designer . b) Self- administered questionnaire without the presence of the researcher; Absents of the researcher helps the respondents to complete the questionnaire in private by devoting as much as time in familiar surroundings. It can be inexpensive to operate .

2) Postal questionnaires ; The postal questionnaire is the best form of survey in an educational inquiry . In postal questionnaire use good quality envelop , typed and addressed to a named person wherever possible , also first class rapid postage service to send the questionnaire . Also enciose a first class stamped envelope for the respondent’s reply. 3. Telephone ; In this respondents can be contacted at their convenient time even in the evening. It can be recorded in machine. 4.Internet ; It is conducted with the help of the help computers .It can be administered only between those persons both of them have computer and internet facility. Advantages of Questionnaire It has greater potentialities when it is properly used otherwise progress in many areas of education would be greatly handicapped. It is economical way of collecting information to educaters. 3.It permits a nation wide or even international coverge. it can cover a large group at the same time . It is easy to plan construct and administer . Once it has been constructed skillfully the investigator may ask anybody to administer it on his behalf. Confidential informations often may be obtained more readily by means of questionnaire. It places less pressure on the subject for immediate response .

It helps in focusing the respondent’s attention on all the significant items. 10.It may be used as a preliminary tool for conducting a depth study later on by any other method. Limitations of Questionnaire 1. The mailed questionnaires can be used only for educated people also restricts the number of respondents . 2. The return rate of questionnaire is low. 3. The mailing address may not correct which may omit some eligible respondents . 4. Sometimes different respondents interpret questions differently . 5. The researcher is not present to explain the meaning of certain concepts the respondent may leave the question blank. 6. It does not provide an opportunity for collecting additional information. 7. The respondent can consult others before filling in the questionnaire this response cannot be considered as his own views. 8. There is a lack of depth or probing for a more specific answer. SOCIOGRAMS Social interaction plays an important role in the development of personality of an individual. Children in school situations mostly interact in groups. The teacher parents, social workers,

psychologists and other persons who are interest in the improvement of social relations must study the mechanism that operate in social interaction. To deal effectively with social groups one must study the dynamics of social behavior. Sherif and Sherif in their book on Social Psychology defined a group as “A groups is a social unit consisting of a number of individuals who stand in role and status relationships to one another, stabilized in some relationships to one another, stabilized in some degree at the time and who possess a set of values of norms of their own regulating their behavior, at least in matters of consequence to the group. CHARACTERISTICS OF CLASS AS A GROUP A class in the school fulfills all the characteristics of a group. The class has the following essential properties which make it a group in the psychological sense: 1. A common goal 2. Organised structure 3. Motivation 4. Leadership MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL RELATIONS SOCIOMETRY An Austrian psychologist by name, J.L. Moreno invented the technique of sociometry. ‘Sociomery is the study of those aspects of the socio-

emotional climate in the classroom having to do with feelings of attraction, rejection, and indifference which faced with situations calling for interaction within the classroom. After a few weeks of commencement of school, teacher has to conduct this test. It is not really a test like an intelligence test. It is to test the reactions of student among themselves. Within a few weeks each one would have known one another sufficiently to get close as friends or to maintain a distance. Teacher has to prepare open ended questionnaire. This could be administer quite informally in one of the class hours assuring students of utmost confidentiality of their responses. They should be urged to be frank and forthright. Sometimes students may be asked to state the names of three classmates for each question in order of preference. Students tend to be a little reserved in the beginning, particularly in giving their negative choices. Tact is needed on the part of teachers to establish rapport and trust that their responses would never be leaked out. The responses are recorded in a rectangular card in which a student could write his name at the top, write down the question number and their choice of class – fellow so that it would be easily processed and tabulated. On the basis of student reactions teacher could prepare a socio matrix.

Chooser A Choosen A

B

C

D 1

B

E

-1 1

-1

C

1

-1

D

1

-1

E

1

-1

3

+1 -1

Total

-1 +1

-3

Each card could be checked and the choice entered in the matrix in the form of tallies so that in a class of 40 students there would be 40 squares horizontally and 40 vertically down, making a total of 1600 squares of which 40 squares would be eliminated by drawing a diagonal line from the top left to the bottom right square. Total for each student could be counted and entered. This would give a measure of acceptance or popularity for positive responses and rejection or unpopularity for negative responses. Some studies might fear that revelation of negative choice would invite trouble from bullies and embitter relationship. It teachers could ensure confidentiality of pupil

responses and avert leakages of preferences, students could be persuaded to fill in both set of questions.

SOCIOGRAMS The Martix could also be represented in the form of a diagram, called sociogram. To draw such a diagram, a few rules have to be followed. Eg. If ‘A’ likes ‘B’, it is represented thus; A B. If ‘B’ in turns like ‘A’ is becomes a receiprocated choice A B If ‘A’ dislikes ‘B’ it is represented thus : A------- B. If ‘A’ were to like ‘B’ and ‘B’ were to reject it is represented thus A B. If neither a broken line nor a continuous line is drawn towards a student. It has to be understood that the student is ignored. To draw in sociogam for a class consisting of 30 or 40 students four Concentric squares one with in others are draw and students are placed in various positions depending upon their scores obtained in the sociomatrix. Thus a sociogram is a diagrammatic representation of the mutual choice, rejection and indifference of the pupils in a class room torwards one another. On the basis of relationship among, the students in class may be classified in two 4 types 1. Stars

2. isolates 3. chains 4. mutual choice 1. STARS. Stars are those students in the class room whom large number of students are attracted or student like. Such students are known as stars of the class or popular students of the class CHARACTERISTICS OF STARS. 1.

They have attractive physique or good health 2. They are usually of above average intelligence 3. They have better or high achievement in the class 4. They have extrovert personality 5. They are of high self-esteem and high self concept or high level of aspiration. 6. They are talkative or take part in all type of conversation and have self confidence. 7. They are very co-operative and helpful to others. The teacher can take help of popular students in organizing effective teaching. They are helpful for adjusting the isolates of the class. The classroom problem can be easily solved by teacher taking them into his confidence, but he should not give undue weightage to them. they may play a

constructive role in classroom teaching learning situation. 3.

ISOLATES

Isolates are those students of the class room whom no student of the class like or does not make friendship with them, such students are called insolates or rejected student of the class. They require help of the teacher.

ADJUSTMENT OF ISOLATES IN THE CLASS 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

The teacher should try to identify their problems by discussing with them. The physical, psychological and educational tests should be used for the diagnosis purposes. The Isolates should be given the awareness of the characteristics of stars. The teacher should make moderate praise of the isolates whenever they succeed in some school work. The teacher must find out those skills and hobbies in which isolates show promise and should try to develop them. The teacher should discuss the problem of the isolates with

6.

