APPLICATION OF ITEM RESPONSE THEORY IN THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST IN ECONOMICS

ABSTRACT
The study applied item response theory in the development and validation of multiple -choice test in Economics. Instrumentation research design was used for the study. A sample of 1005 Economics senior secondary school II students was randomly selected from 46 government co-education schools. To guide this study, six research questions were posed and two hypotheses were formulated. The Economics Multiple choice test items numbering 50 developed by the researcher were used for data collection. To ensure the validity of the instrument, the instrument was subjected to face and content validation by three experts, two from the department of science education and one from Economics department. The reliability index of 0.89 was obtained. The data generated from the study were analyzed using maximum likelihood estimation technique of BILOG-MG computer programming. The analysis of the data revealed that 50 test items of Economics survived therefore, the final instrument developed for assessing students? ability in Economics contained 50 items with the appropriate indices. The result of the study showed that 49 items of the multiple choice question in Economics were reliable based on three parameter model (3pl) model. The findings also showed that thirty one (31) items of the Economics multiple-choice test in Economics were difficult. The findings further revealed that items functions differential in Economics among male and female students. Based on the findings, recommendations.