A STUDY OF SPEEDEDNESS AS A SOURCE OF TEST BIAS1

Specially constructed "speeded" and "unspeeded" forms of a Reading Comprehension test were administered to both regular center and fee-free center LSAT candidates in an effort to determine: (1) if the test was more speeded for fee-free candidates, and (2) if reducing the amount of speededness was more beneficial to fee-free candidates. Results of the analyses show: (1) the test is somewhat more speeded for fee-free candidates than for regular candidates, (2) reducing the amount of speededness produces higher scores for both regular and fee-free center candidates, and (3) reducing speededness is not significantly more beneficial (in terms of increasing the number of items answered correctly) to fee-free than to regular center candidates. Lower KR-20 reliability was observed under speeded conditions in the fee-free sample. Standardized academic aptitude tests have been the subject of persistent criticism from members of certain minority groups who charge that such tests are unfair to members of their groups. Flaugher (1970) in a recent review of testing practices with respect to minority groups discussed three potential sources of unfairness which may be summarized as: (a) those having to do with test content; (b) the conditions or circumstances under which standardized tests are administered; and (c) the way in which test scores are actually used. Much recent research has centered on the third source of possible bias, with most researchers considering a test unbiased if the regression of the criterion scores on the test scores is the same for both groups. Thorndike (1971), however, has demonstrated that the use of a test that is unbiased by this definition can result in the screening out of a larger proportion of the minority group candidates than would be the case if the test were perfectly valid. Thorndike also points out that, ". .. one cannot appraise the 'fairness' of a test through its correlation with an 'unfair' criterion." It is this assumption of an unbiased criterion which may account for some of the conflicting results in test bias research. In academic admissions research the criterion against which test effectiveness is most often assessed is some form of earned grades. In the absence of specific knowledge about how much bias, if any, exists in the criterion, some criterion-free method may help to determine if a test is biased against one specific group. One reasonable approach is to (1) hypothesize what the specific biasing agent is (e.g., test length), (2) create a test which is relatively free of that biasing agent, and (3) administer both the "biased" test and the "unbiased" test to the groups of interest and assess the effects.