RELATIONSHIPS AMONG MULTIPLE-CHOICE AND OPEN-ENDED ANALYTICAL QUESTIONS

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to explore relationships among existing item types and three new computer-administered item types for the analytical scale of the Graduate Record Examination General Test One new item type was an open-ended version of the current multiple-choice analytical reasoning item type. The other new item types had no counterparts on the existing test The computer tests were administered at four sites to a sample of students who had previously taken the GRE General Test. Scores from the regular GRE and the special computer administration were matched for a sample of 349 students. Factor analyses suggested that the new item types with no counterparts in the existing GRE were reliably assessing unique constructs but the open-ended analytical reasoning items were not measuring anything beyond what is measured by the current multiple-choice version of these items.