ABSTRACT

The study was aimed at applying item response theory in the development and validation of multiple choice test in economics in senior secondary schools in Abia State. Six research questions guided the study, as two null hypotheses were tested as 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the instrumentation design. The population of the study was 2049 which comprised 1049 males and 200 females from a total of 17 senior secondary schools. The sample of the study was 300 students which comprised 123 males and 177 females from a total of 10 secondary school selected for the study. The sampling technique adopted for the study was the multistage sampling technique, the first stage was the selection of 10 secondary schools, using the simple random sampling technique, while the non proportionate stratified sampling was used to select the number of students from each of the selected schools and simple random sampling was used to select the students. The instrument for data collection was economics achievement test (EMT) The instrument was subjected to face validity and content validity. The reliability coefficient was 0.68 which was determined using the kuder-richardson 21. The data was collected through the distribution of 300 copies of the economics achievement test to 300 students with the help of research assistants. The research questions 1, 2, 3, 4 where answered using the item analysis. While 5 and 6 were answered using the chi- square, the hypotheses was tested using BILOG-MG V3 of DIF MODEL COMPUTER programming. The findings of the study revealed that item difficulty, discrimination, distracter index and SEM were satisfactory, as the item fit the three parameter logistic model and the differential item functioning (DIF) effect were observed among thirty one item. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that psychometricians and test development experts should organize workshops to train teachers on test development based on IRT model for their students, and the examination bodies should be encouraged to adopt IRT in developing test items used in measuring students ability in economics.