MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Faculty MeetingFebruary 6, 2013

Rate yourself on your ability to write a multiple choice question.

Write two things you consider when writing a multiple-choice question.

Eh, I’m okI’m terrible at it.

I should be doing this presentation

Multiple Choice items are appropriate for use with objectives that call for the students to do tasks such as recognize, distinguish between, select, estimate, infer, predict, relate, categorize, etc. (level of Blooms)

Multiple Choice Questions (Selected Response Items) Advantages

Can be used to measure a wide variety of learning outcomes

Permit wide sampling and broad coverage of a content domain

Are reliable and efficient to score

Can provide useful diagnostic information

Disadvantages Items are difficult to

write well Items cannot measure

certain types of skills Performance on MC

items can be influenced by student characteristics unrelated to the subject of measurement, such as reading ability and “test-wiseness”

Characteristics of a Multiple Choice Item

MOST of Earth is covered by

land. water. trees. desert.

Stem

Key/Correct Answer Distractors

Steps in Constructing a Multiple Choice Question1. Decide which standard or core content

you wish to assess.2. Identify the major concept(s) or learning

targets.3. Decide how deeply you wish to assess

this concept-what DOK level is acceptable for the question.

4. Design the stem or question.5. Design the key and distractors

Considerations The item stems should be stated in positive

terms as much as possible. The use of negatives (e.g., “not”) in both

the item stem and the answer choices is very confusing.

Avoid the use of absolute terms (e.g., always, never, all, none, only) in the distractors as much as possible.

Whenever possible, avoid answer choices that are mutually exclusive opposites (e.g., living/non-living, fiction/nonfiction).

Additional Considerations Avoid “what do you think…” Try to keep the stem shorter than four

sentences. List alternatives vertically beneath the

stem, beginning a new line with each response.

Have students circle the letter beside their response to avoid scoring problems reading student handwriting.

Additional Considerations Number the questions (stems), and use capital or

lowercase letters for the responses. The position (A, B, C, etc.) of the correct answer

should vary from question to question so there is no pattern that could lead to predicting the correct answer.

The stem and answer choices should appear on the same page.

Avoid using language in the question that might accidentally lead students to favor an answer based on language alone.

Additional Considerations When referring to a map, table, or figure, label it

for easy reference and develop an introductory sentence about the graphic that precedes it on the page.

One question should not give a clue to the answer of another question.

Avoid composing alternatives in which there are only microscopically fine distinctions between the answers, unless the ability to make these distinctions is the primary target or standard being assessed.

Additional Considerations Avoid

All of the aboveNone of the above

Avoid making it easy to eliminate distracters. The question loses its measurement value.

Find the flaw:

According to the passage, where do most home accidents occur?

A. in the kitchen

B. on the cutting boards

C. on the stove-top burners

D. in hot ovens

A style of architecture that uses the Roman arch, thick walls, and dimly lit interiors is called

A. Gothic.

B. modern.

C. Romanesque.

D. Byzantine.

In The Prince, Renaissance author, Machiavelli, instructs the ruling monarchy in methods of statesmanship and argues

A. for reconciliation of faith and reason

B. that the ends justify the means.

C. for the rise of the common man.

D. for allowing freedom of thought.

Some students want to build a pond near their school yard.

This change will MOST LIKELYA. increase the frog population and be

harmful to the grass in the area.

B. be harmful to both frogs and grass.

C. have little effect on the plants in the area.

D. cause most animals to leave the area.

Which is a reason Mike went to the park?

A. He wanted to play with his friends.

B. He did not want to go to school.

C. He liked playing on the swings.

D. He hoped to find his notebook.

Janice can best be described as

A. angry.

B. mean.

C. rude.

D. caring.

A. 60 red, 40 blue

B. 50 red, 50 blue

C. 70 red, 30 blue

D. 30 red, 70 blue

To conduct an experiment, Mike pulls marbles from a bag that contains 100 marbles. Each time he pulls a marble he records the color and then returns it to the bag. He does this 10 times. His results are shown below. Theoretically, how many red marbles and blue marbles are in the bag?

Red / Blue

Answer options Avoid lifting phrases directly from text. Write the correct answer before writing

the distractors. Answer options should be about the

same length and parallel in grammatical structure For example…

The term “side effect” of a drug:

A. refers to any action of a drug in the body other than the one the doctor wanted the drug to have.

B. is the chain effect of a drug..

C. additionally benefits the drug.

Answer options Avoid lifting phrases directly from text. Write the correct answer before writing the

distracters. Answer options should be about the same length

and parallel in grammatical structure. Limit the number of answer options. Distracters must be incorrect, but plausible. If a recognizable key word appears in the correct

answer, it should appear in some or all of the distracters as well.For example…

Every organism is made of cells and every cell comes from another cell. This is the:

A. Relativity Theory

B. Evolution Theory

C. Heat Theory

D. Cell Theory

Rate yourself on your ability to write a multiple choice question.

Write two things you consider when writing a multiple-choice question.

This information was helpful. Yes or No

Eh, I’m okI’m terrible at it.

I should be doing this presentation