Experimental validation of the half-length Force Concept Inventory

Abstract

In a recent study, the 30-question Force Concept Inventory (FCI) was theoretically split into two 14-question "half-length" tests (HFCIs) covering the same set of concepts and producing mean scores that can be equated to those of the original FCI. The HFCIs require less administration time and reduce testretest issues when different versions are used in pre-post testing. This study experimentally evaluates the practical validity and measurement uncertainty of the HFCIs with three different college student populations. Measured mean scores on each HFCI were within ∼3% of each other at every university. Measured mean score differences between the HFCI and FCI were also within ∼3%. These differences are less than the value of a single question on the 30-question FCI and are not statistically significant. The overall results suggest that, in conditions similar to this study, the HFCIs can be used as alternatives to the full-length FCI when total scores or score gains are the measurement goals.

Test equity in developing short version conceptual inventories: A case study on the Conceptual Survey of Electricity and Magnetism

“…Han et al were able to show that the HFCIs have similar assessment features and yield almost identical conversion mean scores compared to the full FCI with an overall uncertainty of less than 3%. Furthermore, a subsequent empirical study showed the mean score differences between any two of these three tests to be within ∼3% when actual data sets were used, again supporting the validity of equivalence among the full FCI and two HFCIs [22].…”

“…Motivated by the five common requirements of test equating, this work proposed a revised algorithm to develop and validate equivalent and short CIs, thereby addressing some of the weaknesses found in Han et al [16,22]. The new method was implemented to develop two short HCSEMs from the full CSEM.…”

Linking and comparing short and full-length concept inventories of electricity and magnetism using item response theory

“…For example, both the FCI and the FMCE are designed to assess students' understanding of introductory mechanics [15,16]. While shorter versions of the FCI are available [6,7], further research can be conducted to develop shorter versions of FMCE and link the FCI and FMCE using the shorter versions of FCI and FMCE. This endeavor is valuable when it is needed to compare students' performances on different CIs targeting similar content, which often occur in practice.…”

“…In Han et al's study, the algorithm for developing equivalent and short parallel CIs involves five steps: (i) classify the items from the original CI into categories based on content analysis; (ii) split the items into two short versions to minimize their differences in both content and difficulty; (iii) compare the assessment features of the short CIs and the original CI; (iv) establish linear regression models between the total scores of any two of the CIs; and (v) reexamine the score conversion model using a different sample [6]. Using the algorithm, Han et al developed two half-length versions of force concept inventory (FCI) and validated the assessment equivalence among the three versions of the FCI (two half-length tests and the original test) [6,7].…”

Personality types and student performance in an introductory physics course

“…Also included in the precourse assessment were the 14 questions from the first of two half-length FCI tests [19]. These two tests each take much less time to administer and are shown to be valid alternatives to the full FCI test instrument [20]. The postcourse assessment consisted only of the second half-length FCI test and was given to the students during the last week of the term.…”