Deciding the adequacy of a set of tests for an specific assessment situation. Decision-making strategies

The aim of the present paper was to test the effects of response mode (choice vs. judgment) on decisionmaking strategies when subjects were Faced with the task of deciding the adequacy of a set of tests for a specific assessment situation. Compared with choice, judgment was predicted to lead to more information sought, more time spent on the task, a less variable pattern of search, and a greater amount of interdimensional search. Three variables hypothesized as potential moderators of the response mode effects are also studied: time pressure, information load and decision importance. Using an information board, 300 subjects made decisions (choices and judgments) on rests for a concrete assessment situation, under high or low time pressure, high or low information load, and high or low decision importance. Response mode produced strong effects on all measures of decision behavior except for pattern of search. Moderator effects occurred For time pressure and information load.