Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

The value of good examinations cannot be undermined. Any reputable

institution—public or private, business or educational—requires all entrants to

pass a standard examination (Bermundo, 2007). However, there must also be

an effort to test for more complex levels of understanding, with care taken to

avoid over-sampling items that assess only basic levels of knowledge (Martin,

2011). After instructors have written a set of test items, following the rules,

they do not know if the items will show which students have mastered the

topic of instruction and which have not. The items must be tried out on the

students before the instructor can determine how well each item works

(Jacob–Chase, 2009). And so, these precondition shows that preparing good

examination questions requires a great deal of thinking and preparation on

the part of the an individual doing the task and there must be a match

between what is being taught and what is being assessed.

Thus, item analysis can be a powerful technique available to teaching

professionals and instructors for the guidance and improvement of

instructions that enables instructors to increase their test construction skills,

identify specific areas of course content which need greater emphasis or

clarity, and improve other classroom practices (Shakil, 2008). According to

the Professional Testing Incorporated (2006) that item analysis is an

important phase in the development of an exam program. In this phase

statistical methods are used to identify any test items that are not working

well. If an item is too easy, too difficult, failing to show a difference between

skilled and unskilled examinees, or even scored incorrectly, an item analysis

will reveal it.

In addition item analysis serves to improve items to be used later in

other tests, to eliminate ambiguous or misleading items in a single test

administration, to increase instructors' skills in test construction, and to

identify specific areas of course content which need greater emphasis or

clarity (University of Washington, 2010).And also, item analysis is a method

of gauging the quality of an examination by looking at its constituent parts. It

seeks to give some idea of how well examination has performed relative to its

purposes. The primary purpose of most examination is that of a

measurement tool, for assessing the achievements of the examination

candidates and thus how future learning can be supported and directed. It is

important for an educator to have an understanding of item analysis – its

method, assumptions, uses and limitations in order that examinations can be

assessed and improved. (McAlpine, 2010)

Furthermore, teacher gives test to the learners to determine if the

level of understanding achieved the specific learning task. Learners’

achievements or performance can be determined through assessment of test

results or when the raw scores are evaluated with the use of statistical

techniques to arrive at meaningful results (Calmorin, 2011). In education, the

use of statistics can cover much of the whole process of teaching and

learning. It is relevant to make broad mention of the use of statistics,

particularly in an inquiry-directed or outcomes-based learning (Santos-

Navarro, 2012)

On the other hand, multiple-choice test is regarded as one of the best

test forms in testing outcomes. This test form is most valuable and widely

used in standardized test due to its flexibility and objectivity in terms of

scoring. This test is made up of items which consists of three which or more

plausible options for each item. The choices are multiple so that examinees

may choose only one correct answer or best option for each item (Calmorin,

2011)

In Mindanao State University at Naawan and MSUN- IDS Naawan

Campus, the performance of item analysis is often ignored due to its difficulty

and complexity of the process. Basically, this project details the methods of

item analysis for this purpose, and also considers how they might be used for

the wider function in assessing the learning of every student and overcome

the difficulty or complexity of the task which burdens most teachers.

1.1.1 Narrative Listing of Existing System

The current examination system in performing item analysis is being

done manually. This system requires pen, paper and calculator. The teacher

will have to check the exam paper manually afterwards he/she has to create

a summarized table form score sheet for the tabulation of item analysis

statistics which are item difficulty and item discrimination. And also, it has to

follow a certain formula to get the precise results in which the teacher will

recognize questions that might be poor discriminators and test item difficulty

of student performance and carefully examine the questions that

discriminate well between high and low scoring students to fully understand

the role of the content leads to appropriate results and if possible, the

questions and items for the test should be prepared well in advance of time

for testing, and reviewed and edited before they are used in the test.

The teacher normally prepares a draft of the test. Such a draft is

subjected to item analysis and validation in order to ensure that the final

version of the test would be useful and functional. First, the teacher tries out

the draft test to a group of students of similar characteristics as the intended

test takers (try-out phase), from the try out group, each will be analyzed in

terms of its ability to discriminate between those who know and those who do

not know and also its level of difficulty(item analysis phase). The item

analysis will provide information that will allow the teacher to decide whether

to revise or replace an item (item revision phase). Then finally, the final draft

of the test is subjected to validation if the content is to make use of the test

as a standard test for the particular unit or grading period according to Rosita

L. Navarro, Ph.D. and Rosita G. Santos, Ph.D.

1.1.2 Issues and Problems

In Mindanao State University at Naawan and Integrated Developmental

School Naawan campus the need to item analyze the test questions is often

ignored due to the difficulty and complexity of the process, since it is done

manually it consumes a length of time to have the desired statistical result.

