writing objective test items

Master of Arts in Administration & Supervision

EDUC 243 - Educational EvaluationDR. JAMES L. PAGLINAWAN

Writing Objective Test Items

By: SHELAMIE M. SANTILLAN

Chapter 6:2nd Sem. S.Y. 2016-

2017

What is an objective test? measure both your ability

to remember facts and figures and your understanding

of course materials.

What are the

examples of an

objective test items?

/

?f

Objective Test

1. True or False 2.Matching Type

3. Multiple Choice4. Completion

Test

Objective Test

1 TEST

What is it?

Objective Test

1

Measure the ability to identify whether

statements are correct or not.

are usually a declarative statement..

What is it?

True or False

1True or False

are quick & easy to write ,…but good true-false items are not that easy to

write.consider the

following true-false items.

What is it?

Exercise: Put a G in the space next to the items you believe are good true-false items & a P next to the items you feel are poor.

_____1. High-IQ children always get high grades in school._____2. Will Roger said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

True or False

POOR 1. High-IQ children always get high grades in school.

Item no. 1, the word always is an absolute. To some extent, true-false

items depend on absolute judgments. Thus, an alert student

will usually answer “FALSE” to items that include: always, all, never, or

only.

True or False

POOR 1. High-IQ children always get

high grades in school.avoid using terms like all, always, never, or

only. GOOD 1. High-IQ children tend to get

high grades in school.

True or False

Item no. 2 is a good one.

Consider the following situation:

GOOD 2. Will Roger said, “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

True or False

Mrs. Allen, a history teacher & crusader against grade inflation, couldn’t wait to spring her latest

creation on her students. She had spent weeks inserting trick words,

phrases, and complicated grammatical constructions into her 100 item true-

false test. In order to ensure low grades on the test, she allowed only 30

minutes for the test. Although her harried students worked as quickly as they could, no one completed more

than half the items, and no one answered more than 40 items

correctly.

True or False

True or FalseNo one, that is, except Tina. When Tina

handed her test back to Mrs. Allen after two minutes, Mrs. Allen announced, “Class, Tina

has handed in her test! Obviously, she hasn’t read the questions and will earn a zero!” When she scored the test, however, Mrs.

Allen was shocked to see that infact Tina had answered 50 items correctly. She earned the

highest score on the test without even reading Mrs. Allen’s tricky questions.

Confused and embarrassed, Mrs. Allen told the class they would have no more true-false

tests and would have essay tests in the future.

Shortcoming:No matter how well or poorly written, the students have

50% chance of guessing correctly even w/o reading

the item!

True or False

True or false test should be clearly explained before

students begin the test.

1

Suggestions for Writing:True or False

1Directions: Read each of the following statements. If the statement is true, underline the word True. If the statement is false, underline the word False.True False 1.The green coloring material of

the plant leaf is called chlorophyll.True False 2. Petal and sepal are two synonymous word.

Exam

ple

True or FalseSuggestions for Writing:

1Directions: Read each of the following statements. If the statement is true, underline the word True. If the statement is false, underline the word False.True False 1.The green coloring material of

the plant leaf is called chlorophyll.True False 2. Petal and sepal are two synonymous word.

Example

True or FalseSuggestions for Writing:

Construct statements that are definitely true or definitely false, w/o

additional qualifications.

2

Suggestions for Writing:

Example of POOR Statement:

1. The vice-president of the Phils. is elected to that province only. True/False?

2. The vice-president of the Phils. is elected nationwide. True/False?

True or False

Use relatively short statements.

3

Suggestions for Writing:

The shorter the statements are, the better the

understanding will be done.

True or False

31. Aristotle thought that a falling object’s acceleration & speed depended on its mass. While Galileo disagreed & said that all objects fall w/ the same acceleration regardless of their weight/mass. TRUE/FALSE? (Poor)

2. Aristotle’s view of science differs from Galileo’s. TRUE/FALSE? (Better)

Example of POOR statement:

True or FalseSuggestions for Writing:

Keep true & false statements approx.

the same length.

4Some statements have

tendencies to be longer to be absolutely true & false.

True or FalseSuggestions for Writing:

Avoid using double- negative

statements.

5

Students take extra time to decipher & are difficult to

interpret.

