Optimal detection of certain forms of inappropriate test scores

Optimal appropriateness indices, recently introduced by Levine and Drasgow (1984), provide the highest rates of detection of aberrant response patterns that can be obtained from item responses. In this article they are used to study three important problems in ap-propriateness measurement. First, the maximum detec-tion rates of two particular forms of aberrance are de-termined for a long unidimensional test. These detection rates are shown to be moderately high. Sec-ond, two versions of the standardized l0 appropriate-ness index are compared to optimal indices. At low false alarm rates, one standardized l0 index has detec-tion rates that are about 65 % as large as optimal for spuriously high (cheating) test scores. However, for the spuriously low scores expected from persons wit