Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Connectionist Models To Evaluate Examinees’ Response Patterns To Achievement Tests, Mark J. Gierl, Ying Cui, Steve Hunka

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The attribute hierarchy method (AHM) applied to assessment engineering is described. It is a psychometric method for classifying examinees’ test item responses into a set of attribute mastery patterns associated with different components in a cognitive model of task performance. Attribute probabilities, computed using a neural network, can be estimated for each examinee thereby providing specific information about the examinee’s attribute-mastery level. The pattern recognition approach described in this study relies on an explicit cognitive model to produce the expected response patterns. The expected response patterns serve as the input to the neural network. The model also yields the cognitive …