The Effect of Scoring Instructions and Degree of Speededness on the Validity and Reliability of Multiple-Choice Tests1

In a recent study, Traub, Hambleton, and Singh (1969) compared the effects of two scoring instructions-one promising a small reward for omitted questions, the other threatening a small penalty for wrong answers-on the performance of a multiple-choice vocabulary test. It was found that the reward instruction produced fewer incorrect answers, more omitted questions, and, with one qualification, higher reliability than the penalty instruction. The qualification was that the difference in reliability coefficients for the two instructions was significant at the .05 level when the performance

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