An experimental analysis of the contributions of speed and level in an intelligence test.

Baxter, Brent

doi:10.1037/h0061115

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…How much a test measures either power or speed would depend on how strict the time limits are. Evidence that speed may be differentiated from power can be found in Baxter (1941), Carroll (1993), Davidson and Carroll (1945), and Wilhelm and Schulze (2002).…”

Section: Latent Variables For Response Time and Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous and imposed speed of cognitive test responses

Boeck

Chen

Davison

2017

Brit J Math & Statis

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Based on data from a cognitive test presented in a condition with time constraints per item and a condition without time constraints, the effect of speed on accuracy is investigated. First, if the effect of imposed speed on accuracy is negative it can be explained by the speed-accuracy trade-off, and if it can be captured through the corresponding latent variables, then measurement invariance applies between a condition with and a condition without time constraints. The results do show a negative effect and a lack of measurement invariance. Second, the conditional accuracy function (CAF) is investigated in both conditions, with and without time constraints. The CAF shows an (item-dependent) negative conditional dependence between response time and response accuracy and thus a positive relationship between speed and accuracy, which implies that faster responses are more accurate. In sum, there seem to be two kinds of speed effects: a speed-accuracy trade-off effect induced by imposed speed and an opposite CAF effect associated with speed within conditions. The second effect is interpreted as stemming from a within-person variation of the cognitive capacity during the test which simultaneously favours or disfavours speed and accuracy.

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Section: Latent Variables For Response Time and Accuracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous and imposed speed of cognitive test responses

Boeck

Chen

Davison

2017

Brit J Math & Statis

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“…Such a theory appears to have been implicitly assumed by many test constructors of today, in spite of the fact that evidence has accumulated to render it generally untenable. It has been reported (Baxter, 1941;Davidson & Carroll, 1945) that scores obtained under time-limit conditions may differ in factor content from scores on the same test under no-time-limit conditions, portions attributable to speed and altitude or level (Crowder, Morrison & Demaree, 1954;Lord, 1956;Myers, 1952).…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…It is encouraging to find, therefore, that this so-called speed variance is not always simply an annoyance, but appears to hold considerable promise for adding to our understanding of behavior and improving the accuracy of predictions from test scores. Hints of the value of the speed variance introduced by time limits are found, for example, in reports that speed of performance is affected more adversely than level by age (Cattell, 1943;Miles, 1932;Miles, 1934) and by certain neurological disorders (Hebb, 1942); that certain psychoneurotic disorders show differential disability on speed measures (Himmelweit, 1946); and that speed measures add to the predictive validity of level alone for such criteria as college grades (Lord, 1956) and scores on intelligence tests (Baxter, 1941).…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

On Test Variance and the Dimensions of the Measurement Situation

Morrison

1960

Educational and Psychological Measurement

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“…At the latent level, correlations of greater than .90 have been reported (Preckel et al, 2011;Wilhelm & Schulze, 2002) and at the manifest level correlations of about .80 have been reported (Davison et al, 2012;Vernon, Nador, & Kantor, 1985). Interestingly, Kendall (1964) investigated the predictive validity of an intelligence test and showed that for testlevel time limits ranging from 15 to 30 minutes, not the most liberal time limit of 30 minutes but the medium limit of 22 minutes yielded the highest correlation with the criterion (see also Baxter, 1941). If test speededness (which should be standardized among test takers by item-level time limits) actually improves the desired predictive validity of a measure, it no longer represents a nuisance factor.…”

Section: Ability Itemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Ability, Speed, or Both? Challenges, Psychometric Solutions, and What Can Be Gained From Experimental Control

Goldhammer

2015

Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives

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The main challenge of ability tests relates to the difficulty of items, whereas speed tests demand that test takers complete very easy items quickly. This article proposes a conceptual framework to represent how performance depends on both between-person differences in speed and ability and the speed-ability compromise within persons. Related measurement challenges and psychometric models that have been proposed to deal with the challenges are discussed. It is argued that addressing individual differences in the speed-ability trade-off requires the control of item response times. In this way, response behavior can be captured exclusively with the response variable remedying problems in traditional measurement approaches.Keywords: ability, experimental control, item response modeling, response time modeling, speed, speed-ability trade-offIn their book on the measurement of intelligence, Thorndike, Bregman, Cobb, and Woodyard (1926) present a theorem, which says that "other things being equal, if intellect A can do at each level the same number of tasks as intellect B, but in a less time, intellect A is better." (p. 33). This statement illustrates that in any performance measure, both the result of interacting with an item and how long it took to reach the result need to be considered and that comparing individuals in one respect requires keeping the other aspect constant. Along these lines, Thorndike et al. (1926) proposed the concepts of level (i.e., ability) and speed, which are empirically defined by the produced products (item responses) and the time required to produce them (response times). In measurement literature, various concepts such as ability, level, and power have been used to refer to a disposition explaining individual differences in response accuracy (Gulliksen, 1950;Thorndike et al., 1926;Thurstone, 1937); for consistency reasons, only the term ability will be used in this paper. A wide range of approaches have been suggested to conceptualize and model

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An experimental analysis of the contributions of speed and level in an intelligence test.

Cited by 27 publications

References 2 publications

Spontaneous and imposed speed of cognitive test responses

Spontaneous and imposed speed of cognitive test responses

On Test Variance and the Dimensions of the Measurement Situation

Measuring Ability, Speed, or Both? Challenges, Psychometric Solutions, and What Can Be Gained From Experimental Control

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