Home: Iloilo City, Philippines
Languages: Tagalog (national language), Ilonggo (local dialect), English
Favorite book: 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey
Favorite musical group: Air Supply
Favorite TV channel: Discovery Channel
Favorite food: adobo, chicken with Philippine spices
Favorite place to be: 'in front of my computer'
Favorite place in the NL: Keukenhof
Best part about living in the NL: 'I learn a lot here about psychometrics'
Worst part about living in the NL: that it took one year to be able to bring his family here
Cheaters beware! In the Department of Educational Measurement and Data Analysis sits a research assistant and PhD student, Leonardo Sotaridona, specializing in cheating detection in examinations, under the tutelage of Prof. Wim van der Linden and Dr. Rob R. Meijer.
Sotaridona was recently awarded a Harold Gulliksen fellowship to work on psychometrics (i.e. the mathematical, especially statistical, design of psychological tests and measures). Part of the fellowship entailed a summer internship at ETS (Educational Testing Service) in Princeton, New Jersey, USA, where he spent the months of June and July. ETS is the 'world's largest private educational measurement organization and a leader in educational research', according to its website. The organization develops and administers 12 million tests (TOEFL, for example) in 200 different countries.
Sotaridona is interested in test security, specifically in statistical methods to detect cheating on exams. On paper and pencil tests, cheating is done primarily by copying answers; on computerized adaptive tests, cheating may come from prior knowledge when items that are frequently drawn from an item pool are memorized and then passed along to future test-takers. With paper and pencil tests, analysts begin with tips from a proctor who observed answer copying. Analysts then look into the history of the alleged cheater to see prior test scores. Next, they match wrong answers of the tests in question. Analysts may also conduct erasure analysis.
Part of the thrill of working at ETS this summer was a chance to switch from theoretical research to practical application by examining several cases of cheating on the SAT (Standard AchievementTest). Usually Sotaridona conducts simulated studies, but at the ETS Test Security Office, he studied 'cheating in action.' The internship also gave him the opportunity to continue his investigation into developing methods of cheating detection in non-multiple choice examinations, such as grid-in items on the SAT. Such exams are the latest in standardized testing. Sotaridona wants to be ready when cheaters begin challenging the system.
At ETS Sotaridona was impressed by the excellent resources: books, articles, case studies. He found the organization to be staffed with 'brilliant people' with 'wide experience' who 'can discuss outside their field of research.' They were helpful and friendly. He also benefited from weekly presentations given by specialists outside ETS.
What to do with expertise in cheating analysis? Sotaridona will in fact have many options when he finishes his PhD next year. ETS might seek to employ him. And, countries where advance psychometrics programs are virtually non-existent, such as his native Philippines, may one day demand his skills.
