SEMINAR

ON
DIFFERENTIAL
SCALES &
QUESTION BANK
PREPARED BY,

ANITTA S KURIAKOSE

Ist YEAR MSc NURSING

GOVT COLLEGE OF NURSING

THRISSUR
QUESTION BANK
INTRODUCTION

The question bank makes available statistically sound questions of known technical worth
and model question papers and thus facilitates selection of proper question for a well
designed to question

DEFINITION:

A question bank is a planned library of test items designed to fulfill certain predetermined
purposes.

 ”An item bank is defined as an organized collection of test items that can be assessed for test
development  -Rudnen -

“An item bank or question bank is a collection of test items organized, classified and
catalogues the order to facilitate the construction of a variety of achievement and other types
of mental test.”   - B. H. Choppin -

Question bank should be prepared with at most care so as to cover the entire prescribed text.
Question bank should be exhaustive and cover entire content with different types. A
collection of questions prepared for a given subject and useful for and . They are often made
available on the internet.

CHARACTERISTICS OF QUESTION BANK

 Question bank should be based on sound ideas, purposes & adapted to the particular
objective of mind.
 Question bank should be within the range of the students experiences & knowledge.
 Question bank should present a challenged which stimulates an educative response in
keeping with the objectives.
 Question bank should contain only one ideas, a many faceted questions only confuse
the students, who usually answers but one phase and forget the remainder.

PURPOSES
 To improve the teaching learning process
 Through instructional efforts the pupil’s growth will be obtained
 To improve evaluation process
 A pool of test items can be used for formative and summative evaluation of the
pupil’s performance
 It  is a pool of readymade quality question is made available to teachers and
examiners. So that they may select appropriate questions to assess predetermined
objectives.
PRINCIPLES OF QUESTION BANK
 Spent adequate amount of time for developing the question
 Match the questions to the content
 Try to make the question valid, reliable, and balanced
 .Use a variety of testing methods 
 Write questions that tests skills other than recall
 While framing question it has to be ensured that they are unambiguous, simple in the
language and brief as far as possible.
 Each of the question should evaluate some specific content area or learning outcome.
 Their difficulty level should be appreciated to the group of learners being tested.
 Each question should be accompanied with some specific information
 All the objective items should be grouped in one section, while the short answer type
and essay type item should be in another section.
 In the section of objective type items having the same format, e.g. Yes/No type,
True/False type, multiple choice types etc should be grouped together.
 Item in each section should be arranged in order of their difficulty as far as possible.

QUESTION BANK DEVELOPMENT PROCEDURE 

Phase l-Collecting Questions / ltem 

Question collected from: 

 Existing question used by university '

 Board, of examination
 Individual teacher 
 Written by trained personnel 

Phase ll-Pre Validating the Question/ltems 

It include ‘
 Criteria of valid question
 ' Categorising question based on content being tested, type of question or according to
level of objective being tested.
 Specifying each question mark, time required to answer. 

Phase III-Post Validating the Question ltem 

 Tests of collected items are administered to sample population

 item analysis carried out for determining difficulty index and discriminating index
based on retained. rejected or modified.
 It also helps in determining effectiveness of distracter and poor distracter. 

Phase IV- Supplementlng the Operational Characteristics

Collected items are tried out under actual examination conditions to obtain operational
characterstics of questions or item

Phase V- Storing the question

Question item are published in the form of brochures, information.

DIFFERENTIAL SCALES

INTRODUCTION
In social research , scaling techniques are used to measure to attitude and behaviour. One can
make judgement about some characterstic of an individual and place him on which in
meaning for that characterstic.

DEFINITION :

A scale is a continuum from highest to lowest point has intermediate pointsin between these
two extremes. The scale points are related that the first point indicates a higher position med
the second, the second point is higher than the third point and so on.

The scaling technique consists of questionnaires where the score of individuals

responsesgives him a particular place on the scale.

