ED 13 - ASSESSMENT IN STUDENT LEARNING

Unit 2
Types of Assessment Methods
Dr. Alex B. Facinabao
Lesson 2. Development of Multiple-Choice Items

Lesson Outcome: At the end of Lesson 2, you must have developed/constructed multiple-
choice items.

Teaching Delivery/Outcomes-Based Teaching and Learning

Activate

Most common type of test given in NAT, Civil Service exams, or PRC Board Examinations
is multiple-choice. Let us learn the concepts and the guidelines in constructing multiple choice
items. Through the knowledge we learned, we will be able to critique multiple-choice items and
apply the guidelines in construction of a set of multiple-choice items.

Acquire

A multiple-choice question has two parts: (a) a stem, which contains the problem, and
(b) a list of suggested answers. The stem is typically in the form of question or an incomplete
statement. The incorrect responses are often called distractors, generally four or five responses
are listed and only one is a correct answer. From the list of responses provided, the learner
selects the one that is correct or best. Some questions have only one possible answer that is
correct. In other questions, learners are asked to identify the most appropriate or best answer
from the choices given.

Direct question format has several advantages because it requires the teacher to write
the stem clearly, it minimizes the possibility of giving the learner grammatical clues and it may
be more easily managed by younger and less able learners because less demand is placed on
good reading skills. The incomplete statement format can also be effectively used. In this case,
the stem must be clear and meaningful and not lead into a series of unrelated true-false
statements. A reverse (or negative) version of the direct question format and the incomplete
statement format asks the learner to select the one incorrect choice from a list of correct
choices.

There are several advantages of multiple-choice questions. They (a) can test learners in
several levels of the cognitive domain, (b) can be scored quickly and accurately, (c) are
relatively efficient in term of the number of questions that can be asked in a given amount of
time and space needed to present the answers, (d) can test a wide range of topics in a short
time, and (e) are not significantly affected by guessing.
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There are several disadvantages to multiple-choice questions. First, they are very
difficult to construct and plausible sounding distracters are hard to find. Second, there is a
tendency by teachers to only factual recall questions. Of all the selected-response objective
tests, multiple-choice items require the most time for learner to respond. Finally, test-wise
learners perform better than do non-test-wise learners.

The following are guidelines when writing multiple-choice questions:

1. Use either a direct question or an incomplete statement as the item stem. A direct
question if often preferable.
2. Write items in clear and simple language.
3. Make the response choices as brief as possible.
4. Include only one correct or best answer to every item.
5. With an incomplete statement, place the choices at the end of the statement.
6. Include four to five response choices.
7. State only plausible response choices.
8. List the responses choices below the stem in a vertical, easy-to-read format.
9. Use letters for the response choices.
10. Avoid a pattern of answers.

Checklist for writing multiple-choice items

 Is the stem stated as clearly and simply as possible?
 Is the problem self-contained in the stem?
 Is the stem stated positively?
 Is there only one correct answer?
 Are all the alternatives parallel with respect to grammatical structure, length,
and complexity?
 Are irrelevant clues avoided?
 Are the options short?
 Are complex options avoided?
 Are options placed in logical order?
 Are the distractors plausible to students who do not know the correct answer?
 Are correct answers spread equally among all choices?

Write the stem as a clearly described question or task. We want the stem to be
meaningful by itself. It should be clearly and succinctly communicate what is expected. If the
stem makes sense only by reading the responses, it is poorly constructed. It is best, then, to put
as much information as possible in the stem and not the responses, as long as the stem does
not become too wordy. The general rule is this: Use complete stems and short responses. This
reduces the time students need to read the items and reduces redundant words. Of course, we
do not want to include words in the stem that are not needed; the stem is longer than the
alternatives but is still as succinct as possible. In the end, a good indicator of an effective stem is
if learners have a tentative answer in mind quickly, before reading the options.

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Example:

Poor: Validity refers to

a. the consistency of test scores.
b. the inference made on the basis of test scores.
c. measurement error as determined by standard deviation.
d. the stability of test scores.

Improved: The inference made on the basis of test scores refers to

a. reliability
b. stability
c. validity
d. measurement error

Avoid the use of negatives in the stem. Using the words like not and except will confuse
learners and create anxiety and frustration. Often learners simply overlook the negative, which
leads to invalid results. It also takes longer to respond to such items. So let us try to word the
stem positively. In cases where knowing what not to do is important, as in knowing of the road
for driving, the negative stem is fine as long as the negative word is emphasized by boldface or
underlining.

Example:

Poor: Which of the following is not a mammal?

a. Bird
b. Dog
c. Horse
d. Whale
e. Cat

Improved: Which of the following is a mammal?

a. Bird
b. Frog
c. Whale
d. Fish
e. Lizard

Write the correct response with no irrelevant clues. There should not be any difference
between the correct answer and distractors that would clue learner to respond on some basis
other than the knowledge being tested. Common mistakes include making the correct response
longer, more elaborate or detailed, more general, or more technical. Qualifiers such as usually,
some, and generally are clues to the correct answer.

