Writing Selection Items Multiple Choice Reference Assessment of

Writing Selection Items Multiple Choice

Reference: Assessment of Student Achievement, 10 th edition By C. Keith Waugh and Norman E. Gronlund

Chapter 6 – Writing Selection Items (Multiple Choice) • Studying this chapter should enable you to: – Describe the characteristics of multiple-choice items – Describe the strengths and limitations of multiple-choice items – Distinguish between well-stated and poorly stated multiple-choice items

Chapter 6 – Writing Selection Items (Multiple Choice) • Studying this chapter should enable you to (continued): – Identify and correct faults in poorly stated multiple-choice items – Match multiple-choice items to intended learning outcomes – Construct multiple-choice items that are well stated, relevant to important learning outcomes, and free of defects

Nature of Multiple-Choice Items • Parts of an Item: – Stem - the question or incomplete sentence. – Alternatives - the choices – Distracters - the incorrect choices

Uses Of Multiple-Choice Items • Remember Items (DOK 1) – Measures the degree to which material is remembered • Understand Items (DOK 2) – Measures the degree to which material is remembered and understood • Application Items (DOK 3) – Measures the degree to which material is remembered, understood, and can be applied

Writing Multiple-Choice Items • General Rules – Nothing in the item should prevent an informed student from answering correctly – Nothing in the item should increase the probability that an uninformed student will answer correctly

Writing Multiple-Choice Items • Guidelines when writing items – Design each item to measure a learning outcome – Present a single clearly formulated problem in the stem – State the stem in simple, clear language – Put as much wording as possible in the stem – State the stem in positive form, wherever possible

Writing Multiple-Choice Items • Guidelines when writing items – Emphasize negative wording whenever it is used in the stem (e. g. , bold letters) – Make certain that the intended answer is correct and clearly best – Make all alternatives grammatically consistent with the stem and parallel in form – Avoid verbal clues that might enable students to select the correct answer or to eliminate an incorrect alternative

Writing Multiple-Choice Items • Guidelines when writing items – Make the distracters plausible and attractive to the uninformed – Vary the relative length of the correct answer to eliminate length as a clue – Avoid using the alternative “all of the above” and use “none of the above” with caution – Vary the position of the correct answer in a random manner

Writing Multiple-Choice Items • Guidelines when writing items – Control the difficulty of the item either by varying the problem in the stem or by changing the alternatives – Make certain each item is independent of the other items in the test – Use an efficient item format – Follow the normal rules of grammar – Break (or bend) any of these rules if necessary to improve item effectiveness