(CZ) K diagnostické hodnotě verbálních testů školních znalostí
(EN) On the Diagnostic Value of Verbal Tests of Pupils’ Knowledge

The growing use of verbal tests gives rise to the topical problem of the relationship of this diagnostic method to the traditional diagnostic classroom techniques. The article deals especially with the relationship of the common type of verbal test of knowledge (with alternative items) to examinations based on the so-called open answers. This relationship has been the subject of an experimental investigation involving a sample of Prague schoolchildren and it has been proved that a) the two diagnostic methods are not equivalent and do not give the same results, b) contrary to the current opinion saying that a test of closed questions helps pupils to achieve better results, it has been proved that this conclusion is valid statistically, but not for the appraisal of individual pupils, where the relationship of results mostly does uphold this thesis, but in some cases it is equivalent and sometimes even reversed. Consequently, in order to promote as objective an appraisal of pupils as possible, it is recommended that the above-mentioned diagnostic methods be combined. Apart from this, a smaller number of pupils served as a sample for tracing the relationship of learning between the two types of examination.