Factors Influencing Scaling Phenomenon

The factors are logically interrelated and should be capable of continued measurement.

1. Reliability of the Scale

The methods used to test the reliability of the scale.

a) Retest method: The same scale can be applied twice to the samepopulation to achieve the
same objectives and if the two results are similar. The Scale is regarded reliable. The test
can be done on two at  groups also.

b) Multiple form : the same population is subjected to or more types of scales will be
administered , in case the results are more or less similar , the scales may be regarded as
reliable

c) Split-half method: The scale may be divided into two equal parts. Each part is taken as a
complete scale and measurement is made separately. The correlation between the two scores
obtained. If the degree of correlation is high, the scale may be regarded as reliable.

2.Validity of Scale

a) Logical validity: The scale must conform to common sense, reasoning and therefore is
partly subjective.

b) Known groups: The scale is applied to the known category of people, the result obtained is
compared with the known facts. If they are similar, the scale is considered to be valid.
 c) Opinion of jury: The opinion of many jurists who will not have bias will be considered,
if several jurists are of same opinion then it will be valid.

d)Independent methods: Independent criteria will be used to measure a thing and if the
results are similar, the scale is said to be valid.

Uses
 To utilize simultaneously a number of observations on a respondent
 Meaningful responses are logically arranged in the analysis of attitude and behaviour.

Difficulties in Scaling

 To assess directly the validity, it is not possible.

 Since human behaviour is flexible heterogeneous, unpredictable and variable a scale
can be applied to a particular group only and often there is a dichotomy between the
expressed attitude and overt action
 Social phenomena are complex and qualitative in nature.
 No universal recognized measuring rod.
 The intangibility of social phenomena is an obstacle to scale construction.
 The social phenomena cannot be experimented in a controlled way.

Thus the scale cannot measure all thecausative variables involved.

TYPES OF SCALES

1.Nominal Scale

Simple method: It consists of 2 or more named categories into which objects,

individuals, responses are classified. It is possible to distinguish 2 or more categories
relating to the specified attribute., e.g. Classification of individuals according to
religion.

2. Ordinal Scale

The order of position will be measured. The numbers are assigned to indicate only the
relative position. The ranks will be given to the individual along the specified
continuum. It does not measure the distance between the positions, e.g. ‘X’ is
regarded as more beautiful than ‘Y’; ‘X’ is greater than ‘Y’; but he cannot say by how
much.

3. Interval (Cardinal) Scale

It has equal units of measurement. Thus, it is possible to interpret not only the order of
scale scores, but also the distance between them.

4. Ratio Scale
One can compare both differences in score and the relative magnitude of score. It
incorporates the properties of an interval scale together with a fixed origin or zero
point., e.g. time, length, and weight.

Rating Scales (Directed Observation)

Rating is the assessment of a person by another person.

Definition

‘Rating is a term applied to expression of opinion or judgment regarding some

situation. object or character. Opinions are usually expressed on a scale of values’--
Barr and others.

‘Rating techniques are devices by which judgments may be qualified. A rating scale,
is a device by which the opinion concerning a trait can be systematised’.

Rate scale records how much or how well it happened.Quantitative and qualitative
terms will be used.

Eg :1. How good was the performance?

Excellent---------- Very good----------- Good-------------- Average------------ Poor

Eg :2. How many times you will discuss with your friend to take decisions?

Always----------------------------------Sometimes--------------------------------- Never

Assuming numerical positions to individuals so that variations in degree may be

ascertained. In preparing rating scale, the rater places the individual at a particular
point along a continuum, a numerical value is attached to the point.

Types of rating scales

1. Descriptive rating scale: Provide for each trait a list of descriptive phrases from
which the rater selects the one most applicable item being rated, selected usually by
means of a check mark.

