Several years ago, we introduced the idea of item response curves (IRC), a simplistic form of item response theory (IRT), to the physics education research community as a way to examine item performance on diagnostic instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). We noted that a full-blown analysis using IRT would be a next logical step, which several authors have since taken. In this paper, we show that our simple approach not only yields similar conclusions in the analysis of the performance of items on the FCI to the more sophisticated and complex IRT analyses but also permits additional insights by characterizing both the correct and incorrect answer choices. Our IRC approach can be applied to a variety of multiple-choice assessments but, as applied to a carefully designed instrument such as the FCI, allows us to probe student understanding as a function of ability level through an examination of each answer choice. We imagine that physics teachers could use IRC analysis to identify prominent misconceptions and tailor their instruction to combat those misconceptions, fulfilling the FCI authors’ original intentions for its use. Furthermore, the IRC analysis can assist test designers to improve their assessments by identifying nonfunctioning distractors that can be replaced with distractors attractive to students at various ability levels.
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September 2012
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September 01 2012
An item response curves analysis of the Force Concept Inventory
Gary A. Morris;
Gary A. Morris
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Valparaiso University
, Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
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Nathan Harshman;
Nathan Harshman
Department of Physics,
American University
, Washington, DC 20016
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Lee Branum-Martin;
Lee Branum-Martin
Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston
, Houston, Texas 77204
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Eric Mazur;
Eric Mazur
Department of Physics,
Harvard University
, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
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Taha Mzoughi;
Taha Mzoughi
Department of Biology and Physics,
Kennesaw State University
, Kennesaw, Georgia 30144
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Stephen D. Baker
Stephen D. Baker
Department of Physics and Astronomy,
Rice University
, Houston, Texas 77005
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Am. J. Phys. 80, 825–831 (2012)
Article history
Received:
November 30 2011
Accepted:
June 13 2012
Connected Content
A correction has been published:
Erratum: “An item response curves analysis of the force concept inventory” [Am. J. Phys. 80, 825–831 (2012)]
Citation
Gary A. Morris, Nathan Harshman, Lee Branum-Martin, Eric Mazur, Taha Mzoughi, Stephen D. Baker; An item response curves analysis of the Force Concept Inventory. Am. J. Phys. 1 September 2012; 80 (9): 825–831. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4731618
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