3.

their parents. They should be encouraged and teacher should deal with sympathetically by developing report with them. MUTUAL PAIRS OR FRIENDS

Mutual pairs are those students who have the mutual attraction of liking with each other. The students have their close friendship or mutual attraction are known as mutual pairs of friends. (5). CHAINS RELATIONSHIP

OR

STUDETNS

There are chains of attractions among the students of a class. The mutual pairs have their liking with third or fourth students. The third and fourth have the attractions or liking with sixth or seventh student. Thus their liking or attraction form chains of relationship among the classmates. Another category of students are “rejectee”. A rejectee is one who creates niisance in class by frequent fighting and quarelling. His classmates may avoid him out of fear. He may be a fully. One who receives maximum Number of negative scores is a rejective. He is disliked by most of his classmates. SOME GUIEDNPOSTS IN THE ADMINISTRAION OF SOCIOMETRY

1.

Students in the class should be well acquainted with each other. Sociometric test should not be administered in the first week. At least six weeks interval should be allowed. 2. Positive teacher-pupil relationship chould exist 3. Student responses should be kept confidential. 4. Students should know that results will be used positively. 5. A relaxed, informal classroom atmosphere should prevail when it is administered. 6. No prior announcement is needed. It should not take more than fun to fifteen minutes. 7. Directions should be clear and simple.

2 3 11 4 1 10

13

5 15

9 12 6 8 7

14

Star - 10 Isolates 5, 12, 1 Mutual pairs - (9,10), (10,13), 6,15) We must remember that sociometry is concerned with feelings as opposed to Considered judjements. Spontaneity underlines Sociometric choice. Feelings are not always based on reason. Every member must be present on the day of the test. It should not be administered shortly after a new student has joined the class.

TEST AND TESTING Test is an instrument or systematic procedure for measuring a sample of behavior by posing a set of questions on a uniform manner. A test is a form of assessment. It answers the question how well did the individual performed. It can be either in comparison with others or in comparison with a domain of performance tasks. So we can say – a list is a type of assessment consisting of a set of questions administered during a fixed period of time under reasonably comparable conditions for all students. Purpose of Testing The use of psychological testing is to evaluate behavior, cognitive behavior personality traits and other individual and group characteristics in order to assist in making judgments, predictions and decisions about people. To say it specifically list are used for screening applicants for jobs, educational programs etc and to classify and place people in the right contexts. It helps to council and guide individuals and also to prescribe psychological treatment and many more. To get an apt result for the test there is a need to follow same steps. Steps in the listing program 1. Determining the purpose of testing The first step in the listing program is to define specifically the purpose of listing and the type of information being sought through testing. As is emphasized by the firsts standard for list

users in the code of fair testing practices in education, is critical that the purpose must be clearly defined and that the list match the purpose. 2. Selecting the appropriate test To make a proper selection, we must first identify the objectives and specific learning outcome of the instructional program. This is necessary in choosing relevant test irrespective of the size of the group to the tested single Test or school wide testing program. Selection must be preceded by an analysis of the intended use of the results and the type of the data most appropriate for each use. When need and use are identified, a list of possible test can be had from test publishers. The users should select test that meet the intended purpose and that are appropriate for the intended test takers. Points to be kept in mind while selecting the list *review and select test based on the appropriateness of test content, skills listed and content coverage. *review materials provided by test developers and select test for which clear, accurate and complete information is provided. *evaluate evidence of the technical quality of the test provided by the test developer and any independent reviewers *evaluate representative samples of test questions, directions, answer sheets, manuals and score reports before selecting a list.

*evaluate procedures and materials used by test developers as well as the resulting test, to ensure that potentially offensive content or language is avoided. *select test with appropriately modified forms or admission procedures for test takers with disabilities who need special accommodations. 3. Administering the test The main requirement to administer a test is that the testing procedures prescribed in the test manual be generously followed. When we alter the procedures for administering a published test we loss the basis for a meaningful interpretation of the scores. The administration of the group test is relatively simple. a) Motivates the students to do their best b) Follow the directions closely c) keep time accurately d) Record any significant events that might influence test scores. e) Collects the materials promptly a. Motivates the students In testing our goals should be to obtain maximum performance within the standard conditions set forth on the testing procedures. We want all students to earn as high a score as they are capable of achieving. This obviously means that they must be motivated to put forth their abilities or else will not work seriously at the task unless

they are convinced that the test result will be beneficial to them. b. Follow directions strictly The importance of following the directions given on the test manual cant be over emphasized unless the test is administered in exact accordance with the standard directions. The best results containing errors may prevent proper interpretations and use. c. Keep time accurately To ensure accurate timing, keep a written record of starting and ending test time. d. Record significant events The students should be carefully observed during testing a record must be made of any unusual behavior or events that might influence the scores. e. Collects list materials promptly When the test ends the test materials should be collected promptly so that students cannot work or correct the materials after the time limit. 4. Scoring the test Essay tests may be scored holistically or analytically. For both the examinee should be informed of the methods used. Numerical scores added with written comments and explanations are often helpful in providing feedback on essay test performance. In the case objective type tests computers and other machines take the place of human

scoring. Machine scoring is generally superior in terms of speed and accuracy but less flexible than hand scoring. 5. Analyzing and interpreting the scores Test result can be interpreted in terms of the types of task that can be performed or the relative position held in reference to group. Once refers to what a person can do and the other how the performance is compared with that of others. 6. Applying the results The object of test is to bring in some change in instruction, educational support or inform some other aspect for which the test was conducted. This cannot be achieved unless the results are interpreted correctly but reported accurately and appropriately to those who have a need the outcomes too must be informed. The feedback that the test administration provides to the test taker and the other relevant authorities are of great importance. These achievement and learning ability test can serve many different purposes in the school educational program. They help to identify the level and range of ability among students – helps to identify areas of instruction needing greater emphasis – helps to identify learning errors and plan remedial instruction. Helps to identify individual difference and helps to provide individualized instruction – exceptional students can be identified and necessary steps can be taken to promote their education through enabling them opt for right course.

