電腦化測驗的發展由來已久，早期的發展本質上均屬古典測驗(traditional tests)的電腦化，電腦化適性測驗(computer adaptive testing)應用項目反應理論(item response theory)的原理，能以較少的試題精確的估計出受試者的能力，若能將電腦化適性測驗的施測平台由個人電腦擴展至PDA(Personal Digital Assistants)或ebook等手持裝置，對電腦化測驗的發展自有其助益。
　　本研究旨在提出一套跨平台電腦化適性測驗架構，讓電腦化適性測驗的施測平台更為多樣化。為評估此一架構之可行性，並瞭解受試者對不同施測平台的反應，研究者實際設計一套以XML(extensible markup language)為題庫描述規範的web-based 電腦化適性測驗系統，將五十名高中生分為兩組，各組學生以不同順序於PC及PDA上接受同一份英文字彙電腦化適性測驗，並在測驗結束後填寫一份測驗環境反應問卷。
　　重覆量數t考驗的結果顯示於不同平台上實施電腦化測驗，在受試者能力估計、測驗時間及測驗長度上均無顯著差異，然而多數學生均偏好於PDA上進行測驗。由此可發現以PDA為電腦化適性測驗的施測平台不僅在施測精確度及效率上不亞於PC。

The purpose of this work is to design and evaluate an XML-Based platform-independent CAT system which can expand the diversity of CAT administering platform. By using XML to describe item bank, we make it more convenient to implement CAT on different platform, such PC and PDA.
An experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of CAT administration platform on precision and efficiency. 50 senior high school students were recruited to take an English vocabulary CAT both on PC and PDA which enabled them to compare the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two different administration platforms firsthand. All the tests used the same size, well-calibrated item bank.
Taken collectively, the results indicate that the platform on which examinees taking CAT didn’t affect the performance of CAT. The result of questionnaire toward testing environment shows that most examinees prefer to take test on PDA. It leads to a conclusion that using PDA to administer CAT is both as precision and effective as PC, however, more enjoyable and convenient.

Acknowledgement....i
Abstraction....iii
Table of Contents....v
List of Tables....vii
List of Figures....viii
Chapter One Introduction....1
1.1 Motivation....1
1.2 Purposes....2
1.3 Scope and Limitations....3
Chapter Two Literature Review....5
2.1 Item Response Theory (IRT).... 5
2.2 Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT)....8
2.3 Standart Generalized Markup Language (SGML), HyperText Markup Language (HTML),
and Extensible Markup Language (XML)....10
2.3.1 Markup....10
2.3.2 SGML....11
2.3.3 HTML....12
2.3.4 XML....14
2.4 Document Object Model (DTD) and XML Schema....17
2.5 Document Type Definition (DOM) and Simple Application Programming Interface (API)
for XML (SAX)....19
2.6 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Extensible Style Language (XSL)....21
2.7 Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)....24
Chapter Three Methodology....27
3.1 XML-Based CAT System....27
3.1.1 The Goal of System Design....28
3.1.2 The Architecture of XML-Based CAT System....28
3.1.3 Design of the XML-Based CAT System....32
3.2 Experiment Design....34
3.2.1 Subjects....34
3.2.2 Instruments....35
3.2.3 Procedure....36
Chapter Four Results and Discussion....39
4.1 Results....39
4.1.1 Precision and Efficiency....39
4.1.2 Questionnaire of Testing Environment....41
4.2 Discussion....44
Chapter Five Conclusion and Suggestion....45
5.1 Conclusion....45
5.2 Future Work....45
References....47
Appendix....51

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