On the other hand, the teachers/instructors needs to calculate the item

analysis statistics hand on hand following its precise formulation and more

often the implication of item analysis on the examination is not possibly

applied and even the reliability of the test due to its complicated computation

and because it is done manually it is unavoidable to commit inaccuracy and

miscalculation of statistical reports for item analysis and reliability testing

due to the number papers to be checked and inaccessibility of students

performance and progress.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Since the need to item analyze the test questions is often ignored

because of the difficulty and complexity of the process in Mindanao State

University at Naawan and Integrated Developmental School Naawan campus

to know students strengths and weakness by extracting their test results and

have it interpreted by means of is impossibly obtained. And for such

problem, there is no developed software for item analysis on the said campus

that will analyze the answers of the examinees of each item given accurately

and efficiently and to determine item difficulty and the power of

discrimination on a given test.

1.3 Objectives of the Project

This section presents the goals of this project namely: the general and

specific objectives. Specific objectives presented in here will aid the

proponents of this project to attain its ultimate goal.

1.3.1 General Objective

The project aims it to develop an automated item analysis on an

examination basis that would enable the teachers/instructors to determine

the level of difficulty, the power of discrimination, and test reliability of a

multiple choice test items that will generate automated statistical reports by

means of tables and graph.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

a) To gather essential information about the process of performing item analysis

undertaken during the examination.

b) To determine the approaches do the teachers are working on to assess the

learning of the students in examination basis.

c) To analyse the techniques, formulas and algorithms in performing item

analysis addressing unto the specified problem.

d) To design the initial system that suit to the target user and environment.

e) To develop the prototype based on the constructive design.

f) To evaluate the develop system through unit testing, integration testing,

system testing and acceptance testing.

g) To apply the changes and refine the prototype based on the conducted

evaluation.

h) To deploy the system in the examination period.

1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Project

This project focuses on performing item analysis on a multiple-choice

question examination to determine the level of difficulty, the power of

discrimination and reliability of the test. The system presumes that the

teacher/instructor had already validated the test before it entered in the

system. And also, the project is capable to generate a statistical report of

item analysis and test reliability basing on the exam results; it is represented

by graphs and tables for easy look up and for straightforward understanding

on the set of numbers.

The application of the proposed project is accessible through Local

Area Network (LAN) connection specifically located in the school campus that

connects to the three user roles which are Admin, Teacher and Student. Also,

it is an Offline Web Application. It is limited only for about maximum of fifty

(50) item questions; only four (4) options every item and one (1) answer per

item. The performance of Item Analysis will be generated right after the

examination will end.

1.5 Significance of the Project

The developed Examination System that specially performs item

analysis enables instructors/teachers to increase their test construction

skills, identify specific areas of course/subject content which need greater

emphasis or clarity, and improve test effectiveness and quality. This will help

to improve test items and identify unfair or biased items. This will be the

avenue of the local instructors/teachers to embrace the upgrading

technology in this highly intricate world in regard on the knowledge of the

student in class and broadens the horizons of many students as it exposes

students towards innovative teaching and learning as well as the educators.

And also it provides substantial savings of time and energy over conventional

test development, measures the effectiveness of the teaching learning

progress, students’ present level of achievements and one student’s progress

against others through the automated statistical reports of the item analysis.

On the other hand, the develop software system will lessen, if not

eliminate, the said difficulty or complexity of the examination. This project is

a response to this need, for it has developed software for item analysis that

will analyze the answers of the examinees of each item given accurately and

efficiently. It also provides an opportunity to identify and examine common

misconceptions among students about a particular concept in which it enable

the teachers to determine the level of difficulty and the power of

discrimination of the test item. And precisely, this will maximize the time of

the teacher in class preparation. In fact, it is absolutely important for the

teachers to know the performance of the student and even their performance

towards the students in engaging knowledge and learning for a rightful

assessment.

Chapter 2

Review Related of Literature

2.1 Related Literature

This section presents the related literature of the project that is shown below.

