Assignment

Selection type Tests (Multiple Choice, True False). Their

advantages, limitations and rules for constructing various objective
test items.

Selection type Tests (Multiple Choice, True False). Their advantages,

limitations and rules for constructing various objective test items.

There are various types of tests in education, from objective to subjective in diagnostic tests.
Objective questions require students to pick out a response from a list of choices furnished to
them or to supply a word or short phrase. Subjective queries permit the student to formulate an
authentic answer in their own words.

Selection type tests (Objective)

The selection-type tests are a set of questions that come along with alternatives or options.
Hence, the candidates need to select solely the correct option based on their reminiscence and
learned facts. Very familiar to most of us are multiple choice questions, true and false, and
matching columns included in selection-type questions. So we move to the first category, which
is multiple choice questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

Multiple choice tests are an effective and easy way to measure learning. MCQs can be
quickly assessed and provide timely feedback to students. These questions are used only in some
competitive exams or in combination with other question formats, such as most exams conducted
by exam boards and other institutions.
MCQs cannot be emphasized when the number of candidates is huge and the results need to be
declared within a few days. It can be effective for any level of course outcome. It consists of two
parts: the stem, which states the problem, and a list of three to five alternatives, one of which is
the correct (key) answer, and the others are distracters (incorrect options that draw the less
knowledgeable pupil away from the correct response).

Multiple choice questions consist of three obligatory parts:

1. The question (“body of the question”)

2. The correct answer (“the key of the question”)
3. Several incorrect alternatives (the so-called “distracters”) and optional (and especially
valuable in self-assessment)
4. Feedback comment on the student’s answer.

The stem may be stated as a direct question or as an incomplete statement.

For example:

Direct question

Which is the capital city of Pakistan? ————— (Stem)

A. Paris. ————————————— (Distracter)
B. Lisbon. ————————————– (Distracter)
C. Islamabad. ———————————- (Key)

Types of Multiple-Choice Questions

The primary bifurcation of these questions is based on the number of answer options the
respondents can select while responding to the survey. So, single-choice questions and multiple-
choice (multiple-answer) questions are the two available main question types. Some types of
multiple-choice questions are below:

1. Single-select multiple-choice question

Single select questions are the questions where a respondent is asked to pick only one answer,
from a predetermined set of responses of at least two or more options. For example,

How satisfied are you with our product or services?

A. Very satisfied
B. Somewhat satisfied
C. Yet to form an opinion
D. Not satisfied
 E. Completely dissatisfied

2. Multi-select multiple-choice question

These types of questions can have more than one correct answer. For example,

Which of the following foods do you like to eat?

A. Pasta
B. Burger
C. Sushi
D. Pho
E. Pizza
F. Select All

3. Drop-down multiple-choice question

Allows respondents to choose an answer from a list of choices presented in the dropdown menu.

What is your highest level of education?

A. High school or equivalent
B. Technical or occupational certificate
C. Associate degree
D. Bachelor’s degree
E. Master’s degree
F. Doctorate

4. Star-rating multiple-choice question

A star rating question is a type of multiple-choice question that allows the user to rank attributes
on a point scale represented by the stars.
5. Thumbs Up/Down multiple-choice question
For this multiple-choice question, an image is used to show thumbs up (for sharing positive
feedback) and thumbs down (for sharing negative feedback).

6. Text Slider multiple-choice question

A good alternative to the open-ended questions, a text slider multiple choice question allows the
respondents to answer on a text scale by dragging a slider.

Advantages of MCQs
Versatility
Create multiple-choice test items to assess learning outcomes at different levels, from simple
recall to application, analysis, and evaluation.

Reliability
Reliability is the degree to which a test consistently measures learning outcomes. Multiple-
choice test items are less easy to guess than True/false questions, making them a more reliable
assessment tool.

Validity
Validity is the degree to which a test measures the learning outcome.
Tests based on multiple-choice items can typically focus on a relatively extensive presentation of
the course material since students can usually respond much faster to multiple-choice items than
to essay questions, thereby increasing the validity of the evaluation. (Blum, 2013)

Pros
1. MCQs are a flexible questioning technique.
2. Quickly and easily scored manually or electronically
3. Created to test a wide range of higher-order thinking skills
4. One exam covers many content areas and can answered in one class period
5. The use of multiple-choice tests is attractive to instructors for a variety of reasons.