7. Retesting to determine success of program After applying the results a retest should be conducted to find out the success of the remedial programs. 8- Making suitable records and reports The final step is to set suitable records and reports of the testing program. The result should be reported clearly which can be easily understood and usable for future purpose. TYPES OF TEST ITEMS The objective type are constructed on educational achievements aptitude, and intelligence objective type test much more precise than essay type tests. The objective types test are standardized this type test mainly used in research work, guidance and counseling and also in administration for selecting candidates for different jobs. The obtained scores are transformed into standard scores which can be easily interpretable and understandable. R-L Ebel and D.A Frishe (1986) define an objective tent as “one that can be provided with a simple predetermined tent of correct answers that objective opinion or judgement in the acoring procedure is eliminated.” W. Wiersma and S.G. Jurs (1990) states, “objective items are items can be objectively scored, items on which persons select a response from a list of opinions.” There are three type of objective type tests are following. 1. Alternate – Response test item

2. Matching type system 3. Multiple choice type system. ALTERNATE-RESPONSE TEST ITEM According to N.E Gronlernd (1985), “the alternative response test item consists of a declarative statement that the pupil is asked to mark true or false, right or wrong , correct or incorrect, yes or no, factor opinion, agree or disagree and the like. In each case there are only two possible answers. Because the true-false opinion is the most common, this item type is most frequently referred to as true false item.” In the alternative-response test, one of two responses only one is correct. Some of the common variations of the alternate –response test are a) True of False b) Yes-No c) Right-wrong d) Correct-incorrect. For example : The Vedas are the religious books of the Hindus Yes/ No MERITS OF ALTERNATE-RESPONSE TEST ITEMS. 1. It is easy to correct them 2. They are capable of sampling very quickly a wide range of the subject matter. 3. They are more suitable for young children who have poor vocabulary.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

They are more reliable per unit of testing item. They can be scored objectively. They are adaptable to most content areas. They are early to construct. They are time savers. They provide simple and direct means for measuring the out comes of formed instruction.

LIMITATIONS 1. 2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

Generally they emphasis rote memorization. The examinees are not required to apply principles to new situations. These are only two choices, they allow a high degree of guessing. They may motivate students to study and accept only over simplified statements of facture details. There can be attempted even by those who know nothing of the subject matter. They are largely limited to learning out comes in the knowledge domain.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TRUE OR FALSE ITEMS.

1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Be sure that the item as written can be classified unequivocally as aided true or false. Avoid ambiguous and indefinite terms of degree or amount. Keep true or false statements approximately equal in length. Employ a random occurrence of true or false statements to avoid giving irrelevant clues. Avoid double negative statements. The direction regarding the answers should be very clear. Long and complex statements should not be used because they measure regarding. Comprehensive also and which may not be the objective of the examiner.

MATCHING TYPE TEST ITEM N.E. Gronlund (1985), “The matching exercise consists of two parallel columns with each word, number or symbol in one column being matched to a word, a sentence or phrase in the other column. The items in the column for which match is sought are called premises and the items in the column from which the selection is made are called responses. There are several varieties of matching tests. In the traditional format of a matching test consists

of two column. The examinee is required to make some sort of association between each premise and each response in the two columns he pairs the corresponding elements and records his answers. MERITS OF MATCHING TESTS 1. Many questions can be asked in limited time between they require little reading time. 2. Reliability of the test increases as they afford as an opportunity to have a large sampling of the content. 3. Scoring is comparatively easier. 4. Matching test can be constructed relatively easily and quickly. 5. There is less scope for guessing as compared with true – false tests 6. A good deal of space can be saved.

LIMITATIONS 1.

2.

They are not well adapted testing for the acquision of knowledge or understanding of and ability to use relatively complete interpretive ideas. They may encourage serial memorization rather than

3. 4.

association is sufficient care is not taken in their construction. Generally they provide clues. It is at times difficult to get dusters of questions that are sufficiently similar questions that a common set of response can be used.

SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTING MATCHING TESTS 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

6.

Keep each lists relatively short. Each matching tests should consists of homogeneous items. Avoid an equal members of premises and responses. All items of the tests should be on the same page. Do not more statements or responses highly dissimilar in character. Avoid using matching tests for testing small units of the subject matter

MULTIPLE CHOICE TYPE TEST ITEM

“ According ti N.E Gronlund (1985)”A multiple choice item consists of a problem and lists suggested solutions. The problem may be stated as direct acquisition or an incomplete statements and is called the stern of item. The tent of suggested solutions may include words numbers, symbols or phrases and are called alternatives. The pupil is typically requested to read the stem and the list of alternatives and to select the one correct or best alternative” A multiple item of two parts. 1. The “stem” which contains the problem. 2. Options or responses it list of suggested answers. The stem be stated as direct question or an incomplete statements. FORMS OF MULTIPLE TESTS a) The correct answer form It contains three or more choices but only one of them is correct. b) The best answer form One or more all choices may be correct but one of them is the best answer the examine is required to select the best one. c) The multiple response them The correct answers may consist of more than one choices and the examine is asked to identify all those which are correct. d) The complete statement form the stem is incomplete and can be completed by the correct choice. The examinee is asked to select one.

e) The substitution form The word outline the stem is to the substituted by the correct response. Responses are given are the examinee is asked to select one which can substitute the desired word. f) The combined response form The choices are different spaces or sentence or paragraph. The examinee required to correct order of the phrases or sentences. MERITS OF MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ITEM 1.

2. 3.

4.

5.

They can measure cognitive levels better than true false items because examine do not score for merely knowing whether the statement is true or false but for knowing which is the correct answer. They can measure from the most element the knowledge lent to the most complex level. A substantial amount of the subject matter can be tested because the examinees do not require much time for righting the answer. They are objective in scoring because they key for the correct answer is prepared along with the test. They reduce the effect of guessing because there are three or four choices.

6.

7.

Their format is helpful in item analysis to find out he areas of weakness of the examinee. They can be easily adopted for machine scoring.

LIMITATIONS 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

They donot permit the exminees to express their own views They cannot measure attitudes or motor skills . It is difficult to find four choices for each item out of which thir may be plausible in correct answers. they cannot evaluate the ability to organize any present ideas. They require more time to construct. They check only limited knowledge

SUGGESTIONS FOR MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION 1. 2.

3.

Be sure the stem of the item clearly formulates a problem Include as mush of the item as possible in the stem and keep options as short as possible. Include in the stem only the metric required to make the problem clear and specific.

4. 5. 6.

us e the negative sparing the amid stem of the item Repetition of words in the options should be avoided Unfamiliar and difficult symbols and vocabulary should avoided.

MERITS OF OBJECTIVE TYPE TEST. 1.

2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

The new type examinations are motive objective in their scoring they are free from personal factor of the teacher. They may be very comprehensive and can be made to cover a great deal more material than the old type of examinations They are very easy to score. They are more education for the pupils. It discourage examine and encourage thinking observation and scrutiny They are more reliable Objective tests can be standardized by applying before hand to a large numbers of students of the same age group before the actual examination

LIMITATIONS 1.

The pupil does not have an opportunity to show his ability to organize his thoughts .

