Development of abbreviated nine-item forms of the Raven's standard progressive matrices test

Abstract

The Raven's standard progressive matrices (RSPM) is a 60-item test for measuring abstract reasoning, considered a nonverbal estimate of fluid intelligence, and often included in clinical assessment batteries and research on patients with cognitive deficits. The goal was to develop and apply a predictive model approach to reduce the number of items necessary to yield a score equivalent to that derived from the full scale. The approach is based on a Poisson predictive model. A parsimonious subset of items that accurately predicts the total score was sought, as was a second nonoverlapping alternate form for repeated administrations. A split sample was used for model fitting and validation, with cross-validation to verify results. Using nine RSPM items as predictors, correlations of .9836 and .9782 were achieved for the reduced forms and .9063 and .8978 for the validation data. Thus, a 9-item subset of RSPM predicts the total score for the 60-item scale with good accuracy. A comparison of psychometric properties between 9-item forms, a published 30-item form, and the 60-item set is presented. The two 9-item forms provide a 75% administration time savings compared with the 30-item form, while achieving similar item- and test-level characteristics and equal correlations to 60-item based scores.

Figure 1

Figure 1A. Total Raven’s Correct: Combined Data Set (n=180) Figure 1B. Total Raven’s Correct: Model Building Data Set (n=90)

Figure 2

Correlations between actual and predicted total Raven’s score, Form A

Figure 3

Scatterplot for Raven’s Form A

Figure 4

Correlations between actual and predicted total Raven’s score, Form B

Figure 5

Scatterplot for Raven’s Form B