• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2023

Purpose In this study, the monthly population distribution was calculated for statistical verification of 10 tests (CA19-9, CA15-3, testosterone, PTH, calcitonin, AFP, CEA, CA72-4, PSA, estradiol) with changed reagents, and the trend of change By comparing and analyzing the results, we want to verify the accuracy of the results and improve the reliability of the test. Materials and Methods From June 2021 to February 2023, for the 10 items in which the reagent was changed, the monthly percentage and standard deviation index before and after the reagent change were compared, respectively. At this time, the reference value was arbitrarily set for the comparison group in consideration of the reference value of the test item, and the groups were subdivided and compared, and the standard deviation index allowed range was -2.0 or more and 2.0 or less. Results For CA19-9, CA15-3, AFP, CEA, and calcitonin 5 test items, the change in monthly ratio in all test sections before and after the reagent change was kept constant. On the other hand, for CA72-4, PSA, testosterone, PTH, and estradiol items, the standard deviation index exceeded the acceptable standard after changing the reagent. CA72-4 test items showed an increasing trend in standard deviation index in the test section exceeding the reference value. In the case of the PSA test item, the maintenance ratio of 0.04 ng/mL was significantly decreased after changing the reagent. The testosterone test item had a standard deviation index of -2.5 in the test section exceeding 10.1 ng/mL after changing the reagent, and the standard deviation index of the PTH test item was out of the acceptable range in all test sections. It was confirmed that the estradiol test item showed an overall increase in the result value. Conclusion Through this study, the continuity and accuracy of the test results could be verified. It is considered that the stability of the test can be secured by analyzing the factors affecting the test result and solving the cause for the test item whose standard deviation index is out of the acceptable standard.

• English Language & Literature Teaching
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.171-195
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• 2012

While noticing that there is insufficient interest in the assessment of EFL learners' vocabulary levels or sizes, the researchers developed two tests identical in form (Forms A and B) to assess the lexical knowledge of Korean university learners at the $1^{st}{\sim}10^{th}$ 1,000 word bands by adapting a pre-established vocabulary levels test (VLT). Of equal concern was to investigate if the VLT was equally a valid and reliable instrument to be used on measuring the lexical knowledge of EFL learners. The participants were 804 university freshmen enrolled in a General Education English Course from four different colleges. The learners were asked to respond to either Form A or B. While scores generally fell towards the lower frequency bands, multiple regression found the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) to be a significant variable for predicting the learners' vocabulary sizes. From a methodological perspective, however, noticeable differences between Forms A and B could be found with item response theory analysis. The findings of the study provide suggestions on how future VLT for testing EFL learners may have to be redesigned.

• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.199-208
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Health-Related Hardiness Scale(HRHS) in a sample of Korean nursing students. The korean version of HRHS was administered to 234 nursing students including 135 college students and 99 university students. The Korean version of HRHS was measured on a 6 Likert scale, assessing three factors of HRHS : control, commitment, and challenge. Internal consistency was used to test the instrument's reliability. The internal consistency of the scale was measured using a coefficient alpha. The coefficient alpha was .69(control), .49(commitment). and .69(challenge), Item analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to test the instrument's construct validity. The item analysis identified that there were 13 items. which were lower than the .25 item-total correlation. CFA revealed that the scale's fadoral validity was not proper by showing unfit indices(RMSEA .07. stand, RMR .09. GFI .71). According to the findings of this study, the reliability and construct validity of the Korean version of HRHS is not satisfactory in the sample of nursing students. As a result. the researcher modified the scale through item analysis and repetitive CFA process, and proposed the revised 25-item Korean version of HRHS for nursing students. The revised scale's reliability(control .74, commitment .73. challenge .77) and factorial validity were within acceptable levels. The item analysis identified that there was no item, which is lower than the .25 item-total correlation. CFA revealed that the scale's factoral validity was proper by showing fit indices(RMSEA .08 stand. RMR .08. GFI .80).

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.131-138
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• 2012

A design of reliability qualification test based on performance distribution is developed. In general, the performance of an item degrades as the time goes by and the failure of an item occurs when the performance degradation reaches the pre-determined critical level. This article considers the reliability qualification test based on a more tightened critical value at the earlier stage to reduce the evaluation testing time and cost. A numerical example is provided to illustrate how to use the developed reliability qualification test.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.19-23
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• 2008

This paper presents a novel method to construct a personalized e-Learning system based on dynamic estimations of item parameters and learners' abilities, where the learning content objects are of the same intrinsic quality or homogeneously distributed and the estimations are carried out using IRT(Item Response Theory). The system dynamically connects the test and the corresponding learning procedures. Test results are directly applied to estimate examinee's ability and are used to modify the item parameters and the difficulties of learning content objects during the learning procedure is being operated. We define the learning unit 'Node' as an amount of learning objects operated so that new parameters can be re-estimated. There are various content objects in a Node and the parameters estimated at the end of current Node are directly applied to the next Node. We offer the most appropriate learning Node for a person's ability throughout the estimation processes of IRT. As a result, this scheme improves learning efficiency in web-base e-Learning environments offering the most appropriate learning objects and items to the individual students according to their estimated abilities. This scheme can be applied to any e-Learning subject having homogeneous learning objects and unidimensional test items. In order to construct the system, we present an operation scenario using the proposed system architecture with the essential databases and agents.

