A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Gauging Misclassification in Rapid Guessing Identification in a Fast-Paced Vocabulary Test
Authors: Holopainen, Santeri; Metsämuuronen, Jari; Laakso, Mikko-Jussi; Kujala, Janne
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Applied Measurement in Education
Journal name in source: Applied Measurement in Education
Volume: 38
Issue: 1
First page : 25
Last page: 42
ISSN: 0895-7347
eISSN: 1532-4818
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08957347.2025.2533124
Web address : https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08957347.2025.2533124
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499342798
In low-stakes testing, rapid-guessing behavior (RG) presents a significant challenge to the validity of test scores. This study investigates the misclassification produced by nine different response time (RT) threshold methods in identifying RG, using large-scale assessment data from a fast-paced vocabulary test and introducing choice reaction time (CRT) as a ground truth variable. Although the methods varied mostly in their ability to estimate thresholds at all and not in the misclassification rates nor in their nature, the results show significant misclassification rates across methods, ranging from .080 to .096 (Finnish speakers) and from .087 to .164 (non-Finnish speakers). All methods were more conservative than liberal, with false negatives outnumbering false positives. The findings emphasize the problem of the binary mind-set in RG identification, and suggest that there is a need for approaches that identify RG at the participant-by-item level in order to improve the accuracy of RG identification.
Downloadable publication This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |
Funding information in the publication:
The present study is part of the EDUCA Flagship funded by the Research Council of Finland [#358924, #358947] and the EDUCA-Doc Doctoral Education pilot funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture [Doctoral school pilot #VN/3137/2024-OKM-4].