Item Development

Rstudio

Installation

The interface

Rstudio basics

The R/exams package

Relevant Resources

Install R/exams

install.packages("exams", dependencies = TRUE)
library(exams)

R/Exams resources page here.

Procedure

Resource: Procedure item development in teams.

Go to project folder
Navigate to desired taxonomy level 1 folder
Create a new folder for each new item
Name your item following instruction
Check if items compile to HTML, PDF, etc.
Quality check

Naming instruction

[abbreviation institution]-[lowest taxonomy level for item]-[nummber ###]-[nl/en]

All in small caps.

example:

uva-regression-001-nl.Rmd

If available:

uva-regression-001-nl-graph01.jpg
uva-regression-001-nl-data01.sav

Multiple languages

When you have an item in multiple languages, you can place them in the same item folder and alter the file name.

uva-regression-001-en.Rmd

Item types

There are five item types available in R exams (Resource).

Multiple choice: extype: schoice (s: single)
Multiple answer: extype: mchoice (m: multiple)
Fill in the blank numbers: extype: num
Fill in the blank text/essay: extype: string
Combinations: extype: cloze

General item structur

Question
========

Solution
========

Meta-information
================
exname: 
extype: 
exsolution: 
exsection: 
exextra[]:

Multiple choice

Question
========

What is the average of the numbers 3, 5 and 7?

Answerlist
----------
* 4
* 5
* 6

Solution
========

The correct answer is 5.

Answerlist
----------
* You got it wrong
* Yes you got it
* This is the wrong answer

Meta-information
================
exname: Rekens som
extype: schoice
exsolution: 010
exsection: Descriptive statistics / Summary Statistics / Measures of Location/Mean
exextra[Type]: Calculation

Multiple answer

Question
========

Which are parametric tests?

Answerlist
----------
* t-test
* signed-rank test
* ANOVA

Solution
========

The correct answer the ANOVA test

Answerlist
----------
* True. t-test
* False. signed rank test
* True. ANOVA

Meta-information
================
exname: parametric
extype: mchoice
exsolution: 101
exsection: Inferential Statistics / Non-parametric Techniques / Signed Rank test
exextra[Type]: Conceptual, Test choice
exextra[Language]: English
exextra[Level]: Statistical Reasoning

Fill in the blank number

Question
========

What is the average of the numbers 3, 5 and 7?

Solution
========

The correct answer is 5.

Meta-information
================
exname: Rekens som
extype: num
exsolution: 5
extol: 0
exsection: Descriptive statistics / Summary Statistics / Measures of Location/Mean
exextra[Type]: Calculation

Fill in the blank text/essay

Question
========

What statistical test do you need to test the difference between two independent groups, assuming all parametric assumptions are met?

Solution
========

The correct answer is independent t-test

Meta-information
================
exname: TestSelectionTtest
extype: string
exsolution: "independent t-test"
exsection: Inferential Statistics / Parametric Techniques/t-test / Independent samples means
exextra[Type]: Test choice

Combinations

Question
========

Given are the following numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 

Answerlist
----------

* What is the sample mean? 
* What is the estimated population standard deviation?

Solution
========

Answerlist
----------

* The sample mean is 3.5.
* The estimated population standard deviation is 1.87.

Meta-information
================
exname: MeandAndSD
extype: cloze
exclozetype: num|num
exsolution: 3.5|1.870829
extol: 0.01
exextra[Type]: Calculate

Adding images or attachments

Adding image or files to your question.

Add the image or file (.png .jpg .sav etc.) to the same folder as your question.
Add the code below at the top of your .Rmd file.
Add ![](myImage.png) at location for image. Replace myImage with your own.
Add [Download](myFile.xls) at location for the download. Replace myFile with your own.

```{r, echo = FALSE, results = "hide"}
include_supplement("myImage.png", recursive = TRUE)
```

Adding meta information

Statistics taxonomy

You can add the taxonomy to the exsection attribute in the meta information.

Meta-information
================
exsection: Descriptive statistics/Summary Statistics/Measures of Spread/Standard Deviation, Inferential Statistics/Parametric Techniques/t-test/One sample mean

The taxonomy tree can be found here.
Multiple paths can be added by using a comma as seperator.
Only add path that is most specific for the question.
New lines are not allowed

Adding Tags

You can add tags to the exextra[] attribute in the meta information.

Meta-information
================
exextra[Type]: Calculation, Data manipulation
exextra[Program]: SPSS
exextra[Language]: English
exextra[Level]: Statistical Literacy

We have four categories that can be used tag tab.
Additional tags can be added. For example **G*Power** as a program. Though consult with your team leader first.
Multiple tags can be added by using a comma as seperator.
Type, Language and level are required. Only use Program when needed.
New lines are not allowed
level inherits the higher levels. So, statistical thinking implies Statistical Reasoning and Statistical Literacy.

Using R packages

If a question Rmd-file calls a function from an imported package, please ensure that it’s always clear from which particular package the function stems.

Ideally, you explicitly specify the source package for each call of an imported function. R has the double colon operator :: for this and the syntax looks as follows packages_name::function_name(..). For example, if you want to use the function kable() from the package knitr, please call knitr::kable(...). By the way: an import of the package is in this case not anymore required.

Alternatively, you could always import all required packages in the Rmd-file (e.g. library(knitr)) and simply call the functions by their name (e.g. kable(...)). This method is however slightly more error-prone, because packages required for other questions might use the same function name and might thus cause conflicts between different questions.

Compiling your item

Check output

You are required to check if the developed items properly work. Run the exams2html() function as a simple fast check to test your .Rmd file.

In addition run the following functions to check if the PDF is compiled correctly and if all the meta information is added properly. \(\LaTeX\) must be installed for the PDF function to work.

# install the develpment version to use browse_excersise()
install.packages("exams", repos = "http://R-Forge.R-project.org", dependencies = TRUE, type = "source")
library(exams)
exams2html(file = "")
exams:::browse_exercise(file = "")
exams2pdf(file = "")
exams2pandoc(file = "")