2.1.1 Item Analysis

Item analysis is a process which examines student responses to

individual test items (questions) in order to assess the quality of those items

and of the test as a whole (University of Washington, 2010). Item analysis is a

general term that refers to the specific methods used in education to

evaluate test items, typically for the purpose of test construction and revision

(Education, 2009)

An item analysis admits two statistics that can help to analyze the

effectiveness of the test questions. First thing is question difficulty, it is the

percentage of students who selected the correct response and then

the discrimination (item effectiveness) indicates how well the question

separates the students who know the material well from those who don’t.

( Schreyer Institute, 2012)

According to Rosita L. Navarro, Ph.D. and Rosita G. Santos, Ph.D. that

after the test has been administered and scored, it is essential to determine

the effectiveness of the items. This is done by analyzing the learners’

responses to each item. The procedure is known as item Analysis. Item

analysis gives information which are as follows:

1. The difficulty of the item.

2. The discriminating power of the item.

3. The effectiveness of each option.

Information from item analysis can access whether the item is too

easy or too difficult. It determines how well it discriminates between high

and low achievers on the test and tells whether all the options function

well. Item analysis data also help in determining specific technical defect.

Furthermore, it gives information on what improvements the test items

need.

2.1.1.1 Benefits derived from item Analysis (Navarro-Santos, 2012)

1) It provides useful information for class discussion of the test.

2) It provides data which helps students improve their learning.

3) It provides insights and skills that lead to the preparation of

better tests in the future.

2.1.1.2 Steps in a review of an item analysis report (Schreyer Institute for teaching excellence, 2012 )

1) Review the difficulty and discrimination of each question.

2) For each question having low values of discrimination review the

distribution of responses along with the question text to

determine what might be causing a response pattern that

suggests student confusion.

3) If the text of the question is confusing, change the text or remove

the question from the course database. If the question text is not

confusing or faulty, then try to identify the instructional

component that may be leading to student confusion.

4) Carefully examine the questions that discriminate well between

high and low scoring students to fully understand the role that

instructional design played in leading to these results. Ask

yourself what aspects of the instructional process appear to be

most effective. (Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, Tools

of Item Analysis, 2012)

2.1.2 Item Difficulty

The difficulty of an item or item difficulty is defined as the

number of students who are able to answer the item correctly divided

by the total number of students according to Rosita L. Navarro, Ph.D.

and Rosita G. Santos, Ph.D. Thus:

Index of Difficulty = RU+RLT

x 100 (2.1)

Where:

RU = the number in the upper group who answered the item correctly.

RL = the number in the lower group who answered the item correctly.

T = the total number of both upper and lower groups

Table 2.1 Arbitrary rule of Item Difficulty

Range of difficulty

Index

Interpretatio

n

Action

0 – 0.25 Difficult Revise or

Discard

0.26 – 0.75 Right Difficulty Retain

0.76 – above Easy Revise or

Discard

The table 2.1 represents the arbitrary rule of item difficulty, so by

looking at the range of difficulty index which is obtain by the computing the

Index of Difficulty formula (2.1), there is a corresponding Interpretation and

Action.

Very easy questions may not sufficiently challenge the most able

students. However, having a few relatively easy questions in a test

may be important to verify the mastery of some course objectives.

Keep tests balanced in terms of question difficulty.

Very difficult questions, if they form most of a test, may produce

frustration among students. Some very difficult questions are

needed to challenge the best students.

2.1.3 Item Discrimination

According to Rosita L. Navarro, Ph.D. and Rosita G. Santos, Ph.D.

that difficult items tend to discriminate between those who know and

those who do not know the answer. Conversely, easy items cannot

discriminate between these two groups of students. We are therefore

interested in deriving a measure that will tell us whether an item can

discriminate between these two groups of students. Such a measure is

called an index of discrimination.

In estimating the index of discriminating power, consider the

difference of the right response between the upper group (RU) and the

response from lower group (RL) divided by the number of students in

each group (NG. The formula is as follows:

Index Discrimination = RU−RLNG

(2.2)

Where:

RU = the number in the upper group who answered the item correctly

RL = the number in the lower group who answered the item correctly

NG = the number of students in each group

The discriminating power of an item is reported as a decimal fraction;

maximum discriminating power in indicated by an index of 1.00. Maximum

discrimination is usually found at the 50 percent level of difficulty.