2. Numerical rating scale: (Specific rating scale/ Specific category scaIe/itemised

rating scale).
The rater assigns a code numbers and approximate number to each trait of the person
being rated or to the descriptive phases. Arranged in order of the degree, level,
intensity or frequency with which they indicate possession or lack of occurrence of
each trait. The number of specifications depends on the nature of research problem.

3. Graphic rating scale :Descriptive phrases closely correspond to the numerical

points on the scale printed horizontally at various points from lowest to highest. The
 rater indicates the performer’s standing in respect to 'each trait by placing a check
mark at an appropriate point along the line. Here, the degree of each characteristic is
arranged so that the rater can make as fine distinctions as he wishes to make. This will
help the rater to indicate his own preference. It ensures fineness of scoring. By this
scale we can avoid vague, unlikely and extreme statements.

4. Comparative rating scale :The rater has clear knowledge of the activities of the
given groups or individuals. The positions on the rating scale are explicitly defined in
terms of a given population or group or in terms of people with known characteristics.
The rater may be asked to specify the comparative ability of a teacher with reference
to the teaching in a college.

Uses of Rating Scale

To evaluate skills, product outcomes, activities ,interests, attitudes and personnel
characteristics.

Advantages of Rating Scale

* Easy to administer and to score.

* Can be used for a large group of students.
* Wide range of application.
* Clarity of feedback to students.

Disadvantage of Rating Scale

Misuse can result In a consequent decrease in objectivity

Desirable Qualities of Rating Scales

Clarity.Variety.Simple, Relevance, Objectivity, Useful, Precision, Uniqueness.

Principles for Preparing Rating Scales

 lt directly relates to learning objectives.
 Needs to be confined to performance areas that can be observed
 Clearly define the specific trait or mode ofbehaviour. .
 The trait or behaviour should be readilyobservable, it should be observed in number
of situations
 Allow some space in the rating scale card for the rater to give supplementary remarks
 3 to 7 rating positions may need to be provided
 There should be provision to omit items, the teacher feels unqualified to judge
 Pooled ratings from more than one observer’s participation in instrument development
will make the scale more objective, clear valid and reliable.
 All raters should be oriented to the specific scale as well as the process of rating in
general.
 The rater should be unbiased and trained.
 Consider evaluation setting, feedback and student participation
 All raters should be aware that rating scales are open to errors resulting to subjective
judgments required of the observers. Errors may be due to leniency, contrast error and
halo effect, etc.
 Have expert and well-informed raters.
 Change the ends of the scale, so that the 'good’ is not always at the top or always at
the bottom.
  Assure the rater that his anonymity will be maintained.

Limitations for Rating Scales

 It is difficult or dangerous to fix up rating about many aspects of an individual.

 Halo effect in the judgment may take place.
 Chances like the rater may over estimate the qualities of a known person and
underestimate those of unknown persons.
 The rater does not want to make extreme judgment chances of subjective
evaluation; thus the scales may become unscientific andunreliable.

Rank Order Scale

It is a method of comparative and relative rating.

The rater is required to rank the individuals in relation to one another from highest tolowest.
SeIf-rating also can be done, useful in measuring the attitudes like intensity, importance,
liking and so on.

1. Paired Comparison

Two stimuli are presented before the judges, out of which the better one is to be selected. The
continuum is properly defined. It is rough and simple method.Eg ,Jobs suitable for ladies can
be determined.

The scale value also can be assessed by the number of preferences of all persons for a
particular trait is added and is divided by the number of people who are giving the
preferences. The scale values explained numerically.

2. Horowitz Method

Individual preferences and attitudes can be measured.Eg , it is applied a ranking scale for
testing racial prejudices. Pictures of blue, green, and red colours will be taken and given to
the students and were asked to indicate their preferences.

Attitude Scales
 These are used for measuring the social attitudes.
 Questionnaire is prepared, by the items in the questionnaire are the attitudes of
an individual towards a matter thing. and object or system and score will be
allotted tor each item.
 We will ask the individual to express his response towards an object or system,
on the basis of his responses, he is assigned a score which indicates the
position.
 Some relevant and indirect statements will also be used to reveal the attitude.
 The scale also specifies the crucial shades of opinions.

