Item analysis:

Difficulty & Discrimination Index

Veronique, Josephine Hui Hong
 Item difficulty
• It is measured by calculating the percentage of
test-takers who answer the item correctly.
• Formula of item difficulty index (P value):
P=R/N X 100

Number of pupils who Total number of pupil

answered the item who answered
correctly
• Example:
– Total number of pupils who answered: 20
– Item 1: 12 correct answers

12
× 100 = 0.6
20
• The p value can take on any value between
0.00 and 1.00.
• The higher the difficulty index, the easier the
item is understood to be (Wood, 1960).
Interpretation of item difficulty
 Exercise
Items Correct Total Item difficulty
answers responses

1 15 30 0.5

2 6 30

3 18 30

4 24 30

5 12 30 0.4