This type of tests are not diagnostic in that they do not tell where the pupils reasoning process goes wrong or where he stops reasoning all together and starts guessing. 2. It is commonly said that this type of tests fail to check cramming Short Answer Questions Short-answer questions are open-ended questions that require students to create an answer. They are commonly used in examinations to assess the basic knowledge and understanding (low cognitive levels) of a topic before more in-depth assessment questions are asked on the topic. Short Answer Questions do not have a generic structure. Questions may require answers such as complete the sentence, supply the missing word, short descriptive or qualitative answers, diagrams with explanations etc. The answer is usually short, from one word to a few lines. Often students may answer in bullet form. Advantages of Short Answer Questions  Short Answer Questions are relatively fast to mark and can be marked by different assessors, as long as the questions are set in such a way that all alternative answers can be considered by the assessors.

 Short Answer Questions are also relatively easy to set compared to many assessment methods.  Short Answer Questions can be used as part of a formative and summative assessment, as the structure of short answer questions are very similar to examination questions, students are more familiar with the practice and feel less anxious.  Unlike MCQs, there is no guessing on answers, students must supply an answer. Disadvantages of Short Answer Questions  Short Answer Questions (SAQ) are only suitable for questions that can be answered with short responses. It is very important that the assessor is very clear on the type of answers expected when setting the questions, because SAQ is an open-ended questions, students are free to answer any way they choose, short-answer questions can lead to difficulties in grading if the question is not worded carefully.  Short Answer Questions are typically used for assessing knowledge only, students may often memorize Short Answer Questions with rote learning. If assessors wish to use

Short Answer Questions to assess deeper learning, careful attention (and many practices) on appropriate questions are required.  Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting/spelling skills  There can be time management issues when answering Short Answer Questions Design A Good Short Answer Question  Design short answer items which are appropriate assessment of the learning objective  Make sure the content of the short answer question measures knowledge appropriate to the desired learning goal  Express the questions with clear wordings and language which are appropriate to the student population  Ensure there is only one clearly correct answer in each question  Ensure that the item clearly specifies how the question should be answered (e.g. Student should answer it briefly and concisely using a single word or short phrase? Is the question given a specific number of blanks for students to answer?)

 Consider whether the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring  Write the instructions clearly so as to specify the desired knowledge and specificity of response  Set the questions explicitly and precisely.  Direct questions are better than those which require completing the sentences.  For numerical answers, let the students know if they will receive marks for showing partial work (process based) or only the results (product based), also indicated the importance of the units.  Let the students know what your marking style is like, is bullet point format acceptable, or does it have to be an essay format?  Prepare a structured marking sheet; allocate marks or part-marks for acceptable answer(s).  Be prepared to accept other equally acceptable answers, some of which you may not have predicted. ESSAY TYPE TEST

The word essay has been derived from a French word ‘essayer’ which means ‘to try’ or ‘to attempt’. “Essay test is a test that requires the student to structure a rather long written response up to several paragraphs.” -William weirsama The essay test refers to any written test that requires the examinee to write a sentence, a paragraph or longer passages. Essay questions provide a complex prompt that requires written responses, which can vary in length from a couple of paragraphs to many pages. Like short answer questions, they provide students with an opportunity to explain their understanding and demonstrate creativity, but make it hard for students to arrive at an acceptable answer by bluffing. They can be constructed reasonably quickly and easily but marking these questions can be time-consuming and grader agreement can be difficult. Essay questions differ from short answer questions in that the essay questions are less structured. This openness allows students to demonstrate that they can integrate the course material in creative ways. As a result, essays are a favoured approach to test higher levels of cognition including analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

Characteristics of essay test: 1. The length of the required responses varies with reference to marks and time 2. It demands a subjective judgment: Judgment means making judgment or assessing whereas subjective means not fair enough i.e. it differs from person to person. 3. Most familiar and widely used:Essay has become a major part of a formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essays format to improve their writing skills. Types of Essay Test 1.

Restricted response questions:

The restricted response question usually limits both the content and the response the content is usually restricted by the scope of the topic to be discussed limitations on the form of response are generally indicated in the question another way of restricting responses in essay tests is to base the questions on specific problems. For this purpose, introductory material like that used in interpretive exercises can be presented. Such items differ from objective interpretive exercise only by the fact that essay questions are used instead of multiple choice or true or false items. Because the restricted response question is more structured it is most useful for measuring learning outcomes requiring

the interpretation and application of date in a specific area. 2.

Extended response questions:

No restriction is placed in students as to the points he will discuss and the type of organization he will use. Teachers in such a way so as to give students the maximum possible freedom to determine the nature and scope of question and in a way he would give response of course being related topic and in stipulated time frame these types of questions. The student may be select the points he thinks are most important, pertinent and relevant to his points and arrangement and organize the answers in whichever way he wishes. So they are also called free response questions. This enables the teacher to judge the student’s abilities to organize, integrate, interpret the material and express themselves in their own words. It also gives an opportunity to comment or look into students’ progress, quality of their thinking, the depth of their understanding problem solving skills and the difficulties they may be having. These skills interact with each other with the knowledge and understanding the problem requires. Thus it is at the levels of synthesis and evaluation of writing skills that this type of questions makes the greatest contribution. Merits of essay writing:

1. It is relatively easier to prepare and administer a six-question extended response essay test than to prepare and administer a comparable 60 item multiple choice test items. 2. It is the only means that can assess an examinee’s ability to organize and present his ideas in a logical and coherent fashion and in effective prose. 3. It can be successfully practically all school subjects.

employed

for

4. Some of the objectives – such as ability to organize idea effectively ability to criticize or justify a statement, ability to criticize or justify a statement, ability to interpret etc. can be measured by this type of test. 5. Logical thinking and critical reasoning, systematic presentation etc. can be best developed by this type of test. 6. Its helps induce good study habits such as making outlines and summaries, organizing the arguments for and against, etc. 7. The student can show their initiative, the originality of their thought and the fertility of their imagination, as they are permitted freedom of response.

8. The response of the students need not be completely right or wrong. All degrees of comprehensiveness and accuracy are possible. 9.

It largely eliminates guessing.

Demerits of essay writing: Every coin has 2 sides same ways in essay test if there are merits than demerits are also there so we will see demerits of essay test writing. 1.

Limited sampling of the content: -

It means few questions can be included in given test. Example if in one particular book 18 chapter are given, teacher cannot ask question from all the chapters. They have to neglect some areas.

2.

Subjectivity of scoring:

If all students are writing same answer of one question, why they get different marks? In essay test answer of question are scored differently by different teacher. Even the same teacher scores the answer differently at different times.

3.

Halo effects:

It means teacher knows the particular student very well and has good impression because of his previous paper and writing skills.

