Item Construction and Psychometric Models Appropriate for Constructed Responses

Constructed‐response formats are desired for measuring complex and dynamic response processes which require the examinee to understand the structures of problems and micro‐level cognitive tasks. These micro‐level tasks and their organized structures are usually unobservable. This study shows that elementary graph theory is useful for organizing these micro‐level tasks and for exploring their properties and relations. Moreover, this approach enables us to better understand macro‐level performances on test items. Then, an attempt to develop a general theory of item construction is described briefly and illustrated with the domains of fraction addition problems and adult literacy. Psychometric models appropriate for various scoring rubrics are discussed.