This study measured patient views about following tablet-taking and food-timing recommendations in Type 2 diabetes. Two new questionnaires were validated. Outpatients with Type 2 diabetes treated with sulphonylurea agents (n=131) completed the seven-item Diabetes Tablet Treatment Questionnaire (DTTQ) and nine-item Diabetes Food Timing Questionnaire (DFTQ). Mean glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) ...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to develop a revised version of the clinical critical thinking skills test (CCTS) and to subsequently validate its performance. METHODS This study is a secondary analysis of the CCTS. Data were obtained from a convenience sample of 284 college students in June 2011. Thirty items were analyzed using item response theory and test reliability was assessed. T...

INTRODUCTION The objectives of this study were to develop a functional outcome instrument for hip and knee osteoarthritis research (OA-FUNCTION-CAT) using item response theory (IRT) and computer adaptive test (CAT) methods and to assess its psychometric performance compared to the current standard in the field. METHODS We conducted an extensive literature review, focus groups, and cognitive t...

BACKGROUND An ongoing debate exists in the medical education literature regarding the potential benefits of pattern recognition (non-analytic reasoning), actively comparing and contrasting diagnostic options (analytic reasoning) or using a combination approach. Studies have not, however, explicitly explored faculty's thought processes while tackling clinical problems through the lens of dual pr...

The research described in this paper deals solely with the effect of the position of an item within a test on examinee's responding behavior at the item level. For simplicity's sake, this effect will be referred to as practice effect when the result is improved examinee performance and as fatigue effect when the result is poorer examinee performance. Item response theory item statistics were us...

BACKGROUND Adequate risk knowledge of patients is a prerequisite for shared decision making but few attempts have been made to develop assessment tools. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of young adults with an increasing number of partially effective immunotherapies and therefore a paradigmatic disease to study patient involvement. OBJECTIVE/METHODS Based on an item b...

With the implementation of competency based assessment within the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector the focus has been on valid and reliable assessments to ensure that there are consistent outcomes across training providers. Underpinning this has being the notion of providing assessment judgements within a dichotomous reporting framework; that is competent or not yet com...

We fit 10 PIRLS testlets with standard item response and testlet response theory model. The variances of testlet effects are examined and compared. Item parameters and ability parameters estimated from the two different models are compared. The results indicate that variances of testlet effects range from .168 to .489. Item parameters as well as ability parameter estimated from two approaches c...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to improve the quality of items on the Korean Nursing Licensing Examination by developing and evaluating case-based items that reflect integrated nursing knowledge. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional observational study to develop new case-based items. The methods for developing test items included expert workshops, brainstorming, and verification of ...