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Prospective Implementation of Correction for Guessing in Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology Multiple‐Choice Examinations: Did Student Performance Improve?
Author(s) -
Prihoda Thomas J.,
Pinckard R. Neal,
McMahan C. Alex,
Littlefield John H.,
Jones Anne Cale
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2008.72.10.tb04593.x
Subject(s) - oral examination , medicine , educational measurement , dentistry , medical physics , pathology , psychology , medical education , oral health , pedagogy , curriculum
A standard correction for random guessing on multiple‐choice examinations was implemented prospectively in an Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course for second‐year dental students. The correction was a weighted scoring formula for points awarded for correct answers, incorrect answers, and unanswered questions such that the expected gain in the multiple‐choice examination score due to random guessing was zero. An equally weighted combination of four examinations using equal numbers of short‐answer questions and multiple‐choice questions was used for student evaluation. Scores on both types of examinations, after implementation of the correction for guessing on the multiple‐choice component (academic year 2005–06), were compared with the previous year (academic year 2004–05) when correction for guessing was not used for student evaluation but was investigated retrospectively. Academically, the two classes were comparable as indicated by the grade distributions in a General Pathology course taken immediately prior to the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course. Agreement between scores on short‐answer examinations and multiple‐choice examinations was improved in the 2005–06 class compared with the 2004–05 class. Importantly, the test score means were higher on both the short‐answer and multiple‐choice examinations in the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course, and the standard deviations were significantly smaller in 2005–06 compared to 2004–05; these differences reflected an upward shift in the lower part of the grade distributions to higher grades in 2005–06. Furthermore, when students were classified by their grade in the General Pathology course, students receiving a C (numerical grade of 70–79 percent) in General Pathology had significantly improved performance in the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology course in 2005–06, relative to 2004–05, on both short‐answer and multiple‐choice examinations representing an aptitude‐treatment interaction. We interpret this improved performance as a response to a higher expectation imposed on the 2005–06 students by the prospective implementation of correction for guessing.