The table 2.2 represents the rule of thumb of item difficulty, so by

looking at the range of difficulty index which is obtain by the computing the

Index of Difficulty formula (2.2), there is a corresponding Interpretation and

Action.

Table 2.2 Item Discrimination rule of thumb

If a question is very easy so that nearly all students answered correctly, the

questions discrimination will be near zero. Extremely easy questions

cannot distinguish among students in terms of their performance.

If a question is extremely difficult so that nearly all students answered

incorrectly, the discrimination will be near zero.

The most effective questions will have moderate difficulty and high

discrimination values. The higher the value of discrimination is, the more

effective it is in discriminating between students who perform well on the

test and those that don’t.

Questions having low or negative values of discrimination need to be

reviewed very carefully for confusing language or an incorrect key. If no

confusing language is found then the course design for the topic of the

question needs to be critically reviewed.

Index Range Interpretation Action

-1.0 — -.50 Can discriminate but item is

questionable

Discard

-.55 — 0.45 Non-discriminating Revise

0.46 — 1.0 Discriminating item Include

A high level of student guessing on questions will result in a question

discrimination value near zero.

2.1.4 Distracter Analysis

In a multiple-choice question, the incorrect choices are called

“distracters.” When creating test questions, consider the following:

1) A percentage of students should select each distracter (in lieu of the

correct answer) nor is the distracter not effective.

2) If too great a percentage of students select a particular distracter, there

might be an ambiguity in the wording of the question or the wording of

that particular distracter.

3) A distracter has value if the percentage of students selecting it differed

based on their overall test performance. A good distracter is one that is

selected by few students who were in the top third of the class, but chosen

by many students in the bottom third.

The distractor should be considered an important part of the item.

Nearly 50 years of research shows that there is a relationship between the

distractors students choose and total exam score. The quality of the

distractors influences student performance on an exam item. Although the

correct answer must be truly correct, it is just as important that the

distractors be incorrect. Distractors should appeal to low scorers who have

not mastered the material whereas high scorers should infrequently select

the distractors. Reviewing the options can reveal potential errors of

judgment and inadequate performance of distractors. These poor

distractors can be revised, replaced, or removed. (University of Texas,

2011)

2.1.5 Cronbach’s Alpha

Cronbach’s alpha is the most commonly used measure of

reliability (Allen, 2010) Alpha was developed by Lee Cronbach in

195111 to provide a measure of the internal consistency of a test or

scale; it is expressed as a number between 0 and 1. Internal

consistency describes the extent to which all the items in a test

measure the same concept or construct and hence it is connected to

the inter-relatedness of the items within the test. (Dennick et al.,

2011).

Standardized Cronbach’s Alpha formula, thus:

(2.3)

Where:

k – Number of items or number of indicator

- Average correlation between items or mean inter – indicator

correlation

2.1.6 Reliability and Validity Testing

Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool produces stable

and consistent results and the extent to which measures learning

consistently. On the other hand, Validity refers to how well a test measures

what it is purposed to measure and the extent by which it measures what it

was designed to measure. (Max, 2011)

Why is it necessary? While reliability is necessary, it alone is not

sufficient.  For a test to be reliable, it also needs to be valid. Here are some

examples that will help us to understand the reliability and validity of the

test.

a) If the scale is reliable it tells you the same weight every time you step

on it as long as your weight has not actually changed.   However, if the

scale is not working properly, this number may not be your actual

weight.  If that is the case, this is an example of a scale that is reliable,

or consistent, but not valid.  For the scale to be valid and reliable, not

only does it need to tell you the same weight every time you step on the

scale, but it also has to measure your actual weight.

b) Switching back to testing, the situation is essentially the same.  A test

can be reliable, meaning that the test-takers will get the same score no

matter when or where they take it, within reason of course.  But that

doesn't mean that it is valid or measuring what it is supposed to

measure.  A test can be reliable without being valid. However, a test

cannot be valid unless it is reliable.

2.1.5 Item Statistics

Statistics is a scientific discipline. It is a branch of Mathematics that

“deals with the collection, organization, presentation, computation and

interpretation of data which are the outcomes of learning (Santos et al,

2010).

