Examining Differential Item Functioning of Biology Test Items in the Secondary School Certificate Examination

Abstract

The research was intended to examine test items through the option of differential item functioning. The questions in the test are the exercises that the learners will take in the course of the test. The importance of differentiation between items' functioning analysis is immense both in the national and international test development to verify the biased and unbiased items in the test. This study was beneficial in determining the validity of the test items and the data on the level of difference in the items functioning performance of the selected groups. It was a descriptive and quantitative paradigm. The data were compared through the Mantel-Haenszel. In the science subject, i.e., Biology of grade 10th, in the annual examination of BISE Sahiwal 2018, the test items based on polytomous items were helpful to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the tests of the target groups without similar traits. It was concluded that there is a need to develop the test items, which will be developed by the experts, so that the appropriate assessment can be conducted.

Keywords: DIF, Annual Examination, Mantel-Haenszel, Secondary School Certificate Examination, Biology Test Items