The function of the incorrect alternatives is to serve as distractors,which should be selected by students who did not achieve the learning outcome but ignored by students who did achieve the learning outcome. The cognitive load is increased when the stem is constructed with an initial or interior blank, so this construction should be avoided.ġ. A question stem is preferable because it allows the student to focus on answering the question rather than holding the partial sentence in working memory and sequentially completing it with each alternative (Statman 1988). The stem should be a question or a partial sentence. If a significant learning outcome requires negative phrasing, such as identification of dangerous laboratory or clinical practices, the negative element should be emphasized with italics or capitalization.Ĥ.

The stem should be negatively stated only when significant learning outcomes require it.Students often have difficulty understanding items with negative phrasing (Rodriguez 1997).

The stem should not contain irrelevant material, which can decrease the reliability and the validity of the test scores (Haldyna and Downing 1989).ģ. A stem that does not present a clear problem, however, may test students’ ability to draw inferences from vague descriptions rather serving as a more direct test of students’ achievement of the learning outcome.Ģ. A stem that presents a definite problem allows a focus on the learning outcome. The stem should be meaningful by itselfand should present a definite problem. The alternatives consist of one correct or best alternative, which is the answer, and incorrect or inferior alternatives, known as distractors.ġ. The key to taking advantage of these strengths, however, is construction of good multiple choice items.Ī multiple choice item consists of a problem, known as the stem, and a list of suggested solutions, known as alternatives. Because students can typically answer a multiple choice item much more quickly than an essay question, tests based on multiple choice items can typically focus on a relatively broad representation of course material, thus increasing the validity of the assessment. Validity:Validity is the degree to which a test measures the learning outcomes it purports to measure. In addition, the objective scoring associated with multiple choice test items frees them from problems with scorer inconsistency that can plague scoring of essay questions. The reliability is enhanced when the number of MC items focused on a single learning objective is increased. Multiple choice test items are less susceptible to guessing than true/false questions, making them a more reliable means of assessment. Reliability:Reliability is defined as the degree to which a test consistently measures a learning outcome. For example, they are not an effective way to test students’ ability to organize thoughts or articulate explanations or creative ideas. Because students are choosing from a set of potential answers, however, there are obvious limits on what can be tested with multiple choice items. Versatility: Multiple choice test items can be written to assess various levels of learning outcomes, from basic recall to application, analysis, and evaluation. Multiple choice test items have several potential advantages: Multiple choice test questions, also known as items, can be an effective and efficient way to assess learning outcomes. Considerations for Writing Multiple Choice Items that Test Higher-order Thinking.Additional Guidelines for Multiple Choice Questions.(2013) Writing good multiple choice test questions. Writing Good Multiple Choice Test Questions by Cynthia J.

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