Presentation
Interrogating Gender DIF for GAMSAT Physics items
2nd International Selection in the Health Professions Conference
(2018)
Abstract
GAMSAT Section III assesses reasoning in the biological and physical sciences with items from biology, chemistry and physics contexts. Physics items are typically more difficult for females than for males. This trend may be a reflection of the different demographics of candidates from different academic backgrounds who sit the GAMSAT. Nonetheless, how is this imbalance treated technically by test-developers? This study interrogates gender DIF for physics items to determine whether the development, analysis, and ultimately selection of physics items for Section III is fair. This presentation outlines steps taken by test developers to minimise gender DIF at the item level.
Keywords
- Item bias,
- Gender differences,
- Physics,
- Test items,
- Difficulty level,
- Medical education,
- University entrance examinations
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2018
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Citation Information
Jacob Pearce and Luc T Le. "Interrogating Gender DIF for GAMSAT Physics items" 2nd International Selection in the Health Professions Conference (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/luc_le/35/