SUGGESTIONS FOR USING AND WRITING TESTING ITEMS

ITEM TYPE Multiple Choice PROS

more answer options (4-5) reduce the chance of guessing that an item is correct many items can aid in student comparison and reduce ambiguity

CONS
reading time increased with more answers reduces the number of questions that can be presented difficult to write four or five reasonable choices

True/False

greatest flexibility in type of takes more time to write questions outcome assessed: knowledge goals, application goals, analysis goals, etc. can present many items at most difficult question to write once objectively easy to score ambiguous terms can confuse many few answer options (2) increase the chance of guessing that an item is correct; need many items to overcome this effect efficient difficult to assess higher-order outcomes (i.e., analysis, synthesis, used to assess student evaluation goals) understanding of associations, relationships, definitions a variation on multiple hard to design, must locate choice, true/false, or matching, the appropriate introductory material interpretive exercise presents a new map, short reading, or other students with good reading skills introductory material that the are often at an advantage student must analyze tests student ability to apply and transfer prior knowledge to new material used to misconceptions, reactions assess popular cause-effect useful for assessing higherorder skills such as applications, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation less construction time, easier more grading time, hard to score to write can yield great variety of responses encourages more not efficient to test large bodies of appropriate study habits content if you give the student the choice of

Matching

Interpretive Exercise
(the above three item types are often criticized for assessing only lower-order skills; the interpretive exercise is a way to assess higher-order skills w/ multiple choice, T/F, and matching items)

Essay

three or four essay options, you can measures higher-order find out what they know, but not outcomes (i.e., analysis, synthesis, or what they don't know evaluation goals), creative thinking, writing ability measures higher-order labor and time-intensive Performance outcomes (i.e., analysis, synthesis, or Assessments need to obtain inter-rater reliability (includes essays evaluation goals) when using more than one rater above, along with speeches, demonstrations, presentations, etc.)

DESIGNING THE MOST POPULAR TEST ITEMS

Tips for Writing Multiple Choice Questions
Avoid responses that are interrelated. One answer should not be similar to others. Avoid negatively stated items: "Which of the following is not a method of food irradiation?" It is easy to miss the the negative word "not." If you use negatives, bold-face the negative qualifier to ensure people see it. Avoid making your correct response different from the other responses, grammatically, in length, or otherwise. Avoid the use of "none of the above." When a student guesses "none of the above," you still do not know if they know the correct answer. Avoid repeating words in the question stem in your responses. For example, if you use the word "purpose" in the question stem, do not use that same word in only one of the answers, as it will lead people to select that specific response.

Tips for Writing True/False Questions

Do not use definitive words such as "only," "none," and "always," that lead people to choose false, or uncertain words such as "might," "can," or "may," that lead people to choose true. Do not write negatively stated items, as they are confusing to interpret: "Thomas Jefferson did not write the Declaration of Independence." True or False? People have a tendency to choose "true," so design at least 60% of your T/F items to be "false" to further minimize guessing effects. Use precise words (100, 20%, half), rather than vague or qualitative language (young, small, many). Avoid making the correct answer longer than the incorrect answer (a giveaway).

 Use plausible, realistic responses. Create grammatically parallel items to avoid giving away the correct response. For example, if you have four responses, do not start three of them with verbs and one of them with a noun. Always place the "term" in your question stem and the "definition" as one of the response options.