Development and psychometric analysis of an inventory of fundamental concepts for understanding organic reaction mechanisms

Abstract: The fundamental concepts for organic reaction mechanisms inventory (FC-ORMI) is a multiple-choice instrument designed to assess students’ conception of fundamental concepts for understanding organic reaction mechanisms. The concepts were identified from open-ended interviews and a national survey of organic chemistry instructors reported in a previous study. This manuscript describes the development of the inventory items related to these identified concepts and the psychometric analysis of the instrument. In the developmental stage, open-ended questions were administered to first-semester organic chemistry students (N = 138), and open-ended interviews were conducted with students (N = 22) from the same pool to gain insight into their thought processes. The answers revealed alternate conceptions which were used to formulate distractors for the inventory. A pilot version and a beta version of the inventory were administered to 105 and 359 first-semester organic chemistry students, respectively. From these administrations, the 26-item alpha version was developed and administered to first-semester undergraduate organic chemistry students (N = 753). Psychometric analysis was conducted at the item and test level using Classical Test Theory and Rasch analysis. The results indicate that the items on the FC-ORMI function well to reveal students’ alternate conceptions. The instrument meets the acceptable standards of validity and reliability for concept inventories.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Development and psychometric analysis of an inventory of fundamental concepts for understanding organic reaction mechanisms ; volume:3 ; number:4 ; year:2021 ; pages:377-390 ; extent:14 ; Chemistry teacher international ; 3, Heft 4 (2021), 377-390 (gesamt 14)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Nedungadi, Sachin ; Mosher, Michael D. ; Paek, Sue Hyeon ; Hyslop, Richard M. ; Brown, Corina E.

Further information

• DOI: 10.1515/cti-2021-0009
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2411131612334.237320514259
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:29 AM CEST