Cons
1. Test your reading and writing skills frequently. If students read the questions carefully,
they can figure out the answers, even if they have little knowledge of the topic.
2. Give unprepared students a chance to guess. If their guess is right they can evaluate what
they don't know.
3. Expose students to incorrect information that can influence how they think about the
content later
4. Build over time and skills (especially good questions)

True/False

True/false questions are great for assessing surface knowledge, but they can also be designed to
assess higher-order thinking. As with multiple-choice, students can immediately answer true or
false, right or wrong, and agree or disagree, correct and incorrect allowing test designers to
assess more content areas on the exam. Marks can also be added quickly and easily.

Forms of Constant Alternative Items

 1. True-False variety (T/F)

● Starfish belongs to the class Pisces.

● (T/F)

2. Right-Wrong variety (R/W)

● Isosceles triangle has all three sides equal.

● (R/W)

3. Agree-Disagree variety (A/D)

● Every religion teaches hatred for other religions.

● (A/D)

4. Yes-No variety (Yes/No)

● Is potato an underground stem?

● (Yes/No)

Pros
1. Earn scores quickly and easily
2. Easy and quick to grade but time-consuming to create
3. Most often used to assess familiarity with course content and to check for popular
misconceptions
Cons

1. One of the least reliable forms of assessment

2. Often, a statement is written in a way that a large portion of it is true except for one small
often trivial piece of information that makes the entire statement untrue.
3. Encourage guessing and reward correct guesses.

Limitations of objective type tests:

1. Goals such as the process of organizing things logically and consistently cannot be
assessed.
2. Guessing is possible. Arguably, including several factors can reduce the chances of
success.
 3. Results can be misleading if respondents mark all answers as correct.
4. Objective test questions have a difficult structure but the answers are easy.
5. Requires more analysis than synthesis
6. Candidates' language skills are not questioned at all.
7. Printing costs are significantly higher than paper exams.

Rules for constructing various objective test items

To construct objective-type test items, the teacher or the test maker needs to have the following
required skills:

1. Thorough grasp of the subject matter

2. A clear conception of the learning outcomes
3. Psychological understanding of students
4. Sound judgment, persistence, and creativity
5. The stem should contain the specific problem/content area.
6. The entire stem must always precede the alternatives/options.
7. All parts of the question should be on the same page.
8. The stem should be meaningful, simple and clear.
9. There should be no ambiguity. Keep vocabulary simple.
10. Avoid omissions/blanks in the stem.
11. Keep each item independent from other items. Do not give any clue to the correct answer
in the statements.
12. Try to test/measure a different point in each question.
13. The stem should be free of grammatical errors.
14. Avoid extreme words in stem and alternatives such as ‘never, and ‘not’.
15. Select introductory material that is relevant to the objectives of the course.
16. Construct test items that require analysis and interpretation of the introductory material.
17. Make the length of test items roughly proportional to the length of the introductory
material.
18. In constructing test items for an interpretive exercise, observe all pertinent suggestions
for constructing other objective test items
19. Avoid negative statements, unless a significant learning outcome is required. If to be
used, gather such statements together and make these either capitalized/boldface/Italic. If
written by hand then these may be underlined.

Conclusion:
Teachers, administrators, and counsellors should use both summative and formative
testing types. However, The more formative testing is used, the more likely students are to
perform well on summative tests. Teachers should ask themselves what exactly they want to test,
which method is best suited for this purpose, and consider the shortcomings of each method.
Recognizing this allows you to minimize problems and conduct more effective testing.

References
https://umanitoba.ca/centre-advancement-teaching-learning/support/multiple-choice-questions.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/professional-development/teachers/assessing-learning/
articles/test-question-types.
https://www.lumoa.me/blog/multiple-choice-survey-questions/
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/statistics-2/objective-type-test-meaning-merits-and-
limitations-statistics/92615
https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
different-types-of-test-questions/
https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-teaching-excellence/catalogs/tip-sheets/exam-questions-types-
characteristics-and-suggestions
https://www.academia.edu/41433445/
Unit_28_Objective_Type_Test_Advantages_and_Notes_Limitations
https://surveysparrow.com/blog/multiple-choice-questions/