Item statistics are used to assess the performance of individual test

items on the assumption that the overall quality of a test derives from the

quality of its items (University of Washington, 2009). Item statistics is a way

to get information from data in the test item. It is a tool for creating an

understanding from a set of numbers (Opre, 2010)

Figure 2.1 Statistical process

Here is some sample Item Statics that shows information statistical reports of item analysis. Refer to table 2.4, table 2.5 and table 2.6:

Table 2.3 Item statistics – Sample 1

By referring to table 2.3 it shows the analysis of mean, standard

deviation, difficulty index and discrimination index as well as the weigths,

means , frequencies and distribution of each item in a midterm examination.

Table 2.4 Item Statistics – Sample

Basing on table 2.4 it shows the distinction of the score by the upper

and lower group specifically for item no. 18

Table 2.5 Item Statistics – Sample 3

Referring to table 2.5, it shows the difficulty index with its corresponding remarks and item discrimination remark on its specific item.

There are two general types of statistical analysis:

2.1.4.1 Descriptive statistics

Descriptive statistics uses methods to summarize a collection of

data by describing what was observed using numbers or graphs

(Santos et al, 2009)

2.1.4.2 Inferential statistics

Inferential statistics, also called predictive statistics, uses

methods to draw patterns in the collected data and then make

conclusions, predictions or forecasts about the group or about process

being studied (Santos et al, 2009)

2.1.5 Multiple-Choice Test

The multiple-choice test is regarded as one of the best test forms in

testing outcomes. This test form is most valuable and widely used in

standardized test due to its flexibility and objectivity in terms of scoring. This

test is made up of items which consists of three which or more plausible

options for each item. The choices are multiple so that examinees may

choose only one correct answer or best option for each item (Calmorin, 2011)

2.1.6 Bloom’s Taxonomy

Questions (items) on quizzes and exams can demand different levels of

thinking skills. For example, some questions might be simple memorization

of facts, and others might require the ability to synthesize information from

several sources to select or construct a response. Benjamin Bloom created a

hierarchy of cognitive skills (called Bloom's taxonomy) that is often used to

categorize the levels of cognitive involvement (thinking skills) in educational

settings. The taxonomy provides a good structure to assist teachers in writing

objectives and assessments. It can be divided into two levels -- Level I (the

lower level) contains knowledge, comprehension and application; Level II (the

higher level) includes application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation refer to

figure 2.7

Figure 2.2 Blooms Taxonomy

Sometimes objective tests (such as multiple choice) are criticized because

the questions emphasize only lower-level thinking skills (such as knowledge and

comprehension). However, it is possible to address higher level thinking skills via

objective assessments by including items that focus on genuine understanding --

"how" and "why" questions. Multiple choice items that involve scenarios, case

studies, and analogies are also effective for requiring students to apply, analyze,

synthesize, and evaluate information. (Classroom Assessment, 2009)

2.2 Related Existing System

In this section will present the existing studies the will relate to the project with its characteristic that is shown below.

2.2.1 “Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) Item Analysis Software

SPSS has an item analysis that has useful set of procedures available for

teaching profession especially in assessing the student’s performance. SPSS uses

statistical tools for measuring item analysis and an ideal way for teachers to

evaluate their student’s performance specially when we based it on exams scores.

In SPSS the main function of item analysis is for teachers or instructors to enhance

their examinations on how they create it. SPSS is also an ideal tool in accurate item

analysis. In a basic explanation the main function of the SSPS’s item analysis is to

improve teachers or instructors way of creating a test or exam. (SPSS INC, 2008)

SPSS item analysis gives test creators of test developers mostly teachers and

instructors a means of measuring consistency. SPSS provide a measurement of

internal reliability (consistency) of the test item they called it as “Cronbach’s

Alpha”. That means that the higher the correlation among the items, the greater the

alpha. High correlation implies that high (or low) scores on question are associated

with high (or low) scores on the other questions. Alpha can vary from 0 to 1, with e

that the test is perfectly reliable. Furthermore, the computation of Cronbach’ s

Alpha when a particular item is removed from consideration is a good measure of

that item’s contribution to the entire test’s assessment performance. In the SPSS

output below , these and the other statistics are automatically generated using a

procedure called “Realibity” ( in the output, the term scale refers to the collection of

all test items).

