"Flow" as a Testing Ideal

"In our studies, we found that every flow activity... provides a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality." (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper & Row, 1990 p.74)

Csikszentmihalyi describes how human activities often comprise two opposing components, which, in the Diagram are characterized as Challenges and Skills. So long as the level of challenge facing the player of a game is in rough accord with the level of the player's skill, then the player will experience a "sense of discovery", or even a "previously undreamed-of state of consciousness" - that is flow. But as the player's skill increases, the player will grow bored. Or when the challenge of the game increases too far beyond the player's skill, frustration will set in. Both boredom and frustration inhibit the flow experience. The motivation towards enjoyment provokes one to desire to balance challenge with skill, and so to induce flow.

Tailored testing can take advantage of the phenomenon of flow to make the testing experience pleasurable and to improve individual performance. Well-targeted items will make the testing situation less irksome, perhaps even enjoyable! Targeting removes items that are too hard, so inducing anxiety, and those that are too easy, so inducing boredom. Psychometrically, the better the match between the item's difficulty and the test-taker's ability, the greater the likelihood that the situation will produce accurate measures. After a test that successfully matches item difficulties with test-taker ability, test-takers can leave feeling content that their optimum performance levels have been demonstrated, and test constructors can count on accurate measures. A flow experience for all!

Craig Deville

Flow as a testing ideal. Deville C. Rasch Measurement Transactions 1993 7:3 p.308


Flow as a testing ideal. Deville C. … Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1993, 7:3 p.308



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Rasch Measurement Transactions & Rasch Measurement research papers - free An Introduction to the Rasch Model with Examples in R (eRm, etc.), Debelak, Strobl, Zeigenfuse Rasch Measurement Theory Analysis in R, Wind, Hua Applying the Rasch Model in Social Sciences Using R, Lamprianou El modelo métrico de Rasch: Fundamentación, implementación e interpretación de la medida en ciencias sociales (Spanish Edition), Manuel González-Montesinos M.
Rasch Models: Foundations, Recent Developments, and Applications, Fischer & Molenaar Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests, Georg Rasch Rasch Models for Measurement, David Andrich Constructing Measures, Mark Wilson Best Test Design - free, Wright & Stone
Rating Scale Analysis - free, Wright & Masters
Virtual Standard Setting: Setting Cut Scores, Charalambos Kollias Diseño de Mejores Pruebas - free, Spanish Best Test Design A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory, Andrich, Marais Rasch Models in Health, Christensen, Kreiner, Mesba Multivariate and Mixture Distribution Rasch Models, von Davier, Carstensen
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Introduction to Many-Facet Rasch Measurement (Facets), Thomas Eckes Rasch Models for Solving Measurement Problems (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Jue Wang Statistical Analyses for Language Testers (Facets), Rita Green Invariant Measurement with Raters and Rating Scales: Rasch Models for Rater-Mediated Assessments (Facets), George Engelhard, Jr. & Stefanie Wind Aplicação do Modelo de Rasch (Português), de Bond, Trevor G., Fox, Christine M
Exploring Rating Scale Functioning for Survey Research (R, Facets), Stefanie Wind Rasch Measurement: Applications, Khine Winsteps Tutorials - free
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