“Don’t Know About ‘I Don’t Know’ ”?: Handling Such Responses in Likert Scales

• In Event: IRT calibrations

Abstract

We examine different methods for scoring “I don’t know” (IDK) responses in Likert self-report measures of prior knowledge of a topic relevant to a scenario-based assessment. Our findings indicate IDK responses may be treated as missing or neutral responses though additional information is gained by accounting for IDK response tendencies.

Authors

• Teresa Ober, Educational Testing Service (ETS)

• Caitlin Tenison, Educational Testing Service

• Jesse R. Sparks, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICE