Introduction

Psychological and educational assessments today come in many forms: they vary on the basis of the item type or types that are included, the physical means by which items are presented to test-takers and responses are supplied, and the manner in which items and test forms are assembled. In this way, the format of an assessment is the end result of numerous psychometric and practical considerations about the nature of the ability being evaluated and the appropriate and the most feasible ways to gather such information. By separating formats for assessment into several component parts, the layers of decisions that must be made in the process of test creation emerge and the full range of possibilities for test creation and use likewise become more readily ...