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Relationships Among Multiple-Choice Reasoning Items and a Constructed-Response Generating-Explanations Task CAT GRE GREB

Author(s):
Enright, Mary K.; Rock, Donald A.; Bennett, Randy Elliot
Publication Year:
1998
Report Number:
RR-98-41
Source:
ETS Research Report
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
44
Subject/Key Words:
Graduate Record Examinations Board, Multiple Choice Items, Constructed Response, Computer Assisted Testing, GRE Computer Adaptive Test, General Test (GRE)

Abstract

The generating-explanations task was only marginally related to the GRE measures and to the revised reasoning items and was more strongly related to ideational fluency measures. Factor analytic results suggest that if the revised reasoning items were added to the analytical measure, the correlation between the verbal measure and the analytical measure would increase. A better fitting factor model resulted when some of the current and the revised reasoning items were included in the verbal measure. The relationship of the generating-explanations task and the analytical measure to other indicators of achievement varied for type of achievement and for broad major undergraduate fields of study. The implications of these results for understanding the nature of the skills assessed by different tasks and formats, and for long-term modifications in the GRE General Test, are discussed.

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