CONSTRUCTING GOOD MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ITEMS
CONSTRUCTING GOOD MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST ITEMS Constructed and written by M. Nur Hidayad Introduction The multiple-choice item is one of the most well known kinds of test used in educational assessment. Many people say that the like to use multiple choice item because it is practical. However, to construct good multiple choice item is not easy like when it is scored. There are four terms that typically found in a multiple choice item: a stem - the text of the question; options - the choices provided after the stem; the key : the correct answer in the list of options; distractors: the incorrect answers in the list of options. It is common knowledge that the correct answers should be distributed evenly among the alternative positions of multiple choice items, but there are many other important guidelines for writing good items. For example, Burton et al (1991) describes 16 guidelines for writing better multiple choice items. Example of Good Multiple Choice Item Read th...