Using Verbal Protocol Analysis to Detect Test Bias

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: Assessment of Learning and Cognition

Abstract

The current study applies Ericsson & Simon’s (1993) think aloud technique to examine test and rater bias on a teacher rating scale of student behavior. Teachers viewed videos of child actors hired to participate in a mock classroom while behaving in very specific ways for exact periods of time. Actors were purposefully selected to vary by minority status and sex to allow for comparison of ratings and of teacher inferences about behavior when students of different races/sex behaved similarly. Results address findings both of test bias and rater bias, and also discuss potential application of the method to other assessments.

Authors

• Megan E. Welsh, University of California - Davis

• Sandra M. Chafouleas, University of Connecticut

• Gregory Fabiano

• T. Chris Riley-Tillman, University of Missouri - Columbia