APPLICATION OF RASCH MEASUREMENT MODEL TO VALIDATE ECONOMICS PLACEMENT TEST FOR NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

This research presents a Rasch Measurement Model approach in validating the Economics Placement Test (EPT) to assess prospective undergraduates’ Economics knowledge and skills for admission into undergraduate programmes of Nigerian Universities. Cross-Sectional Survey Design was adopted in this study which was characterized by an initial phase and then followed by a main phase. At the initial stage the National Economics Curriculum and Assessment Procedures were reviewed by 10 experts to develop the 60 items instrument. The 60 items EPT, with response options and keys were developed following the review of documents with the assistant of experts’ panel. In main phase, the EPT was administered to 600 prospective university applicants age 16–20. The Rasch Model was employed to analyze the data using WINSTEPS 3.72.3 software. In the analysis phase, good psychometric properties were obtained. Person and item reliability were adequate indicating an excellent reliability. The test satisfies Rasch assumption of unidimensionality. Item-person map shows that the test covered a range of the students’ abilities. Nevertheless, some defective items that are construct irrelevant were removed to produce the final version of EPT. The items satisfy the Rasch model fit, an evidence of construct validity. Thus, the EPT is valid and reliable to be used for measuring students Economics ability, hence providing true picture of students to be enroll into the undergraduate programmes of Nigerian universities.