Gender differences in item performance and predictive validity on the DAT Quantitative Reasoning Test.

Abstract

This article reports on examination of the performance of males and females on individual items of a graduate admission mathematics test--i.e., the Quantitative Reasoning Test administered as part of the Dental Admission Test--and relates the results to success in dental school. Items that are differentially familiar to males and females were identified and used as independent predictors of success in the first year of dental school. There was no significant difference between male and female performance in dental schools and no significant difference in the predictive validity of items that "favor males" and those that "favor females." Furthermore, the items that "favor females" produce approximately equal raw score distributions for males and females without significant adjustments in the content specifications of the test and thus would not underpredict female performance in dental schools.