HOW THE ORDER OF THE ITEMS IN A BOOKLET AFFECTS ITEM FUNCTIONING: EMPRICAL FINDINGS FROM COURSE LEVEL DATA?

In many test applications, from larger to smaller scale, items could be given in different booklets with different ordering. Differing the place of items may cause items to function differently. The effect of item order is defined as the interaction between response of a test taker on any item and the order of the item on the test. When earlier studies examined, it can be seen that the item order effect shouldn’t not be ignored. In this study, it was aimed to examine whether items included in graduate level Measurement and Evaluation test showed DIF between different booklets. Booklet effect was investigated by a series of differential item functioning (DIF) detection methods and analysis were carried out using R program. The data collected with 25 multiple-choice item test. The test covers the curriculum of the undergraduate level Measurement and Evaluation course. The results showed that that the order of the item is effective on DIF for some items. The sequence of curriculum was followed on one booklet while, it is not the case for the second booklet. It was concluded that, item location may affect the probability of respondents to correctly answer to items