4.

Mood of the examiner:

The general feeling of all students after writing your S.S.C board paper what you had discussed with your fried. I hope the teacher who is checking my paper has not quarreled with some” 5.

Ambiguous wording of the question:

Sometime essay questions are so worded that students do not know the exact implications of the questions. 6.

Examiner contaminated by various factors:

The examiner is contaminated by various factors like hand writing, spelling, grammar etc some students who has good verbal knowledge may write many things on an essay topic. 7. It requires an excessive time on the part of students to write while assessing reading essays is very time-consuming and laborious.

8. Only a teacher or competent professionals can assess it.

9. The speed of writing can influence the performance of the learner. This results in low scores even if the learner may know the correct answer of all questions.

10. It may not provide a true picture of the comprehension level of the leaner. Grammars may get good marks. Suggestions for improving essay questions: 1. Restrict the use of essay questions to those learning outcomes that cannot be satisfactorily measured by objective items. Such functions as ability to organize’ to express, to interpret and to elicit understanding may be tested through essay questions. 2. Do not start the essay questions with words such as what, who, when, enumerate etc. in general start with compare, contrast, discuss, explain etc. 3. Write the essay question in such a way that the task is clearly and unambiguously defined for each examinee.

4. Directions for the test should be explicitly written. For example, (a) each question carries 20 marks (b) Marks will be deducted for spelling mistakes. 5. Avoid the use of optional questions. A fairly common practice in the use of essay questions is to provide pupils with more questions than they are expected to answer. When pupils answer different questions, it is obvious they are taking different test and the common basis for evaluating their achievement is lost. 6. Students are found to be misinformed about the meaning of important terms used in essay questions. For example: students frequently discuss or describe when asked to define. A solution would be to supply the necessary training to the students in writing essay questions. 7. Allow liberal time limit so that the essay test will not be a test of speed of writing. While setting up the question paper s that it can be answered in the allotted time, leaving some time for reading the question, drawing up an outline of the answers and finally for revision. 8. We have seen that the essay examination suffers from lack of adequate sampling. This defect can to some extent be overcome by increasing the number of questions any limiting the length of their answers. A question paper with

10 questions would represent a better sample than one with 5 questions only. 9. :

One of the favourite questions of examiners is

for example: write short notes on: 1. Social education. 2. Homework. This type of question is worse than the one mentioned in above. The student dos not know the limits and he goes on writing pages after pages. The better way to write is e.g. write short notes on (a) objectives of social education (b) misuse of homework. Suggestions for scoring the essay examination 1. Prepare on outline of the expected answers in advance, showing what points are required and the credits to be allowed for each. This will provide a common frame of reference for evaluating the individual papers 2. Decide in advance that factors are to be measured. If the ability to organize, to interpret or to apply the principles is to be assessed, the examiner should not allow him to be biased by bad handwriting, spelling, sentence structure or neatness. The ability to write, to spell or to use correct English can be assessed through other suitable tests

3. Examination should be scored as far as possible by the one who frames the questions. He is the person who can give a clear picture of the expected responses whenever more than one examiner is involved; they should be brought together to develop a uniform scoring procedure. Model answers and marking schemes may be discussed and finalized in this meeting 4. Grade the paper as nearly anonymously as possible, the less you know about who wrote an answer, the more objectively you can grade papers before considering another question. This type of scoring permits the examiner to concentrate on the answer to a single question and judge better the merits of the several pupil responses to the same question.

5. Score one question through all of the papers before considering another question. This type of scoring permits the examiner to concentrate on the answer to a single question and to judge better the merits of several pupils responses to the same question.

6. When important decisions such as selection for awards or scholarships are to be based on the

results, obtain two or more independent rating and average them.

7. The mechanics of expression (legibility, spelling, punctuation, grammar) should be judged separately from what the student writes i.e. the subject matter content. Provide comments and correct answers in the answer book. This will explain the teacher’s, method of assigning a particular score or grade to particular paper. RUBRIC The traditional meanings of the word rubric stem from "a heading on a document (often written in red — from Latin, rubrica, red ochre, red ink), or a direction for conducting church services". In modern education circles, rubrics have recently come to refer to an assessment tool. The first usage of the term in this new sense is from the mid-1990s, but scholarly articles from that time do not explain why the term was co-opted. Perhaps rubrics are seen to act, in both cases, as metadata added to text to indicate what constitutes a successful use of that text. It may also be that the color of the traditional red marking pen is the common link. In education terminology, rubric means "a scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students' constructed responses". Rubrics usually contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions for

those criteria at particular levels of achievement, and a scoring strategy. They are often presented in table format and can be used by teachers when marking, and by students when planning their work. A scoring rubric is an attempt to communicate expectations of quality around a task. In many cases, scoring rubrics are used to delineate consistent criteria for grading. Because the criteria are public, a scoring rubric allows teachers and students alike to evaluate criteria, which can be complex and subjective. A scoring rubric can also provide a basis for self-evaluation, reflection, and peer review. It is aimed at accurate and fair assessment, fostering understanding, and indicating a way to proceed with subsequent learning/teaching. This integration of performance and feedback is called ongoing assessment or formative assessment. The benefits of using a rubric are that it creates a more objective method of scoring; specific criteria are identified and the students are evaluated only on those criteria. Students can often be involved in the creation of a rubric in order to have a say in what they believe to be the most important aspects of the task; this can help with student motivation and investment. Even if students are not involved in the creation of the rubric, they should have a copy of it so they are aware of what is being assessed. This ensures

fairness is maintained and pushes students to prepare to the best of their ability. Components Of A Scoring Rubric Scoring rubrics include one or more dimensions on which performance is rated, definitions and examples that illustrate the attribute(s) being measured, and a rating scale for each dimension. Dimensions are generally referred to as criteria, the rating scale as levels, and definitions as descriptors. The components of rubrics are; 1) One or more traits or dimensions that serve as the basis for judging the student response 2) Definitions and examples to clarify the meaning of each trait or dimension 3) A scale of values on which to rate each dimension Steps To Create A Scoring Rubric Scoring rubrics may help students become thoughtful evaluators of their own and others’ work and may reduce the amount of time teachers spend evaluating student work 1. Have students look at models of good versus "not-so-good" work. A teacher should provide sample assignments of variable quality for students to review. 2. List the criteria to be used in the scoring rubric and allow for discussion of what counts as quality work. Asking for student

3.

4.