Types of Attitude Scales

1.Point Scale

Method-1
 Select the words which will give the opinion.
 The respondent is to cross-out every word i.e..more annoying than pleasing to
him.
 The attitude of a respondent is known by calculating the numbers of words
crossed or not crossed. The words selected should be suggestive of an attitude
and the opposite words should also be given at the same time.
 One point is given to each agreement or disagreement whichever is to be
chosen.

Difficulties in this method

 The words may not be dichotomous in nature.
 The neutral or confused opinions cannot be represented
 Adequate number of words expressing the same attitude may not be found.

Method-2

Two sets of words indicating both favourable and unfavourable opinions are
given. The unfavourable items may be crossed and favourable items may be left
unscored.

2. Differential Scale (LL Thurstone scale)

These scales are used to measure the social phenomenon.

The researcher will collect varied number of statements related to attitudes.

Judges will determine the positions on the scale. The position is determined by
the method of equal-appearing

intervals. Judges will work independently to classify these statements into 11

groups.

2. Differential Scale (LL Thurstone scale) These scales are used to measure the
social phenomenon.

The researcher will collect varied number of statements related to attitudes.

Judges will determine the positions on the scale. The position is determined by
the method of equal-appearing intervals. Judges will work independently to
classify these statements into 11 groups.
 Istgroup-Unfavourable statements to the specified issue (score-11)
2nd group-The next unfavourable statements and so on.
11th group-Favourable statements (score-1)
6th group-The point at which the attitude is neutral.

The scale value of a statement is computed as the ‘mean’ or ‘median’ position

to which it is assigned by the judges.

* Avoid ambiguous, vague and irrelevant statements.

* The evaluated statements that spread out evenly from one extreme to the
other.

At the same time of administration of the scale questionnaire, the respondents

are asked to check the statements with which they agree.
The scattered responses of an individual imply that the respondent has no
definite and organised attitude towards the phenomenon.

3. Summated (Likert) Scale

To measure the social attitude Likert type scale isused. It uses only the
definitely favourable and unfavourable statements. It excludes intermediate
opinions. It consists of a series of statements to which the respondent is to react.
The respondent indicates the degree of agreement or disagreement. Each
response is given a numerical score and the total score of a respondent is found
out by summing up his different scores for different purposes.
This total score indicates his position on the continuum.

The likert scale uses several degres of agreement or disagreement. Eg : ,

strongly approve , approve , undecided , disapprove or strongly disapprove.

The Method of Construction of a Likert TypeScale

 The researcher gathers a large number of statements which clearly indicate

favourable or unfavourable attitude towards the issue in question.
 The questionnaires consisting of the above five points with respect to a
statement are administered to the respondents who indicate their responses.
 The responses will imply various scores. The scores are consistently arranged
either from the highest to the lowest ,or from the lowest to the highest.
 By adding up the different scores of an individual, his total score is calculated
(i.e., summation of different scores for different statements).
 The researcher should identify the items ,which have a high discriminatory
power. The responses are interpreted to determine which of the statements
discriminate very clearly between high scores and low scores on the total scale.
It has to be ensured that the questionnaire is consistent.

Advantages of Likert Scale over the Thurstone Scale

a) The method of construction of Likert type scale is less cumbersome
 b) It supplies more precise and definite response towards an issue. The
intermediate vague points are absent

c) The Likert scale permits the revelation c several (five) degrees of

agreement c disagreement; but Thurstone scale is base on only two
alternative responses, i.¢ acceptance or rejection. Thus, Likert seal is more
informative and reliable than Thurstone scale.

d) In a Likert type scale, any item or stateme empirically consistent with the
statement may be included. In Thurstone scale, only the strictly related
items are included. Thus, Likert type scale has a broader area of reference
and has also a method of checking internal consistency which is
conspicuous by its absence in Thurstone scale.

