Open AccessA practical discussion to avoid common pitfalls when constructing multiple choice questions items
Author(s) -
Eiad AlFaris,
Ibrahim A. Alorainy,
Ahmad A. Abdel-Hameed,
Mohammed Othman Al-Rukban
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of family and community medicine/maǧalaẗ ṭib al-usraẗ wa al-muǧtamaʼ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.292
H-Index - 4
eISSN - 2229-340X
pISSN - 1319-1683
DOI - 10.4103/1319-1683.71992
Subject(s) - multiple choice , medicine , context (archaeology) , quality (philosophy) , reliability (semiconductor) , key (lock) , computer science , epistemology , significant difference , philosophy , physics , computer security , quantum mechanics , biology , paleontology , power (physics)
This paper is an attempt to produce a guide for improving the quality of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) used in undergraduate and postgraduate assessment. Multiple Choice Questions type is the most frequently used type of assessment worldwide. Well constructed, context rich MCQs have a high reliability per hour of testing. Avoidance of technical items flaws is essential to improve the validity evidence of MCQs. Technical item flaws are essentially of two types (i) related to testwiseness, (ii) related to irrelevant difficulty. A list of such flaws is presented together with discussion of each flaw and examples to facilitate learning of this paper and to make it learner friendly. This paper was designed to be interactive with self-assessment exercises followed by the key answer with explanations.