Constructing Marketing Examinations That Are Reliable and Valid Measures of Student Performance

Abstract

Test construction in marketing is of ten a casual undertaking rather than a serious attempt to develop a reliable and valid indicator of student performance. This problem is exacerbated by educators’ reliance upon the test banks and computerized testing programs of ten accompanying marketing texts that typically do not address test construction issues. The authors of this paper propose a simple and systematic six-step procedure for test construction. This procedure is adapted from Churchill’s (1979) paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs. While the proposed procedure is initially time-consuming, its use will result in reliable, valid test instruments. Assuming there is no change in course objectives or performance evaluation measures, the resulting instrument can be utilized from one term to the next.