The Role of Anxiety in Examinee Preference for Self-Adapted Testing / Steven L. Wise and Others.

This study assessed whether providing examinees with a choice between computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and self-adaptive testing (SAT) affects test performance in comparison with being assigned a CAT or SAT, and evaluated variables influencing examinee choice of either test form. The relative influences of test type and test choice on examinee anxiety were also examined. Subjects were 244 undergraduate and 133 graduate students from a large midwestern university. Students were randomly assigned to SAT, CAT, and choice conditions for an algebra test. Test-related anxiety was assessed with a paper-and-pencil measure in pretests and posttests. It was found that, for students with high mathematics anxiety, providing a choice between CAT and SAT led to significantly higher mean proficiency estimates, lending support to the hypothesis that examinees can cope with a stressful situation more effectively if they feel that they have some control over the source of the stress. Expected differences in estimated proficiency and posttest state anxiety between CAT and SAT conditions were not found, but a strong relationship was seen between examinee test type choice and mathematics anxiety level. Higher anxiety examinees have a greater preference for the control provided by SAT. Six tables and two graphs summarize findings. (SLD)

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