Introduction
Test anxiety is fairly common in students. There are several surveys to measure this. In practise, you likely want a short one so that you can combine it with another survey or experiment (such as the dot-probe task). For this, the TAI-5 developed by Taylor and Deane (2002) an excellent choice.
Scores and interpretation
There is also the TAI which has 20 items. On the TAI and the TAI-5, there is a four point Likert scale from rarely to always. For compatibly with the TAI, the score of the TAI-5 is multiplied by 4.
In a study with 312 adult participants. Their age ranged from 19 to 80 years old, with a mean age of 32 years. The following averages (normative data) are reported by Taylor and Deane (2002):
| Type | Possible range | Average score |
|---|---|---|
All participants |
20 to 80 |
35.47 |
Men |
20 to 80 |
36.58 |
Women |
20 to 80 |
34.88 |
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Legal stuff
It seems that the TAI-5 can be used for research, but you need to acknowledge the authors and their research paper when writing about it (References).
Technically
This is a simple scale question.
The survey code for PsyToolkit
scale: taiagree
- Rarely or never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Always
l: tai5
t: scale taiagree
o: buildup
q: This questionnaire is how you feel during exams and tests.
For each item, indicate how often you feel
- During tests I feel very tense.
- I wish examinations did not bother me so much.
- I seem to defeat myself while working on important tests.
- I feel very panicky when I take an important test.
- During examinations I get so nervous that I forget facts I really know.
l: tai5score
t: set
- calc ( $tai5.1 + $tai5.2 + $tai5.3 + $tai5.4 + $tai5.5 ) * 4
l: feedback
t: info
q: Your TAI-5 score is {$tai5score}.
Note that scores on the TAI5 can range from 20 to 80.
References
-
Joanne Taylor & Frank P. Deane (2002) Development of a Short Form of the Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI), The Journal of General Psychology, 129:2, 127-136, DOI: 10.1080/00221300209603133
-
Xu, F., Cai, Y. & Tu, D. Psychometric properties of TAS, TAI, FAT test anxiety scales 6 in Chinese university students: a Bifactor IRT study. Curr Psychol 41, 2250–2263 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00610-w Open access