Conditioning factors of test‐taking engagement in PIAAC: an exploratory IRT modelling approach considering person and item characteristics

Background The validity of inferences based on (average) test scores obtained from large-scale assessments depends heavily on test-takers’ engagement when taking the test, that is, the degree to which they were motivated to show what they actually know and can do, in other words, to deliver their maximum performance (Cronbach 1970). However, in Abstract Background: A potential problem of low-stakes large-scale assessments such as the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is low test-taking engagement. The present study pursued two goals in order to better understand conditioning factors of test-taking disengagement: First, a model-based approach was used to investigate whether item indicators of disengagement constitute a continuous latent person variable by domain. Second, the effects of person and item characteristics were jointly tested using explanatory item response models. Methods: Analyses were based on the Canadian sample of Round 1 of the PIAAC, with N = 26,683 participants completing test items in the domains of literacy, numeracy, and problem solving. Binary item disengagement indicators were created by means of item response time thresholds. Results: The results showed that disengagement indicators define a latent dimension by domain. Disengagement increased with lower educational attainment, lower cognitive skills, and when the test language was not the participant’s native language. Gender did not exert any effect on disengagement, while age had a positive effect for problem solving only. An item’s location in the second of two assessment modules was positively related to disengagement, as was item difficulty. The latter effect was negatively moderated by cognitive skill, suggesting that poor test-takers are especially likely to disengage with more difficult items. Conclusions: The negative effect of cognitive skill, the positive effect of item difficulty, and their negative interaction effect support the assumption that disengagement is the outcome of individual expectations about success (informed disengagement).