When you want to test the width of knowledge, how broadly the student knows about the subject, use multiple choice, when the depth of knowledge, i.e. how deeply one knows, use essay type or short answer type; according to requirement
Dear Azzam, very interesting question. In my opinion and experience, these questions are with no value if they are not designed to measure the higher students'cognitive processes and to connect what have been learned with the practice. However, it is very difficult, maybe even impossible to design multi choice or questions with one answer which will reflect these competencies at students. Of course, I use this types of questions too in mu practice, but unfortunately, even they are well prepared they will not give information about the higher processes and it is hard to design such question which will refer to the application level. For example, when analysing a poem, how will one measures the feeling the poem has developed at students during reading, how will one measures the stylistic effects of the poem etc. To sum up, the questions are good enough for some purposes of the assessment but not to all of them.
Best regards,
Violeta Janusheva
This depends on the level of understanding you want to check, which I think Nisha has mentioned. If you want a quick evaluation, then use multiple choice-because this in fact supports their understanding. This is because the correct answer is given to them and all they have to do is pick it out and at the same reinforces their growing knowledge.
Depth of knowledge is surely evaluated by the students having to reproduce without support the knowledge content and having to use it in applying it in a context.
for example i was a foreign language teacher. Well you could test a verb conjugation by giving them multiple choice so they pick out the correct verb ending in French or Spanish. Then they will have to be able to use it by creating a dialogue or writing an account of an event. Different assessments for different levels of knowledge. Dave
HI Azzam,
Multiple choice is good for a diagnostic test to quickly check knowledge and for some fact recall questions. Although it can be quickly marked, it is not the best way to support learning because it suffers from drawbacks: some questions are answered correctly by chance and it mainly tests lower orders of knowledge.
Short and long answers develop literacy, can be synoptic (pull several parts of the module together) and allow for higher degrees of knowledge and skills to be demonstrated. Of course, they take longer to mark and if handwritten, can be sometimes a trouble to read.
I would say a combination of all three is good, depending on what you need to achieve and what learning and skills you want to develop in your students.
There are several issues here. It depends if you want to aid learning or to grade students - that is, some must be less successful. A relevant issue is assessment of the academic. In a university it is generally acceptable to have 10% with a top grade and 5% failure. If a lot of students fail or a lot get top grade, then the academic will often be criticised by the institution. High grades will generally get student satisfaction in surveys. I have known departments use software to adjust marks so that every exam gets the desired average and standard deviation.
Multiple choice can be good for self-assessment by the students, particularly if you explain wrong answers. When set as online homework and assigned marks, you are likely to get cheating, in that the correct answers will be passed around. This method is sometimes used for pass/fail with multiple attempts allowed. I have been tested in this way for safety certification. You simply go round again like losing lives in a computer game.
A good version of multiple choice in exams uses simple calculations. For example: liquid is in turbulent flow in a pipe. If the pressure drop is doubled, what will happen to the flow rate? Will it be:
(a) x 2 (b) x 1.414 (c) stay the same (d) x 0.707 (e) x 0.5? This would also be useful for self-assessment and feedback.
One system you might like to consider has half the marks from questions in short or multiple-choice answers with somewhat longer answers required for the rest in order for the better students to demonstrate deeper understanding and a better ability to communicate.
Every tool used for assessing the students has got its own validity, reliability and then educational impact.
It is always better to have judicious mix of tools of assessment.
Written assessment, observational assessment , OSCE, Viva-voce etc shall increase the reliability and ultimately validity.
Dear Azzam
To test comprehensively we have to assess students for all the three domains of learning i. e., cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.The learning in cognitive domain can be assessed by written or oral tests. In written tests questions of objective types, very short answer , short answer or essay type can be given. Short answer type questions can cover nearly whole prescribed content as a large number of questions can be given for a duration of test thus increasing curriculum validity . Essay type questions provide opportunity to student to express his leaning fully but it deceases reliability. Written examination in some cases can be used to test learning in affective domain also e. g., seeking the explanation of a poem and to some extent in psychomotor domain also e. g., skill of drawing. Practical examination in forms of activities, project, demonstration and experiment can be used for testing learning in psychomotoar as well as affecive and cognitive domains.
R S SINDHU profrssindhufansclub.wordprss.com
Dear Azzam,
To measure the ability of students different types of questions are needed for every exam. Selection questions (True/False, multiple choice and matching) questions have their advantage in covering several topics in a simple format. However, they also have drawbacks that students may make their choices through guess. Short answer questions are useful to measure students' understanding and help in balancing the grades (mild marking will replace using a curve to reduce the number of failed students). Short answer questions could be previously answered in the book or class or have open answers. Many students memorize the answer (if available) which empty the meaning of having such a question as a measurement. The third type of questions is a problem to solve (such as a program to write, or design of model, etc.). This makes the real measure of the students' ability in thinking.
As a blend of 40%,+40%+20%, or 30%+30%+40% of the three different types mentioned above proved to be perfect for all type of questions and a good measure to the knowledge gained.
I don't prefer long questions in the exam, because it needs more time on the expense of other types of questions. Long questions suits in-class or homework exercises and activities.
