Matching Students To Their Preferred Testing Conditions: Improving the Validity of Cognitive Assessment

Abstract

The study was designed to investigate the extent to which college students of equivalent ability performed differentially on 3 x 3 fig- ural analogies administered under two elaborative testing condi tions : ( a,) Examinee verbalization regarding intraitem solution strat egies ; and ( a2) elaborated feedback given by the examiner regarding intraitem processes. As examinees who performed maximally under either internally structured mediation ( a1) or externally sturctured elaboration ( a2) had been identified, the study was designed to per mit evaluation of the changes in complex cognitive task perform ance which result from matching students to their preferred testing conditions. Ninety-six college undergraduates were given 12 items from the Advanced Progressive Matrices (Raven, 1962) under a1 condition and a second set of 12 items under a2 condition. Order of the testing conditions was counterbalanced. After an adjustment for differential ordering effects, examinees were identified who had per formed at a significantly higher level under each testing condition. The final set of 12 items was administered under the examinee's pre ferred condition. The results indicated that subjects who had dem onstrated a preferred testing condition did perform more effectively upon retesting than did a group of control subjects who had not dis played differential performance as a function of testing condition. No differences in performance were identified during the intial test ing session in which 12 items had been administered under a1 condi tion and 12 items had been given under a2 condition. Results are discussed with respect to the theoretical and practical implications of developing assessment prescriptions on the basis of individual dif ferences in information-processing capabilities.