Defects in Likert Type Scale

1.The judgment on the basis of total score, which is estimated by

calculating the mean or median, is not scientific. The total score values
may be the same in many cases, but the attitudes may be different towards
an issue.

2. The scores on the Likert type scale may be helpful for making an
ordering of the people, but such an ordering will not have any scientific
and objective basis.

3. There is no objective basis for expressing different degrees of agreement

or disagreement. However, despite some Iimitations, it remains an
important ordinal scale.

5 .Scalogram (Guttman) Method

Developed by Louis Guttman and first used as a part of of the classic
work on the American soldiers
This scale is also called as cumulative scaling or Guttman analysis

 A fixed format self report scale in which the items are arrange in a
cumulative order such that it is assumed that if respondents
endorses or answers correctly anyone items he /she will also
correctly answer all the other previous scale items.
 Items are ranked according to difficulty

Advantages Disadvantages
Measures for reproductability/scalability Difficult to construct

More one dimensional than likert scale Scalogram analysis may be too
restrictive , only a narrow universe
of content may be used
A single number carries complete Sensibility to error
information about the exact pattern of
responses to every item
Results no better than summated
likert scale

6. Q-sort Scaling Technique

The method is widely applied in the study of personality. The individual

can make a study of changes in his own image, or in his ideal person and so
on. The data yielded by the Q-sort can be summarized into a single score.
as in a summated scale, to yield a scale on ‘adjustment’. The adjustment
score of the control group can be compared with the therapists’ ratings of
the success of therapy, and the extent of agreement can be known. The
technigue can also be applied to the study of various types of socio-
economic attitudes.

7. Semantic Differential/Attitude Scale

It was developed Osgood,Suci and Tannenbaum. Its main objective is to

examine the meaning of certain concepts. The semantic differential makes
the measurement and comparison of various objects or concepts possible.
In order to form an attitude scale, what is required is to decide the
description of the issue to be evaluated, and to choose suitable adjective
pairs for it. A
respondents total score is the measure of his attitude. In a semantic
differential there is only one issue to evaluate.

Advantages :
- It identifies particularly favourable or objectionable aspects of multi
facetedisuesand concepts
- Provides an overall response scale score for the concept
- It is useful in situations with different age groups or cultures because
they are easy to construct
- It can be administered to more than one person at the same time

Disadvantages :
- Analysis can be complex
- This method is easy and fast to administer , but it is also sensitive to
small differences in attitude , highly versatile , reliable and generally
valid.
CONCLUSION
Question bank is a data-base of questions that can be shared between and
among courses , learning object repositories , and master courses. Question
banks are searchable , so that questions meeting specific criteria can be
drawn from them to create assessments. Rating scales arejudgements of
opinion and indicate the degree of amount .

REFERENCES

 Sankaranayan eta! (2003) LEARNING AND TEACHING

NURSING. I EDITION, Calicut Brainful publications page
no: 239-255.
 https://www.onlineexambuilder.com/features/what-is-a-
question-bank/item12524 
 https://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/What-is-
Question-Bank
 https://www.slideshare.net/AMRITAROY26/question-bank-
preparation-validation-amp-moderation-by-panel-amp-
utilization
 B.T. Basavanthappa 2003 'TEXT BOOK OF NURSING
EDUCATION l edition, New delhi .jaypee brothers
publications , page no 473 ,476, 537-539. 

 K.P. Neeraja (2003) ' TEXT BOOK OF NURSING

EDUCATION): ledition,NewDelhi jaypee brothers
publications page no: 419-426. Loretta.E. Heidgerken
(1997) 'TEACHING AND LEARNING IN SCHOOL OF
NURSING. 3 edition NewDelhi , Jaypee  brothers
publications,page no: 446 448