Figure 2.3 Output for the SPSS Reliability program

Note the column “Corrected Item-Total Correlation.” This column

displays the corrected point biserial correlation. You can see that question

three seems to correlate well with overall test performance. On the other

hand, students who tend to do poorly on the test overall tend to answer

question eight correctly. This is not a desired outcome. Notice also the

“Alpha” in the lower left-hand corner and the column titled “Alpha if Item

Deleted.” If question eight is deleted from the scale, the Alpha statistic climbs

to .68. With this perspective, question eight needs to be critically examined

and perhaps rewritten. Refer to 2.4

2.2.2 E-Learning System Of Liceo de Cagayan University-Grade School Department

This system study mainly focused on developing an e-learning system that

provides different levels of task performed by the administrator teacher, students,

and parents. And, also system developed to handle and control the delivery of

instructor-led online course. The system can also perform item analysis in which the

Admin has the right to do it . (Tagupa, et.al, 2012)

Figure 2.4 -Learning System Of Liceo de Cagayan University-Grade School Department – Item Analysis Chart

By referring the figure 2.9 it shows the graphical representation of Item

analysis given by legends that corresponds to each color; blue represents the pupil

who got correct answer and red for the pupil who got the wrong answer. This quiz

online will be taken via online on which the administrator can only perform item

analysis.

Figure 2.5 -Learning System Of Liceo de Cagayan University-Grade School Department – Index of Effectiveness of options or distractors.

Basing on figure 2.10 it shows the Index of Effectiveness of options or distracters. It shows the item number with its corresponding key answer. Also display the upper and lower group with its discriminating power results on every option.

Figure 2.11 -Learning System Of Liceo de Cagayan University-Grade School Department – Question Bank

The figure 2.11 shows the item bank of the system, wherein the teacher can perform such feature. It enables the teacher to store the pervious test wherein he/she may be able to use it to another test or may even make some revision basing on the difficulty and discriminating power of the test item.

2.2.2.1 Technology Used:

Front-end: HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery, Ajax and PHP

Back-end: MySQL

Programming Environment: Notepad++

Utilized Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3 for web and graphic design

Chapter 3

Methodology

This section discusses the methodology used in making the project as shown in

Figure 3.1 shown below:

Figure 3.1 – Project Methodology Model (Modified Waterfall)

As shown in Figure 3.1, the requirements analysis stage, this is the first

phase. On the other hand, database and architectural Design will be point out in the

design phase. For the development phase wherein the construction and coding of

the project is contrive. Unit and Usability testing will also be discuss for the testing

phase in the making the project. For the deployment of the project is deliberated in

implementation phase. Lastly the maintenance phase is conferring on the

compassed of the project.

3.1 Requirement Analysis

In this phase,

Here are the methods to initiate the development of the proposed system by the researchers.

Define the research problem

To gathered data upon which the system was based. The

researchers conducted series of interviews with teachers and

instructors to know the specific problem they had obtained in

handling the current system that they were using and also to

know the existing system that they’d used.

Data preparation and implement a sampling plan

To determine the requirements that will be covered in

developing the proposed system. This concerned about

establishing what the ideal system has to perform and generate

reports. Meanwhile, it does not determine how the software will

be designed or built.

Develop a design structure

To conceptualize, operationalize and test the measures of the

proposed system. And also, developing and documenting a

database structure that integrates the various measures and

simple graphics analysis to describe the basic features of the

develop system. This will describe what is, what the system

shows.

3.1.2 Conceptual Analysis

The idea of this project is simply to create a quick and easy way in taking the

examination. The project consists of three users: the student, teacher and the

system administrator. The student will answer the examination through electronic

process. The teacher is the one responsible for the creation of the questions as well

as the performance of item analysis. And the system administrator is the one

responsible for the overall examination reports.

Figure 3.2 Hierarchical Framework of the Project

By referring to table 3.2 it shows the supervisions of every module in the

system. First thing is that Admin supervises the teacher level; the teacher

supervises the student level. The develop project has three modules which are the

following:

Admin module which has the right for creating space for new accounts

that can access the entire system, activating and deactivating accounts.

Teacher module: which has it has the right of the performance of item

analysis, making and monitoring the exam and generates statistical

reports.

Student module: is the one who will take the exam.

3.2 Design

Design is very important aspect need to be emphasized in any application

development process. Design determines the success of an end product

3.3 Design

Design is very important aspect need to be emphasized in any application

development process. Design determines the success of an end product. Refer to

figure 3.2 for the Architectural Design of the Project.