• Journal of the Korean School Mathematics Society
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2007

This study explored the possibility of building a statistical model predicting difficulty of mathematics test items through the analysis of nation-wide scholastic ability test results for the past 5 years. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted in predicting difficulty of mathematics test items. We adopted three major areas for independent variables: the content area, the behavior area, and the test item format area, each of which was categorized into more detailed sub-areas. For the dependent variable, the proportion of correct answer was used to represent the item difficulty. Statistically significant independent variables were included in the regression model based on the stepwise selection method. Several important factors affecting difficulty of mathematics test items for each area were identified. R-squares for the final regression model were fairly high, implying that the regression equation can be used to predict difficulty of test items at an acceptable level. Lastly, the regression model was cross-validated using independently collected data. We believe that this study will provide basic but very critical information for predicting the proportion of correct answer by showing the factors that should be considered for developing mathematics test items for the college entrance examination or high school classroom test.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.117-126
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• 2024

Background and Purpose: The Korean-Mini Mental State Examination, 2nd edition (K-MMSE~2) was recently released. This study aimed to determine whether the K-MMSE~2: Standard Version (K-MMSE~2:SV) had the same test characteristics as the K-MMSE. Methods: A total of 1,514 healthy community-based participants aged 19 to 90 years were administered the K-MMSE~2:SV Blue Form along with the language items from the K-MMSE. The item and test characteristics and test information for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE were compared using Item Response Theory analysis. Results: Item discriminations for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE were above the moderate range for all items except Recall. Most of the items on the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE had item category difficulty in the very easy or easy range. The test information curve (TIC) showed that the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE provide almost the same amount of information (27.86 vs. 28.44), with both tests providing the most information at an ability level of -1.57. The generalizability (G) coefficient for the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE was 0.99. Conclusions: These results indicate that the K-MMSE~2:SV and K-MMSE are equally optimal tests for screening for mild cognitive impairment and early dementia. Given that the amount of test information provided by the two tests was almost identical, the shapes of the TICs were very similar, and the G coefficient was close to 1, we can conclude that the K-MMSE and K-MMSE~2:SV are equivalent tests.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Health Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1426-1435
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• 2020

Objective: This study aims to develop CFT, a screening test for dementia that can be conducted on patients with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia. Methods: This study was conducted on therapists working at occupational therapy hospital in Gyeongsangnam-do. The data collection period is two months from July to September 2020, and the research participants were briefed on the purpose, significance, and anonymity of the research in consideration of ethical issues. A total of 33 copies of the data were finally analyzed, excluding those containing insufficient answers and errors, by distributing 40 copies of the data. SPSS Data Access pack 8.0 was used for data analysis, Cronbach's α value was evaluated for internal consistency reliability of each item, and Pearson Correlation coeffient between the lower scales of the assessment tool was measured. Results: The Cronbach's α value of the CFT was shown as .892 and the reliability of the assessment paper was shown to be quite high. The Cronbach's α value for each item in the cognitive assessment tool was the highest at .899 in the subtraction item, with exercise control (mook Chi Pa) at 888, visual memory, plus .887. The correlation of each item of cognitive assessment tools was found to be most correlated with the number of sustained concentrates and word2 to .934; in the stop word-numeric item and visual memory to be .85; and in the addition to the auditory memory item .739. Conclusion: Therefore, this study developed cognitive evaluation tools that can distinguish the diversity and cognitive level of screening tests and clarify standards, which are different from the existing dementia screening tools in Korea. Furthermore, the cognitive assessment tools of this study can be verified by applying them to patients with mild cognitive impairment and early dementia, and the criteria for generalization can be established.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.467-477
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• 2006

A multidimensionality detecting procedure DETECT, based on conditional covariances between items, is extended and refined to deal with polytomous item data as well as binary one. A large body of simulation study shows extraordinary performance of DETECT in both enumerating degrees of multidimensionality in a test and discovering dimensionally distinctive item clusters. Real data study also provides very meaningful results, making DETECT a strong dimensionality assessment tool for the test data analysis.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.106-114
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• 2019

Background: It is difficult to assess whether community-dwelling frail older adults may remain pre-frail status or improve into a robust state without being directly checked by health care professionals. The health information perceived by older adults is considered to be one of best sources of potential concerns in older adult population. An online measurement system combined with item response theory (IRT) and computer adaptive testing (CAT) methods is likely to become a realistic approach to remotely monitor physical activity status of frail older adults. Objects: This article suggests an approach to provide a precise and efficient means of measuring physical activity levels of community-dwelling frail older adults. Methods: Article reviews were reviewed and summarized. Results: In comparison to the classical test theory (CTT), the IRT method is empirically aimed to focus on the psychometric properties of individual test items in lieu of the test as a whole. These properties allow creating a large item pool that can capture the broad range of physical activity levels. The CAT method administers test items by an algorithm that select items matched to the physical activity levels of the older adults. Conclusion: An online measurement system combined with these two methods would allow adequate physical activity measurement that may be useful to remotely monitor the activity level of community-dwelling frail older adults.