5. 6. 7.

feedback during the creation of the list also allows the teacher to assess the students’ overall writing experiences. Articulate gradations of quality. These hierarchical categories should concisely describe the levels of quality (ranging from bad to good) or development (ranging from beginning to mastery). Practice on models. Students can test the scoring rubrics on sample assignments provided by the instructor. This practice can build students' confidence by teaching them how the instructor would use the scoring rubric on their papers. It can also aid student/teacher agreement on the reliability of the scoring rubric. Ask for self and peer-assessment. Revise the work on the basis of that feedback. Use teacher assessment, which means using the same scoring rubric the students used to assess their work

Type of Rubric Definition Analytic Each criterion (dimension, trait) is evaluated separately.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Gives diagnostic information to teacher. Gives formative feedback to

Takes more time to score than holistic rubrics. Takes more time to achieve inter-

students. Easier to link to instruction than holistic rubrics. Good for formative assessment; adaptable for summative assessment; if you need an overall score for grading, you can combine the scores.

rater reliability than with holistic rubrics.

Holistic

All criteria (dimensions, traits) are evaluated simultaneously.

Scoring is faster than with analytic rubrics. Requires less time to achieve inter-rater reliability. Good for summative assessment.

Single overall score does not communicate information about what to do to improve. Not good for formative assessment.

General

Description of work gives characteristics that apply to a whole family of tasks (e.g.,

Can share with students, explicitly linking assessment

Lower reliability at first than with task-specific rubrics. Requires

TaskSpecific

writing, problem solving).

and practice to instruction. apply well. Reuse same rubrics with several tasks or assignments. Supports learning by helping students see "good work" as bigger than one task. Supports student selfevaluation. Students can help construct general rubrics.

Description of work refers to the specific content of a particular task (e.g., gives an answer, specifies a conclusion).

Teachers sometimes say using these makes scoring "easier." Requires less time to achieve inter-rater reliability.

Cannot share with students (would give away answers). Need to write new rubrics for each task. For openended tasks, good answers not listed in

rubrics may be evaluated poorly.

How To Use Rubrics Effectively 

  

   

Develop a different rubric for each assignment. Although this takes time in the beginning, you’ll find that rubrics can be changed slightly or re-used later. Give students a copy of the rubric when you assign the performance task. Require students to attach the rubric to the assignment when they hand it in. When you mark the assignment, circle or highlight the achieved level of performance for each criterion. Include any additional comments that do not fit within the rubric’s criteria. Decide upon a final grade for the assignment based on the rubric. Hand the rubric back with the assignment. If an assignment is being submitted to an electronic drop box you may be able to develop and use an online rubric. The scores from these rubrics are automatically entered in the online grade book in the course management system.

ASSESSMENT TOOLS FOR AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

The affective domain is a part of a system that was published in 1965 for identifying understanding and addressing how people learn. This describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a degree of acceptance or rejection. It is far more difficult domain to objectively analyze and assess since affective objectives vary from simple attention to selected phenomena to complex but internally consistent qualities of character and conscience. Nevertheless, much of the educative process needs to deal with assessment and measurement of students’ abilities in this domain. This simply refers to the fact that much of the processes in education today are aimed at developing the cognitive aspects of development and very little or no time is spent on the development of the affective domain. The Taxonomy in the Affective Domain. The taxonomy in the affective domain contains a large number of objectives in the literature expresses as interests, attitudes, appreciation, values, and emotional sets or biases. The descriptions of step in the taxonomy was culled from Kratwohl’s Taxonomy of Affective Domain: 1. Receiving is being aware of or sensitive to the existence of certain ideas, material, pr phenomena and being willing to tolerate them. Examples: To differentiate, To accept, To listen, To respond to. 2. Responding is committed in some small measure to the ideas, materials, or phenomena

involved by actively responding to them. Examples: to comply with, to follow, to commend, to volunteer, to spend leisure time in, to acclaim 3. Valuing is willing to be perceived by others as valuing certain ideas, materials, or phenomena. Examples: to increase measured proficiency in, to relinquish, to subsidize, to support, to debate 4. Organization is to relate the value to those already held and bring into a harmonious and internally consistent philosophy. Examples: To discuss, To theorize, To formulate, To balance, To examine 5. Characterization by value or value set is to act consistently in accordance with the values he or she has internalized. Examples: To revise, To require, To be rated high in the value, To avoid, To resist, To manage, To resolve . Development of Assessment Tools/Standard Assessment Tools Assessment tools in the affective domain are those which are used to assess attitudes, interest, motivations and self efficacy. These include: 1. Self-report. This the most common measurement tool in the affective domain. It essentially requires an individual to provide an account of his attitude or feelings toward a concept or idea or people. It is also called “written reflections” (“Why I Like or Dislike Mathematics”. The teacher ensures that the students write something which would

demonstrate the various levels of the taxonomy ( receiving to characterization) 2. Rating Scales refers to a set of categories designed to elicit information about a quantitative attribute in social science. Common examples are the Likert scale and 1-10 rating scales for which a person selects the number which is considered to reflects the perceived quality of a product. The basic feature of any rating scale is that it consists of a number of categories. These are usually assigned integers. 3. Semantic Differential (SD) Scales tries to assess an individual’s reaction to specific words, ideas or concepts in terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with contrasting adjectives at each end. 4.Checklists : Checklists are the most common and perhaps the easiest instrument in the affective domain. It consist of simple items that the student or teacher marks as “absent” or “present” . ATTITUDE SCALES The term personality is a broad complex. It has inner as well as outer aspects. The inner aspects of the personality; the motivation perceptions, feelings, attitudes, interest, values and preferences are prejudices that are the basis one’s behavior. The inner aspect of the personality play the significant role in the performance of an individual. The measures of attitude, interests and values are different as these are independent traits.

These aspects of one’s personality influence one another. An attitude is a tendency to react favourably or unfavourably towards a disginted class of stimuli, such as a custom, a caste, an institution or a nation. An attitude can be observed directly. An attitude stands for response consistency to certain categories of stimuli. Attitude is frequently associated with social stimuli and emotionally toned responses. Meaning And Definition Of Attitude An attitude is a variable which directly observed but it is inferred from overt behavior both verbal and non- verbal responses. In more objective term the concept of attitude may be said to can not response tendency with regard to certain categories of stimuli. In actual practice the term attitude has been most frequently associated with emotionally toned responses. The deep rooted feelings are the attitudes which can not be changed easily. An attitude is defined as a tendency to react in certain way towards a designated class of stimuli or an object. Attitude has been defined by others in the following ways. “an attitude is essentially a form of anticipatory response, a beginning of action not necessarily completed” –K. Young “An attitude can be defined as an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some

aspect of the individual’s word”- Krech and Crutchfield. Attitude is the sum total of an individual’s inclination, feelings, prejudices or biases, preconceived notton’s ideas threats and convictions or beliefs about any specific object”L.L. Thurstone. “An attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness, exerting directive or dynamic influence upon the individuals response to all objects and situations with which it is related”- Britt. Characterstics Of Attitude  There are individual differences in attitudes  It is a bi-polar triat as it is a position towards an object either for or against.  It mat be overt or covert and it is fathemless or unlimited.  It is integrated in to an organized system and can no be changed easily.  It varies culture to culture and society to society.  It implies a subject-object relationship. Determinents of attitude The following factors may influence the attitudes of a person  Cultural and social factors  Psychological factors (needs, emotions, perceptions,  experiences etc.)

