Unconscious Biasing of Student Examination Scores: A Case of Sequential versus Random Information Retrieval

Abstract

Crowded sections of certain marketing classes necessitate use of multiple versions of objective exams which vary in test question sequences. The current experiment examines the effect of question sequencing on exam performance as it relates to memory factors. Question sequencing is found to affect exam performance, and a method is suggested to avoid exam inequivalency and to eliminate possible unconscious biasing of student grades.

Item order and speededness: implications for test fairness in higher educational high-stakes testing

“…Overall, however, the literature is inconclusive regarding the relation between item orderings and test difficulty: Leary and Dorans (1985) report contradicting findings; a meta analysis by Aamodt and McShane (1992) reports small but significant effects; some more recent studies find no effects (Chidomere, 1989;Davis, 2017;Neely et al, 1994;Perlini et al, 1998;Vander Schee, 2013) while other recent studies do find difficulty differences across different item orderings (Chen, 2012;Pettit et al, 1986;Russell et al, 2003;Togo, 2002).…”

“…For instance, the role of test anxiety, either as a moderator (if test anxiety is viewed as a trait, Chen, 2012) or a mediator (if test anxiety is viewed as a state, McKeachie et al, 1955) has been investigated. Further, the impact of topically ordered items on ease of memory retrieval has been studied (Pettit et al, 1986;Togo, 2002). In this paper, however, we focus on the role of test speededness.…”

Journal of Marketing Education: A Retrospective Overview Between 1979 and 2019

“…The articles have received only six citations, while their influence, impact, and activity are quantified at 2 each. As Table 7 shows, both Chidomere (1989) and Pettit et al (1986) discussed objective exams, with no reported works since these publications. What this suggests is, of course, not that objective examinations have disappeared from marketing education but rather simply that there is little theoretical exploration left, if at all, in this area for JMED .…”