Computer-based Assessment (CBA)

The computer-based assessment consists of the following parts, which are all automatically scored:

Information communication technology (ICT) core: A set of easy basic computer tasks to assess basic functional computer skills necessary to take the main assessment on the computer.
Computer-based literacy/numeracy core: A set of short, easy literacy and numeracy tasks to gather information about basic literacy and numeracy cognitive skills of the participants.

Computer-based literacy items: The CBA literacy domain consists of 52 items based on the PIAAC definition of literacy. Of these 52 computer-based items, 30 come from IALS/ALL and will serve as linking items to equate results on PIAAC with results from IALS and ALL. The remaining 22 computer-based literacy items were newly created for PIAAC.
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Literacy items (both CBA and PBA) ask participants to answer questions about texts that are drawn from a broad range of real life settings, including occupational, personal (home and family, health and safety, consumer economics, leisure and recreation), community and citizenship, and education and training contexts. The text may be:

Continuous texts (such as editorials, news stories, and brochures)
Non-continuous text (such as job applications, payroll forms, tables, and drug labels)
Texts containing images
Hypertext (computer-based assessment only)
Text in interactive environments (e.g., message boards and chat rooms - computer-based assessment only)

The questions or tasks using these texts are meant to assess three specific cognitive processes:

Access and identify
Interpret and integrate
Evaluate and reflect

Distribution of items by type of text

	Final item set		Framework goal
	Number	Percent	Percent
Print-based texts	36	62	70 - 80
Digital texts	22	38	20 - 35
Total	58	100	100

Note: Each category includes continuous, non-continuous and combined texts. Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 25

Distribution of items by contexts

	Final item set		Framework goal
	Number	Percent	Percent
Work	10	17	15
Personal	29	50	40
Community	13	23	30
Education	6	10	15
Total	58	100	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 25.

Distribution of items by task aspect

	Final item set		Framework goal
	Number	Percent	Percent
Access and identify	32	55	40
Integrate and interpret	17	29	45
Evaluate and reflect	9	16	15
Total	58	100	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 25.

Distribution of items by mode of administration

	Final item set
	Number	Percent
Computer- and paper-based	18	31
Computer-based only	34	59
Paper-based only	6	10
Total	58	100

Computer-based numeracy items: The CBA numeracy domain consists of 52 items based on the PIAAC definition of numeracy. Of these 52 computer-based items, 30 come from IALS/ALL and will serve as linking items to equate results on PIAAC with results from IALS and ALL. The remaining 22 computer-based numeracy items were newly created for PIAAC.
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Numeracy items (both CBA and PBA) ask participants to answer questions about quantity and number; dimension and shape; pattern, relation, and change; and data and chance. The information in these questions may be presented as:

Objects or pictures
Numbers or mathematical symbols
Formulae
Diagrams or maps
Graphs or tables
Texts
Technology-based displays (computer-based assessment only)

Questions about these four key areas of mathematical content are placed in one of four contexts: everyday life, work-related context, and social or community, and further learning. The questions are meant to assess five specific cognitive processes:

Identify, locate, or access
Act upon or use
Interpret
Evaluate or solve
Communicate

Distribution of items by response process

	Final item set		Framework goal
	Number	Percent	Percent
Act upon, use	34	61	50
Identify, locate or access	3	5	10
Interpret, evaluate	19	34	40
Total	56	100	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 40.

Distribution of items by contexts

	Final item set
	Number	Percent
Everyday life	25	45
Work-related	13	23
Society and community	14	25
Further learning	4	7
Total	56	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 40.

Distribution of items by mathematical content

	Final item set		Framework goal
	Number	Percent	Percent
Data and chance	12	21	25
Dimension and shape	16	29	25
Pattern, relationships and change	15	27	20
Quantity and change	13	23	30
Total	56	100	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 40.

Distribution of items by mode of administration

	Final item set
	Number	Percent
Computer- and paper-based	20	36
Computer-based only	32	57
Paper-based only	4	7
Total	56	100

Problem solving in technology-rich environments (PS-TRE) items: The PS-TRE domain consists of 14 items based on the PIAAC problem solving framework. All of these items were newly created for PIAAC.
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All of the PS-TRE items were newly created for PIAAC. specifically for testing participants' ability to manage tasks that can include multiple steps and, in some cases, multiple technology environments. For example, items may require participants to navigate between e-mail and spreadsheet environments to locate information and create a table which represents that information for a specific purpose. The PS-TRE tasks are all scenario-based, ranging from easy to difficult. They measure four specific cognitive processes

Goal setting and monitoring progress
Planning
Acquiring and evaluating information
Making use of information

Distribution of tasks as a function of cognitive dimensions

Dimension	Final item set
Dimension	Number¹	Percent¹
Setting goals and monitoring progress	4	29
Planning	7	50
Acquiring	8	57
Using information	6	43

¹ Parts do not sum to total because some tasks are coded to more than one dimension.

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 52

Distribution of tasks as a function of technology dimensions

Dimension	Final item set
Dimension	Number¹	Percent¹
Web	7	50
Spreadsheet	4	29
E-mail	9	64

¹ Parts do not sum to total because some tasks are coded to more than one dimension.

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 52.

Distribution of tasks by context

Dimension	Final item set
Dimension	Number	Percent
Personal	8	57
Work / Occupation	4	29
Civic	2	14
Total	14	100

Source: Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving in Technology-rich Environments: Framework for the OECD Survey of Adult Skills. Paris: OECD, 2012. Page 52.