 Functional factors (role of temperament) The attitudes are formed on the following basis.  Acceptance of social norms and calues.  Emotional and personal experiences  Ego-involvement and social perceptions  Technology changes and economic developments  Suggestions and self concept or ideals of life MEASUREMENT OF ATTITUDES There are various techniques for the measurement of attitudes. The projective techniques used are Rorschach, T.A.T, Word Association Test and Sentence Completion test, Questionnaires, inventories, Situational test and interviews are also helpful. The most important technique of measuring attitudes is the ‘Scaling’ techniques. TYPES OF ATTITUDE SCALES       

Numerical Scales Graphic scales Standard scales Check lists Forced choice scales Ranking method Q sort method

Numerical Scales:- One of the simplest to constract and easiest to use, is the numerical rating

scale. This type of tool usually consists of several items each of which names or describes the behaviour to be rated and then offers as alternative responses a series of numbers representing points along the scale. This simple cumerical scale does ave face validity and therefore seems to be widely accepted. It is more subjective or bias tool. Graphic Scales: if the format of the rating scale is such that the characteristics to be rated is represented as a straight line along which are placed some verbal guides, the tool is referred to as a graphic rating scale. It is easy to construct and easy to administer therefore it is widely used of all the specific types of rating scales, but it is less reliable measure. Standard scale: in the standard scale approach an attempt is made to provide the rater with more than verbal uses to describe various scale points. Ideally, several samples of the objects to be rated are included each with a given scale value which has been determined in experimental studies prior to the use of the scale. Check lists: An approach which is widely popular because it is simple to administer and still permits wide coverage in short time is the behavior check list. It contains a long list of specific behavior which supposedly represented individual differences and rater simply checks whether the item applies. The behavior index of individual is obtained by summing up the items, which have been checked.

Forced choice scale One of the most recent innovations in the rating scale area has been developed a forced choice technique which has been designed to overcome the major difficulties faced on with earlier techniques. In a forced choice rating the rater is required to consider not just one attribute, but several characterstics all at one time. Rater is asked to select one which is most appropriate statement. Ranking method It is not possible that rater can accurately judge equivalent distances at various points along the scale. Under these conditions a ranking method which requires only that subjects who are being rated to be placed in order of each trait cab be used. This approach is essential for large number of persons are to be rated. The ranking approach has the advantage of forcing the judge to make a definite discriminations among this rates by eliminating the subjective differences faced by the judges, second advantage that group ranking is uniform. Q Short Q Short is developed by Stephenson. It is one of the best approach to obtain a comprehensive description of an individual while ranking method gives the comprehensive friction of a group of the individuals. Q short is widely used for rating persons School or on the job for individual guidance.

SOME MAJOR APPROACHES TO SCALE CONSTRUCTION Thurstone scale The outstanding features of this scale is the use of judges to determine the points on the attitude continuum. Thursone’s quantification of judgement data represented a great achievement in attitude scale construction. Several hundred statements are gathered which seem to express various degrees of negative and positive attitudes towards the objects being studied. Several hundred persons are then chosen as judges. Each judge is handed all the statements and asked to sort them into 11 piles from extremely favourable through neutral to extremely unfavourable. The judges are not to indicate their own attitudes but only classify the statement. The medium position assigned to each statement is regarded it’s scale value. The variability of the judgement is taken as an index of it’s ambiguity. Items are chosen so as to represent minimum variability and a wide spread of scale values, providing equal spacing across the 11-point range. The Scale position for each item is considered to be the median intensity judgement. The final scale consists of twenty or so items which spread most evenly over the intensity range. Ideally, the items should have median intensity judgement respectively of 0,0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and so on. In the final form of the scale, the statements are presented in random order, without giving any indication of their scale values. The respondents’s

score is the median scale value of all the statements be endorses. By these procedures, Thurstone, (1959) and his coworkers prepared about 20 scales for measuring attitudes towards war, church, patriortrism, capital punishment, censorship, and many other institutions,, practices, issues and groups. Likert-Type Scale Likert (1932) developed a scale that is easier to construct. At the same time it yields satisfactory reliability. It also starts with the collection of a large number of positive and negative statement about an object. Judges are not employed in this method. Instead, the scale is derived by item analysis techniques. The items are administered to a group of subjects. Each item is rated on a five point continuum. Only those items which have high correlation with total score are retained for the attitude scale. The principal basis for item selection is internal consistency. This method more directly determines whether or not only one attitude is involved in the items collected. On the five point scale an individual gets scores from 5 to 1 for positive items and from 1 to 5 for negative items. His final score is obtained by summing up the item scores. Comprising the Likert and Thurstone methods, the Likert approach is more empirical because it dealts directly with respondents score rather than employing judges.

The Likert method more directly determines whether or not only one attitude is involved in the original collection of items and the scale which is derived measures the most general attitudinal factor which is present. The use of a five points scale for each item provides more information than the simple dictionary of agree or disagree. The only place in which the Thurstone method mi9ght be superior is in the direct meaning-fulness of scale scores but the Likert method fails to provide absolute meaning. The Likert also uses more statements as a rule, therefore it is reliable than the Thurstone type. Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory It is a modified form of Likert-type Scale. Each statement is to be marked in the same way on the five point-scale. The numerical weights for these responses are based on criterion keying, rather than on the usual 1 to 5 scale. It was developed by administering over 700 items to 100 teachers nominated as superior in studentteacher relationship and 100 teachers nominated as inferior in this relationship. Cross-validation of the final 150 item inventory in different groups yielded concurrent- validity co-efficients of 0.46 to 0.60 with a composite criterion derived from the principal’s estimate pupils rating and evaluation y an expert. Subsequent longitudinal studies by the author found predicitive validation against the same criterion.

