Item writers' experiences in designing skill-based mathematical items: A phenomenological study

This study aims to examine the strategies of question writers regarding skill-based mathematics questions prepared and published for middle school classes. In this context, the sources that question writers most frequently refer to or draw inspiration from, the criteria they consider, and their implementation approaches are discussed. The phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods, was chosen for the study. The study group consists of 10 question writers who write and publish skill-based mathematics questions for 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. To gain an in-depth understanding of the participants' experiences and opinions, the interview technique using a semi-structured interview form was preferred during the data collection process. Thematic analysis, a qualitative method, was used to analyze the interview data. As a result of the analyses, the category "Question Writers' Opinions on Skill-Based Questions" was examined under three themes, "Sources Used in the Question Writing Process and Originality" under two themes, and "Criteria Considered in the Question Writing Process and Their Reflections on the Process" under eleven themes. Sub-themes have been created for each theme, and the findings have been summarized by supporting them with direct quotations. According to the research findings, it has been determined that question writers do not sufficiently consider the academic literature in the process of skill-based question writing. While question writers emphasize that ensuring originality is a fundamental criterion, they also state that they encounter various challenges in producing original questions. Additionally, it has been observed that the skills they focus on in their current practices remain relatively limited and that there is insufficient diversity in the strategies used to develop the targeted skills through questions. This situation highlights the necessity of adopting more comprehensive and diverse methods in the skill-based question writing process. Furthermore, it has been observed that the number of question writers who base the determination of the expected cognitive effort in questions on Bloom's Taxonomy is limited.