Cognitive Load and the Design of Student Surveys

• In Event: Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: New Developments in Psychometrics, Measurement, and Assessment: Poster Session 1

Abstract

Across the country, teachers, school leaders, and district officials increasingly use student surveys as a measure of classroom climate and an additional measure of teacher effectiveness, often designing their own student surveys to be used by teachers. While research has been done on the effects of survey item design on cognitive load for adults, there are no similar findings for children. This proposal presents and exploratory analysis of the following research question: what is the relative efficiency of a 4-anchor Likert scale versus the 5-anchor Likert scale on student surveys for elementary students? To explore this question, this study presents a preliminary multilevel, multigroup rating scale model (RSM), comparing the information functions for each form to assess relative efficiency.

Author

• Grant Van Eaton, Teach For America, Inc.