The Bogardus Social Distance Scale Bogardus developed a technique for measuring attitude towards different national groups. This scaling procedure, such as the Thurstone and Likert methods, the Bogardus scale is identified by a novel type items in social distance form. The Bogardus social distance scale is much easier to construct than other scales. The Guttman Method of Scale An interesting new approach to attitudes scaling is the procedure developed by Guttman in connection with studies of the morale of American soldiers during the second world war. The response pattern found in the perfect Guttman Scale is exactly what is obtained if people are rule-ordered on a physical conditions. The purpose of the Guttman procedure is to test whether or not a collection of attitude statements will exhibit the characteristic pattern. INTEREST INVENTORY The nature and strength of one’s interests and attitudes represents an important aspect of personality. These charecteristics materially affect educational and occupational achievement ,interpersonal relations ,etc. The greatest aid to attention is interest. Interest is A feeling both painful or pleasure and is generally accompanied by attention . Without interest however the attention cannot hold for a long time. To secure attention among students an effort has to be made to evoke their interest in the classroom. One of the

cardinal aims of education is fostering many sided interests of students .Broadly speaking interests are our likes and dislikes. We are not born with specific interests we acquire them due to environmental stimulation. Healthy interests are called ‘hobbies’. Achievement is a resultant of aptitude and interest . The large majority of interests inventories are designed to assess the individual’s interest in different fields of work. Meaning And Definition Interests is a disposition in its dynamic aspect. It is a feeling of liking associated with a reaction . It is the motivating force that impels one for activity . If an individual is interested in a job he will probably like the job .As interests are subjective experiences the direct way to measure them is to ask the individual to report his likes and dislikes .We measure interests from the responses we get from the individual by administering interest inventories . In the words of Cronbach [1949], interest is ” A tendency to seek out an activity or a tendency to choose it rather than some alternatives” Qualitatively interests could be classified under various headings such as social interests, vocational interests intellectual interests ,scientific interests ,literacy and musical interests, business interests ,etc. Many researcher studied about the phenomenon of interests interms of their duration their extensity, and their intensity

.Duration would denote the temporal aspects of interests , extensity would denote the temporal aspects of interests extensity would be described as the number of interests which the individual is showing and the intensity would denote the strength in the interests. Classification Of Interests. Interest in an object or in an activity reveals itself a heightening of attention to it . Mainly three types of interests are their they are ; [A] Expressed Interests : Expressed interest are identified by asking a pupil to tell or write about the activities , vocational and avocational interests which a person most and least enjoys. [B]Manifested Interests : Manifested interest may be identified by directing and observing the pupil or by finding out about his hobbies and other activities . [C] Interests inferred from tests : From tests also interests can be inferred . Inventories are interests that are measured with standardized instruments which require a person to choose from a large number of activities. Types of Interest Inventories In the year 1920, the Carnegie Institute of Technology USA organized a Graduate seminar on “Interest” . Interest at a time is considered as a verbal expression of one’s aptitude. The interest inventories are those which are designed to assess the individual’s interest in different fields of work .

It is generally observed that what a person may say about his interest. Interest inventories have stimulative value and they have also informative value. The stimulative value of it is seen from the fact that it encourages the person to have a thoughtful self-scrutiny in depth. The informative function of it is availed of due to the fact that these are specially constructed to obtain various informations regarding person’s likes and dislikes . Interest inventories must be able to identify not only a person’s specific likes and dislikes but also the major trends of interest. Researches have shown that the measurement of a person’s present interests is a means to provide symptoms indicative of what his interests are likely to be in the future . Such an assessment throws light on four possibilities of the person; 1) It will indicate the probability of the actual work of the occupation that the person is considering well enough to identify himself with to follow it. 2) It will indicate the probability of finding himself among congenial associates with similar interest patterns as his own . 3) It will indicate the symptoms of his future abilities . 4) It will suggest alternative fields of occupation which may not yet have been seriously considered. Measurement of Interest

Interest has been pointed to be more amenable to measurement than the measurement of personality . E.K.Strong ,Jr. developed the first Interest Inventory known as Strong’s Vocational Interest Blank. Many instruments have been instructed to measure different interests among individuals. Tests and scales with a real psychological meaning have been produced . Some of the instruments employed in the measurement of interest are given below; [A] Interest Questionnaire for high school students : In this questionnaire there are 68 items indicating liking, indifference or dislike . The questionnaire can predict success in the curriculum of the subject’s choice more accurately than it is predicted by a general intelligence test. The instruments carefully and completely constructed. B] Strong’s Vocational Interest Blank : This blank lists 100 occupations ,38 amusements 36 school subjects and contains 46 items having to do with types and peculiarities of people. Responses are scored in terms of ‘L’[for likes] and ‘D’ [for dislikes ], ‘I’ [for indifference]. Self rating of preferences , habits and traits are also solicited. Generally this blank has been found useful when combined with other criteria. C] Vocational interest for women : This has been constructed particularly for women and follows the same technique of construction and same general

organization as are embodied in the Vocational Interest Blank for men. It includes references to ‘17’ occupations and the traits of masculinityfeminity. The blanks has been standardized on mature women. Its applicability is therefore, limited. D] Kurdar Preference Record: It consist of 14 sets of ‘3’ choice items. There is no limits but the time required is usually about 40 minutes .Scores are classifiable into nine areas mechanical , computational, scientific , persuasive , artistic , literary, musical ,social service and the clerical .The Preference records has been shown to be reliable enough for counseling. MOTIVATION SCALE Motivation is of particular interest to educational psychologists because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields. Motivation in education can have several effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter. It can:  Direct behavior toward particular goals  Lead to increased effort and energy

 Increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities  Enhance cognitive processing  Determine what consequences are reinforcing  Lead to improved performance. Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates. If teachers decided to extrinsically reward productive student behaviors, they may find it difficult to extricate themselves from that path. Consequently, student dependency on extrinsic rewards represents one of the greatest detractors from their use in the classroom. Generally, motivation is conceptualized as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant. Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act a certain way because of factors external to him or her (like money or good grades).

Thematic Apperception Test The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective psychological test. Proponents of the technique assert that subjects' responses, in the narratives they make up about ambiguous pictures of people, reveal their underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world. Historically, the test has been among the most widely researched, taught, and used of such techniques. The TAT was developed during the 1930s by the American psychologist Henry A. Murray and lay psychoanalyst Christiana D. Morgan at the Harvard Clinic at Harvard University.Murray wanted to use a measure that would reveal information about the whole person but found the contemporary tests of his time lacking in this regard. Therefore, he created the TAT. The rationale behind the technique is that people tend to interpret ambiguous situations in accordance with their own past experiences and current motivations, which may be conscious or unconscious. Murray reasoned that by asking people to tell a story about a picture, their defenses to the examiner would be lowered as they would not realize the sensitive personal information they

were divulging by creating the story. Later, in the 1970s, the Human Potential Movement encouraged psychologists to use the TAT to help their clients understand themselves better and stimulate personal growth.