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Write the distractors to be plausible yet clearly wrong. The distractors are useless if
they are so obviously wrong that learners do not even consider them as possible answers. The
intent of a multiple-choice item is to have students discriminate among what they see as
plausible answers. Distractors should appear to be possibly correct to poorly prepared
students. Distractors are intended to appear to the uniformed and should not result in tricking
students. A good approach to determining good distractors is to identify common
misunderstandings or errors by learners and then write distractors that appeal to learners who
have misunderstandings. Other ways to write good distractors include the use of words that
have verbal associations with the stem, important words (e.g., enduring, major, noteworthy),
length and complexity that matches the stem and the use of qualifiers such as generally or
usually. Poor distractors contain content that is plainly wrong, grammatical inconsistencies or
qualifiers such as always or never, or they state the opposite of the correct answer.

Avoid using “all of the above,” none of the above,” or other special distractors. These
phrases are understandable for a number of reasons. “All of the above” is the right answer if
only two of the options are correct, and some learners may select the first item that is correct
without reading the others. Only when learners need to know what not to do would “none of
the above” be appropriate. Be sure to avoid options like “A and not C but not D” or other
combinations. Items with this type of response tend to measure reasoning ability as much as
knowledge, and especially for measuring knowledge, the items take far too long to answer.

Use each alternative as the correct answer about the same number of times. If we
have four possible choices, about 25 percent of the items should have the same letter as the
correct response (20 percent if there are five choices). This avoids a pattern that can increase
the chance that learners will guess the correct answer. Perhaps we have heard the old
admonition from test-wise learners, “when in doubt, pick C.” There is some truth to this for test
writers who are not careful to use all the responses equally as the correct one.

Simple multiple-choice items can be used to assess reasoning in two ways. One way is to
focus on a particular skill to determine if learners are able to recognize and use that skill. A
second uses is to assess the extent to which learners can use their knowledge and skill in
performing a problem-solving, decision-making, or other reasoning task. The first use is
illustrated with the following examples:

1. Distinguishing fact from opinion

Which of the following statements about our solar system is a fact rather than an
opinion?
A. The moon is made up of attractive white soil.
B. Stars can be grouped into important clusters.
C. A star is formed from a white dwarf.
D. Optical telescopes provide the best way to study the stars.

2. Identifying assumptions
When Patrick said “give me liberty or give me death,” his assumption was that:

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A. everyone would agree with him

B. Thomas Jefferson would be impressed by the speech
C. if he couldn’t have freedom he might as well die
D. his words would be taught to students for years

3. Recognizing bias
Peter told the group that “the ill-prepared, ridiculous senator has no business being
involved in this debate.” Which words make Peter’s statement biased?
A. important, senator
B. important, business
C. ill-prepared, ridiculous
D. debate, involved

4. Comparison
One way in which insects are different from centipedes is that:
A. they are different colors
B. one is an arthropod
C. centipedes have more legs
D. insects have two body parts

5. Analysis
Reginald decided to go sailing with a friend. He took supplies with him so he could
eat, repair anything that might be broken, and find where on the lake he could sail.
Which of the following supplies would best meet his needs?
A. bread, hammer, map
B. milk, bread, screwdriver
C. map, hammer, pliers, screwdriver
D. screwdriver, hammer, pliers

6. Synthesis
What is the main idea in the following paragraph?
Julie picked a pretty blue boat for her first sail. It took her about an hour to
understand all the parts of the boat and another hour to get the sail on. Her first sail
was on a beautiful summer day. She tried to go fast but couldn’t. After several
lessons she was able to make her boat go fast.
A. sailing is fun
B. Julie’s first sail
C. sailing is difficult
D. going fast on a sailboat

The next few examples show how multiple-choice items can be used to assess the
learners’ ability to perform a reasoning task.

1. Hypothesizing

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If there were a significant increase in the number of hawks in a given are,

A. the number of plants would increase
B. the number of mice would increase
C. there would be fewer hawk nests
D. the number of mice would decrease

2. Problem solving
Farmers want to be able to make more money for the crops they grow, but too
many farmers are growing too many crops. What can the farmers do to make more
money?
A. try to convince the public to pay higher prices
B. agree to produce fewer crops
C. reduce the number of farmers
D. work on legislation to turn farmland into parks

3. Critical thinking
Peter is deciding which car to buy. He is impressed with sales representative for the
Ford, and he likes the color of the Buick. The Ford is smaller and gets more miles to a
gallon, The Buick takes larger tires and has a smaller trunk. More people can ride in
the Ford. Which car should Peter purchase if he wants to do everything he can to
ensure that his favorite lake does not become polluted?
A. Ford
B. Buick
C. Either car
D. Can’t decide from the information provided.

4. Predicting
Suppose that Cebu, which grows most of the country’s corn, suffered from draught
for several years and produce much less corn than usual. What would happen to the
price of corn?
A. The price would rise.
B. The price would fall.
C. The price would stay the same.
D. People would eat less corn.

Multiple-choice items can be used in both learning targets the Knowledge and simple
understanding and deep understanding and reasoning.

Apply

1. Use an old test paper, containing multiple-choice items to critique based on

guidelines in constructing multiple-choice items. Improve those items which are not
compliance with the guidelines.

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Assess

1. Select a chapter in a textbook of the subject you will be teaching in (Elementary,

Junior High School, or Senior High School). Write the objectives/outcomes and
prepare a 20-item multiple-choice test to measure the set objectives/outcomes. Let
three of your classmates critique your test and revise the items that need
improvement.

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