Estimating the Likelihood of False-Positive and False-Negative Decisions in Mastery Testing: An Empirical Bayes Approach

False-positive and false negative decisions are the fundamental errors committed with a mastery test; yet the estimation of the likelihood of committing these errors has not been investigated. Accordingly, two methods of estimating the likelihood of committing these errors are described and then investigated using Monte Carlo techniques. Conditions for obtaining accurate estimates are noted.