3.4 Development

In this phase is recommended for developing code as well as for builds of

hardware and software components. The process of creating interim builds

allows a team to find issues early in the development process, which shortens

the development cycle and lowers the cost of the project. Daily builds are the

practice of assembling all the components working toward the final goal of a

solution. This enables the team to determine earlier rather than later that all

components will work together. This method also allows the team to add

functionality onto a stable build. The idea is to have a shippable product ready at

any point in time. In this way, the stability of the total solution is well understood

and has ample test data prior to being released into production.

Table 3.2 Software Specification

Front End JavaScript, HTML and CSS

Back End PHP

Database Firebird SQL

Programming Environment Notepad++

Operating System Windows XP or Higher

3.5 Testing

It is very important to have decent quality software’s. Having this means the

quality should match many requirements such as keeping the easy use of GUI’s, as

well as containing faults and failures and many more. A lot of effort is required to

keep this quality to a reasonable standard. Testing is one of the most important

parts in quality assurance especially in the development stages. As the

development of the program comes to an end it becomes harder to fix errors, in fact

becomes harder to spot errors. This would mean, perhaps, to check each section

during the development so that the errors can be spotted and fixed before

progressing to the next stages. Testing should be done during the development

stages and if it is not done during the development stages then it is more than likely

that there will be a lot of bugs and errors. Some problems which may not have been

seen during the development stages, without testing at the end, could be

something like a function being used whilst the stack is empty. This could lead to a

system crashing. However, if testing is done this could be spotted before

proceeding to the next stage. (Higgins, 2010)

3.5.1.Unit Testing

This is the software used for verification and validation. It’s a method in

which the programmer can test all the separate code and see if it is viable to use.

This type of testing is based on a small scale and uses small units of the program.

When looking at procedural programming the unit can be any individual function or

a procedure which is written in the same language as the production code. Testing

is a way to increase confidence that the project meets its requirements.

To Ensure that the Project Meets Its Requirements:

Making sure the program does what it's supposed to do

Making sure that to know what it's supposed to do!

Testing ensures that the software solution is among those that meet the

requirements.

3.5.2 Integration testing

In this phase, individual modules are combined and tested as a group. Data

transfer between the modules is tested thoroughly.

Integration testing is a logical extension of unit testing. In its simplest form, two

units that have already been tested are combined into a component and the

interface between them is tested. A component, in this sense, refers to an

integrated aggregate of more than one unit. In a realistic scenario, many units are

combined into components, which are in turn aggregated into even larger parts of

the program. The idea is to test combinations of pieces and eventually expand the

process to test your modules with those of other groups. Eventually all the modules

making up a process are tested together. Beyond that, if the program is composed

of more than one process, they should be tested in pairs rather than all at once.

Integration testing identifies problems that occur when units are combined. By

using a test plan that requires you to test each unit and ensure the viability of each

before combining units, you know that any errors discovered when combining units

are likely related to the interface between units. This method reduces the number

of possibilities to a far simpler level of analysis.

3.5.3 System Testing

System is concerned with the behavior of the system.

3.5.4 Acceptance Testing

3.6 Implementation

To introduce a capstone project to a course this will provide students with an

opportunity to demonstrate their cumulative learning at the end of the

course/project. The activities will be in a project team environment, guided by the

engineering design process and culminating in the communication and

demonstration of a uniquely designed operational product or system.

To lend an air of authenticity to the project, a community sponsor or mentor

will help provide context and guidance to the students. This person, along with

other potential outside industry reps, will participate in the judging of the project

outcomes.

• Helps form the scope of the project

• Helps put the project in context

• Provides student mentoring (schedule permitting)

• Participates in project evaluation

• May provide logistical support

In this phase, the production system is installed, initial user training is

completed, user documentation is delivered, and the post implementation review

meeting is held. When this phase is completed, the application is in steady-state

production. Once the system is in steady-state production, it is reviewed to ensure

that we met all of the goals in the project plan for a satisfactory result. During

this phase you create the documentation and tools the customer uses to make

informed decisions about how to deploy your software securely.

3.7 Maintenance

The maintenance phase involves making changes to hardware, software, and

documentation to support its operational effectiveness. It includes making changes

to improve a system's performance, correct problems, enhance security, or address

user requirements. To ensure modifications do not disrupt operations or degrade a

system's performance or security, organizations should establish appropriate

change management standards and procedures