Enhancing Biochemistry Assessment Quality in Medical Education Through Item Response Theory (IRT)

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Biochemistry Assessment
• Psychometrics

Background:

• High-quality assessment in medical biochemistry is challenging, impacting accurate student ability evaluation.
• Classical Test Theory (CTT) has limitations in assessing Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs).
• Item Response Theory (IRT) offers a more robust framework for educational assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance assessment quality in medical biochemistry education using Item Response Theory (IRT).
• To address limitations of Classical Test Theory (CTT) in evaluating student abilities.
• To investigate the impact of IRT on Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) assessment effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-method approach combining quantitative analysis and qualitative Item Characteristic Curve (ICC) analysis.
• Comparative analysis of student scores before and after IRT implementation.
• Utilized routine biochemistry exam data from 89 medical students.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in assessment quality and student scores (average score increased from 56.1 to 74.1).
• IRT enabled more effective differentiation of students based on varying abilities.
• Increased person reliability and Wright Map visualizations identified difficult questions via ICC.

Conclusions:

• Item Response Theory (IRT) demonstrably improves the quality and equity of biochemistry assessments.
• IRT provides valuable insights into question performance and student ability gaps.
• Integration of IRT is recommended for standard practice in medical and biochemistry assessments.