MC questions are a very limited way of testing. In Germany MC-testing is even forbiddden in some Bundeslanden (Prov.)
Use of Bloom Taxanomy will help. I try to look for the verbs when designing questions. It should be a combination of Describe. What. Why. How. Analyze. Design. In our school MC not more than 20%. Sometimes as an old timer I ask students to express the answer in form of a mind map Image .
Hi,
I lot will depend on what you want to be tested. If it is factual information MCQs are better. For conceptual you might think of short or long answers.
Joydeep
It depends that what is being assessed. If there is a combination of these three type of question , it is much better.
Sometimes it depends with the intellectual ability of the learners. The level of the learners i.e pre -scholars high school or university students, can also be a determinant factor on the appropriate pattern of questions to use to use
It all depends on what you are testing for. You can check any educational psychology text for some very good information about this.
I am for two kinds of testing the students' particularly the future pedagogues (teachers) skills. The first one is the qualitative one, when they are to write some long -term essays that enhance their reflective attitude. The essays must be done according to the principles that evoke logical, methodological thinking; the second one is short -time testing with open questions that leave the space for analysis, interpretation nad creative reflection as well.
Azzam,
As many have said, it all depends on what your learning objectives are. I prefer long answer.essay questions because at higher level thinking, and let me know more about what a student knows. However, these take longer to answer and without some questions that can be answered quickly, it is difficult to cover all of your learning objectives fairly on a time-dependent exam.
Hi Dr according to all styles required because each of them measuring a certain level of Bloom's taxonomy levels greetings
Hi Azzam, through my personal experience as a teacher for the past 20 years, I would say that the students ability and capability is to be considered in answering any kind of questions. Back in Malaysia, we do practice the short term, long term as well as the MCQ type of answers.
Dr. Azzam,
Thank you for your insightful question. In my experience and research in nursing education the multiple-choice (MC) format is by far the most common. Many teachers feel long answer (essay questions) are very helpful to demonstrate student knowledge, however grading and completion time for both students and faculty ultimately decreases the use of this type of question. Use of the MC style question in nursing education is supported in three ways: 1) questions must be written at the application level and above, there is no reason for MC questions to be knowledge level only, 2) alternate item forms are encouraged ("choose all that apply") and 3) the US nursing qualifying exam (NCLEX) is predominately a MC exam.
These are my thoughts on the subject, I look forward to further discussion.
Brenda
I have used all kind of test, but since 5 years ago I am using Competence based test, that consist in to create questions (real situations) with many dates, figures, features and issues that can be show all the context to the student, and then make questions of differents levels of difficulties since conceptual until resolutions. It´s kind of test let 1) measure the capacity to comprehensive reading, 2) to interpret the values, figures etc 3) to find out the solutions of the problem. The value of each question is depend of the level of difficulties. You can use simple selection, false or true, a chart, graphic. Finally, for each question the student have a couple of line to justify his selection.
In India, we usually used all the mentioned methods for evaluating the students but most common one is the multiple choice one. The multiple choice method in the present scenario in India will be the best provided 33% marks be deducted for the wrong answers. In this way, a students with a thorough knowledge will excel and others will not. The difficulty level of each question will decide the importance of the question paper.
I usually divide my exams into three parts. The first contains selection questions, like true/false, multiple choices, matching, etc.
The second part contains analysis type questions in which cases are given to students to analyse/understand and answer questions about them (like what is the output of a given program or the meaning of a given model). This part may also include short answer questions.
The third part, I call it design part, asks the student to create something similar to the given cases in part 2. Like write a program, or draw a model, or write a case study.
This article compares three types of questions for assessing student learning: long-term, short-answer, and multi-choice.
- Long-term questions:
- Require the student to apply their knowledge and skills to a complex problem or a realistic scenario over a period of time.
- Useful for assessing higher-order thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creativity.
- Allow the student to demonstrate their ability to work independently, manage their time, and communicate effectively.
- Difficult and time-consuming to design, implement, and grade.
- May introduce some subjectivity and bias in the scoring process.
- Short-answer questions:
- Require the student to provide a brief response to a specific question or prompt.
- Useful for assessing basic factual knowledge and comprehension skills.
- Easy and quick to design, administer, and grade.
- Limited in their ability to measure higher-order thinking skills or complex performance.
- May be influenced by the student's writing ability or language proficiency.
- Multi-choice questions:
- Require the student to select the best answer from a list of options.
- Useful for assessing a wide range of knowledge and skills in an efficient and objective way.
- Provide immediate feedback to the student and the teacher.
- Challenging to design well, as they require careful wording, plausible distractors, and clear alignment with the learning objectives.
- May encourage guessing or test-taking strategies that do not reflect genuine understanding.
The best type of question depends on various factors, such as the purpose of the assessment, the level of difficulty, the content area, and the available resources. A good assessment should use a combination of different types of questions to measure different aspects of learning and provide a comprehensive picture of the student's achievement.
In conclusion, there is no single best type of question to test the student's learning. Each type of question has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of question type should be based on the learning objectives and the context. By using a variety of question types, teachers can create more effective and engaging assessments that can help students improve their learning outcomes.
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