Sanjay encountered questions whose words had different meanings and contexts. This is an example of ______ bias.

• A. Item bias
• B. Method bias
• C. Intelligence bias
• D. Construct bias

Answer: (D)

Ambiguity in item wording that changes how respondents interpret what is being measured can undermine the accuracy of the test. When words have different meanings or contexts, different examinees may interpret an item in ways that reflect semantic or contextual cues rather than the intended trait. This introduces a mismatch between what the item is supposed to assess and what it actually measures, which is construct bias. The item no longer consistently taps the same underlying construct for everyone, leading to biased conclusions about a student’s ability or knowledge.

Other biases describe different issues: item bias refers to items that function differently for groups in ways that aren’t related to the construct, method bias comes from the testing procedure itself, and intelligence bias isn’t a standard, valid category in this context.