True or FalseSuggestions for Writing:

6 Avoid the following:

a. Verbal clues, absolutes, & complex sentences.

b. broad general statements, usually not true/false w/o clarification

c. Terms denoting indefinite degreed. Placing items in systematic ordere. taking statements directly from the

text

6 Suggestions for Writing:True or False

6

Advantages of TRUE-FALSE items:

:1 More material can be

covered than any other item format

2 Take less time to construct

3 Scoring is easier.

True or False

Disadvantages of TRUE-FALSE items:

:1 Tend to emphasize rote

memorization of knowledge

2 Presume answers unequivocally

true/false3 Encourage high

degree of guessing

True or False

Consist of a column of key words on the left side of the page

2

Matching Type

Column of options on the right side of the page

2Keywords:

Column A Column B

_____1. Person who provides schooling for children A. Facilitator_____2. Person who enables a group to B. Tutor find a solution C. Trainer_____3. Persons who instructs adults D. Teacher

in a classroom.

Premises Responses

Matching Type

Good matching items

are not easy to write as you might think.

2

Consider the following matching type items, is it well written or poorly

made?

Matching Type

2Identify the faults in the matching item test

of the 10th

grade American History class on the next presentation.

Matching Type

2Faulty problem of the matching item

test given:1. Homogeneity2. Order of Lists3. Easy Guessing4. Poor Directions

5. Too Many Correct Responses6. Ambiguous Lists

Matching Type

Suggestions for writing Matching Items

1Keep questions & options short & homogeneous.

2 Make sure all the options are plausible distractors for each

description

3 Use longer phrases as question & shorter phrases as options.

Suggestions for writing Matching Items

4 Number each question & use alphabetical letters

for the options

5 Include more options than descriptions.

6In the directions, specify the basis for matching….

Advantages of Matching Items

1 Are usually simple to construct

and score

2 Suited to measure associations

between facts

Advantages of Matching Items

3 Matching questions can be more efficient

than MC questions

4Matching questions

reduce the effects of guessing

Disadvantages of Matching Items

1 Tend to ask students trivial information

2 Emphasize memorization

3Limiting the size

of particular matching item

Used to measure knowledge outcomes

& other types of learning outcomes.

3

Student choose one answer from a number of choices supplied.

Multiple Choice

3multiple choice question is

consists of :

Multiple Choice•Stem – text of the question•Options – choices provided

after the stem•The key – correct answer

in the list of options•Distracters – incorrect

answers in the list of options

3Multiple Choice

multiple choice question is consists of :

3Http://Theelearningcoach.Com/Elearning_design/Rules-for-multiple-choice-questions/

Multiple Choice

3Suggestion for writing multiple

choice:1 Stem of the item should clearly

formulate a problem.

2 Be sure there’s one correct answer

3 Be sure distractors are plausible.

4 Use negative questions if knowledge being tested requires

3Suggestion for writing multiple

choice:5 Include 3 – 5 options to test

knowledge rather than guessing.

6 Increase the similarity of content among options.

7 Use the option “none of the above” sparingly…

8 Avoid using “all of the above”.

Advantages of the Multiple Choice Item

1Versatile in measuring objectives

from knowledge to evaluation level….

2 Substantial amount of course material can be sampled in

relatively short time

3 Scoring is highly objective.

Advantages of the Multiple Choice Item

4So that students must

discriminate among option that vary in degree of correctness.

5 Effects of guessing are reduced.

6 are amenable to item analysis

Disadvantages of the Multiple Choice Item

1 Can be time consuming to write

2If not carefully written, M-C

questions can sometimes have more than one defensible

correct answer.

4Type of test that

includes series of sentences

which certain important

words/phrase has been omitted.

Completion Test

1 Items should require

single-word answer

Suggestion for writing Completion Test:

Suggestion for writing Completion Test:

2 Be sure, statement poses a problem

3Be sure, the answer required is factually

√

4 Omit only key words..

Suggestion for writing Completion Test:

Suggestion for writing Completion Test:

5 Blank is near the end of the statement6Numerical answer is

to indicate units…

Advantages of the Completion Test:

Relatively easy to construct

Guessing is eliminatedCompletion question,

take less time to complete….

Disadvantages of Completion Test:

Encourage low level of response complexityResponses can be difficult to scoreRestriction of answer tends to measure the recall of specific facts,

names…etc.

Thank you for Listening

Have a nice day God bless everyone!The end