Standard Error of Measurement |
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| Authors: | Leo M Harvill |
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| Institution: | Assistant Dean for Medical Education and a professor at the James H. Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614. His current research interests are test-taking ability, test anxiety, and clinical performance testing. |
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| Abstract: | The standard error of measurement (SEM) is the standard deviation of errors of measurement that are associated with test scores from a particular group of examinees. When used to calculate confidence bands around obtained test scores, it can be helpful in expressing the unreliability of individual test scores in an understandable way. Score bands can also be used to interpret intraindividual and interindividual score differences. Interpreters should be wary of over-interpretation when using approximations for correctly calculated score bands. It is recommended that SEMs at various score levels be used in calculating score bands rather than a single SEM value. |
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