Using of Structural Equation Modeling Techniques in Cognitive Levels Validation

When constructing knowledge tests, cognitive level is usually one of the dimensions comprising the test specifications with each item assigned to measure a particular level. Recently used taxonomies of the cognitive levels most often represent some modification of the original Bloom's taxonomy. There are many concerns in current literature about existence of predefined cognitive levels. The aim of this article is to investigate can structural equation modeling techniques confirm existence of different cognitive levels. For the purpose of the research, a Croatian final high-school Mathematics exam was used (N = 9626). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural regression modeling were used to test three different models. Structural equation modeling techniques did not support existence of different cognitive levels in this case. There is more than one possible explanation for that finding. Some other techniques that take into account nonlinear behaviour of the items as well as qualitative techniques might be more useful for the purpose of the cognitive levels validation. Furthermore, it seems that cognitive levels were not efficient descriptors of the items and so improvements are needed in describing the cognitive skills measured by items.