Quote:
Originally posted by Dakota
Quote:
Originally posted by David Emerling
Yet, I think it is a very poor question because it leaves too many things unclear to the test taker. That is the essence of a bad question - lack of clarity.
A good question should neither be a test in testmanship nor require the test taker to parse words and discern their hidden meaning. It should only test the understanding of the pertinent point.
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OK, David. Which points of hidden meaning, exactly, would have changed the ruling on this play? What is the pertinent point being tested, in your view, that is compromised by the "lack of clarity?" Remember, this was an ASA test - ASA rules only, please.
No matter how you flesh out this scenario, the ruling is the same. You may not like the ruling, or you may think it is unfair under some "fleshed out" scenarios, but the ruling itself is clear and unaffected.
Dead ball. BR out. R2 out. R1 scores.
If fact, as a test question, it is quite good, because it requires the test taker to consider various possibilities, due to the unstated details, but to always end up with the same ruling.
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I made no comment regarding an opinion of the ruling, bad or good. Others have. My OPINION is simply that the "pertinent point" could have been tested in a less convoluted manner. It strikes me as one of those questions you could get RIGHT for the WRONG reason.
Let me ask you this: WHY is the BR out? Because the ball was caught? Because it was an Infield Fly? Or, because he interfered?
You might say, "What difference does it make?" That's a good point if you are only concerned about whether the test taker gets the answer correct. But, since EVERY answer has the BR out and the ball dead, there is no opportunity to ferret out any misconceptions on the part of the test taker.
It *is* possible to get things right for the wrong reason. Is that what we want when creating a test?
I think WHAT the question is attempting to test is excellent! I just think they could have tested the same point in a less convoluted manner. Just an opinion. You're free to have yours. It's not something worth arguing about.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN
[Edited by David Emerling on Feb 26th, 2006 at 10:40 PM]