An examination of the openpsychometrics.org vocabulary test
OpenPsych , July 5, 2021, ISSN: 2597-324X
We examined data from the popular free online 45-item “Vocabulary IQ Test” from https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/VIQT/. We used data from native English speakers (n = 9,278). Item response theory analysis (IRT) showed that most items had substantial g-loadings (mean = .59, sd = .22), but that some were problematic (4 items being lower than .25). Nevertheless, we find that using the site’s scoring rules (that include penalty for incorrect answers) give results that correlate very strongly (r = .92) with IRT-derived scores. This is also true when using nominal IRT. The empirical reliability was estimated to be about .90. Median test completion time was 9 minutes (median absolute deviation = 3.5) and was mostly unrelated to the score obtained (r = -.02). The test scores correlated well with self-reported criterion variables educational attainment (r = .44) and age (r = .40). To examine the test for measurement bias, we employed both Jensen’s method and differential item functioning (DIF) testing. With Jensen’s method, we see strong associations with education (r = .89) and age (r = .88), and less so for sex (r = .32). With differential item functioning, we only tested the sex difference for bias. We find that some items display moderate biases in favor of one sex (13 items had pbonferroni < .05 evidence of bias). However, the item pool contains roughly even numbers of male-favored and female-favored items, so the test level bias is negligible (|d| < 0.05). Overall, the test seems mostly well-constructed, and recommended for use with native English speakers.
