Self Assessment Computer Analyzed Testing (SACAT)
SACAT is an update/replacement for the common multiple choice test which allows test-takers to indicate their doubt or certainty ;of their answer. A computerized analysis of the answers and the self assessment responses (a) identifies material about which a test taker is well informed or is misinformed and ;which may produce errors in performance, (b) helps reduce gender bias, (c) motivates students and (d) provides an index of how well the ;material will be remembered.
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hpeinc@zianet.com
505-524-4588
Clients composes test items and administers test using special SACAT answer sheets on which test-takers indicate their certainty and HPE provides the computerized scoring service. The completed paper-and-pencil answer sheets are sent, e.g., FedEx, overnight and we email results by noon the following day.
Additional Product Information
Common multiple choice tests of achievement or knowledge, in which it is determined whether a person can answer questions correctly, have several unacceptable flaws. The most important flaw is that they allow a person's misinformation, i.e., sure-but- wrong answers, to remain concealed and, thus, uncorrected. A wrong answer is interpreted simply to man that the person is uninformed and has not yet learned the correct answer. However, the situation may be worse than this. The person may be misinformed and strongly believe that the wrong anwer which he or she selected is correct. Such misinformation not only leads to poor, sometimes dangerous, decisions and errors in performance but also is counter productive as a foundation for more advanced learning.
Secondly, the common multiple choice test cannot distinguish between a test taker who answers correctly but is very unsure of it and has guessed - and a person who is correct and is extremely sure of its correctness. Thus we are encouraged to guess at the answer hoping that we may select the corrct answer and undeservedly get credit for knowing it. There are even special books and classes to instruct us how to get correct answers without really knowing the material - which, of course, defeats the purpose of the test.
BEING CORRECT IS NOT ENOUGH. It is erroneous and misleading to conclude that a person knows or does not know something based only upon whether the answer is correct or wrong. SACAT remedies these problems by (1) utilizing the person's certainty as an essential element in defining a person's knowledge and (2) employing a method of testing, scoring and interpreting the test results based on this redefinition. The idea that a person's certainty is an essential part of knowledge is not new. Over 2,000 years ago Aristotle said, "The proud man ... claims what is in accordance with his merits, while others go to excess or fall short. He who things himself worthy of great things, being unworthy of them, is vain."
For many reasons (such as detecting misinformation, dealing with guessing, providing instructional guidance, reducing gender bias, producing an index of retention, and motivating students), it is useful to define the concept of personal knowledge as a (justified) belief which is correct and about which the person is certain of its correctness. SACAT employs this redefinition of knowledge (as a correct and certain belief) by allowing test takers to indicate "how sure" they are that each answer they select is correct. A scanner-computer analysis of the answers and SA responses, calculates a Percentage Self Assessment (%SA) score which provides an overall index of the accuracy with which the test takers assess the correctness of their own answers.
The number of points gained (if the answer is correct) or lost (if incorrect) depends on "how sure" the person is. The relationship between the number of points gained or lost and the person's certainty is designed with the aim that the test taker will obtain the highest score only by estimating the certainty as accurately and truthfully as possible. Being "vain, i.e., over-estimating one's certainty will lead, when the answer is wrong, to losing more points than they would had they answered truthfully. And being "humble", i.e.,under assessing one's certainty will lead, when the answer is correct, to not gaining as many points as one deserves. The perfect SACAT scores are 100% Correct, 100% SA score, 100% Sure-and-Correct --- and 0% for the other scores.
HPE provides a scoring service for clients for rapidly delivery of the test results. We also license our method to testing companies to incorporate SACAT methodology into their testing systems. The design details of SACAT are based on a 20-year research program.