title: Using the Nudge and Shove Methods to Adjust Item Difficulty Values.
abstract: In any examination, it is important that a sufficient mix of items with varying degrees of difficulty be present to produce desirable psychometric properties and increase instructors' ability to make appropriate and accurate inferences about what a student knows and/or can do. The purpose of this "teaching tip" is to demonstrate how examination items can be affected by the quality of distractors, and to present a simple method for adjusting items to meet difficulty specifications.
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Royal
mesh_terms: D004520:Education, Veterinary; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D013334:Students; D013663:Teaching
keywords: assessment; educational methods; outcomes; psychometrics; testing