A researcher has developed an instrument to measure social anxiety.

This measure is called the

Social Anxiety Scale (SAS). The SAS consists of 15 rating scale items. The researcher has

developed two type of items, Dichotomous Scoring and Polytomous Scoring. For Dichotomous

Scoring, each having two score levels coded as 0 and 1. While, for Polytomous Scoring, each

having five score levels coded as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. To evaluate the properties of the SAS, the

researcher administered it to 30 individuals. The resulting data is contained in the SPSS and

Microsoft Excel data file. In that file, the 15 SAS items are labeled V1, V2…..., V15. There no

missing responses, so each respondent has a response to each of the 15 items of the SAS.

Descriptive Statistics
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
V1 30 0 1 .67 .479
V2 30 0 1 .57 .504
V3 30 0 1 .67 .479
V4 30 0 1 .80 .407
V5 30 0 1 .77 .430
V6 30 0 1 .73 .450
V7 30 0 1 .63 .490
V8 30 0 1 .70 .466
V9 30 0 1 .70 .466
V10 30 0 1 .63 .490
V11 30 0 4 1.97 1.474
V12 30 1 4 2.17 .874
V13 30 2 4 3.03 .414
V14 30 1 4 2.30 .794
V15 30 1 4 3.20 1.064
Valid N (listwise) 30

Table above is about descriptive statistics that researcher has developed in SPSS. The minimum and

maximum value of the observed scale ranges from 0 – 60 assigned to the anxiety continuum.
Examine the distribution of the SAS_Score for the sample of 30 respondents by creating a histogram in

SPSS. The resulting distribution looks like this:

The reliability of observed SAS_Score using Cronbach’s alpha. The resulting output looks like

this:

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
.172 15
Using the variance-based approach, a reliability of .172 means that 17.2% of the variance in

observed scores is attributable to true score variance. Cronbach’s alpha uses this approach in its

estimation, so this would be the most appropriate definition of reliability.

Using the CTT framework, obtain estimate of the difficulty of each item on the SAS.

The resulting output looks like this:

Item Statistics
Mean Std. Deviation N
V1 .67 .479 30
V2 .57 .504 30
V3 .67 .479 30
V4 .80 .407 30
V5 .77 .430 30
V6 .73 .450 30
V7 .63 .490 30
V8 .70 .466 30
V9 .70 .466 30
V10 .63 .490 30
V11 1.97 1.474 30
V12 2.17 .874 30
V13 3.03 .414 30
V14 2.30 .794 30
V15 3.20 1.064 30

Base on the table, there are several items that have highest difficulty. For Dichotomous Item,

Item 2 and Item 10 has the highest difficulty because it has the lowest mean of the other. For

Polytomous Item, Item 11 and Item 12 has the highest difficulty. From the questions we give

them, maybe some of these items may be difficult for them to answer. Not enough reviews or

maybe any interruptions that came during the test.

Next, some of this items also have the lowest difficulty. For Dichotomous Item, the lowest

difficulty are Item 4 and Item 5. Meanwhile, for Polytomous Item, the lowest difficulty are Item

13 and Item 14. The majority of students can answer it well because they master the topic or they

revise it before the exam.

Using the CTT framework, obtain estimates of the discrimination of each item on the SAS. The

resulting output looks like this:

Item-Total Statistics
Cronbach's
Scale Mean if Scale Variance Corrected Item- Alpha if Item
Item Deleted if Item Deleted Total Correlation Deleted
V1 18.87 7.775 .146 .132
V2 18.97 8.309 -.058 .196
V3 18.87 9.223 -.363 .281
V4 18.73 7.857 .163 .133
V5 18.77 8.116 .038 .166
V6 18.80 7.821 .148 .134
V7 18.90 7.679 .175 .122
V8 18.83 7.799 .146 .133
V9 18.83 8.557 -.139 .217
V10 18.90 7.886 .098 .147
V11 17.57 5.013 .184 .029
V12 17.37 7.344 .061 .155
V13 16.50 8.259 -.014 .180
V14 17.23 9.220 -.302 .327
V15 16.33 5.333 .393 -.118a
a. The value is negative due to a negative average covariance among items. This
violates reliability model assumptions. You may want to check item codings.

Table above show the item- total statistic and the researcher also found the item that have highest

and lowest discrimination. For Dichotomous Item, the highest discrimination is belonging to

Item 4 and Item 7. The majority of students can answer it well because maybe the items are very

easy to score. Lowest discriminations are Item 3 and Item 9. This item should be removed or

revised to ensure that everyone can respond properly.

For Polytomous Item, highest discrimination are Item 11 and Item 15 because of maybe in

subjective question. Researchers make it difficult for them to understand and make opinions

about what they know. Lowest discrimination are Item 13 and Item 14 because all of the items
are negative. This means that these items need to be removed or revised. Negative score is

strongly not recommended in any test.

The histogram below is the sum score of the Dichotomous Items and Polytomous Items

calculated by the researchers. It looks like this:

In conclusion, the score obtained by the researcher depends on the student because if the student

struggles to answer correctly, the statistic results will be good. No negative score or score near to

zero also will also be gone. All this depends on student emotions. If they are prepared to score

well, whatever the teacher gives them, they can answer correctly but the teacher also has to make

sure that the question that they make must not have any bias because if they want good statistics

to produce their records, they must ensure all their students can answer it well.