The Impact of item flaws, testing at low cognitive level, and low distractor functioning on multiple-choice question quality

Informatie
Auteurs
Kenneth G. Ruit
Syed Haris Ali
Soort article
Original Research
Categorie
Assessment,
Medical education,
Psychometrics,
Validity,
Verscheen in

Background This study investigated the impact of addressing item writing flaws, testing at low cognitive level and non-functioning distractors (< 5 % selection frequency) in multiple-choice assessment in preclinical medical education.

Method Multiple-choice questions with too high or too low difficulty (difficulty index < 0.4 or > 0.8) and insufficient discriminatory ability (point-biserial correlation < 0.2) on previous administration were identified. Items in Experimental Subgroup A underwent removal of item writing flaws along with enhancement of tested cognitive level (21 multiple-choice questions), while Experimental Subgroup B underwent replacement or removal of non-functioning distractors (11 multiple-choice questions). A control group of items (Group C) did not undergo any intervention (23 multiple-choice questions).

Result Post-intervention, the average number of functioning distractors (≥ 5 % selection frequency) per multiple-choice question increased from 0.67 to 0.81 in Subgroup A and from 0.91 to 1.09 in Subgroup B; a statistically significant increase in the number of multiple-choice questions with sufficient point-biserial correlation was also noted. No significant changes were noted in psychometric characteristics of the control group of items.

Conclusion Correction of item flaws, removal or replacement of non-functioning distractors, and enhancement of tested cognitive level positively impact the discriminatory ability of multiple-choice questions. This helps prevent construct-irrelevant variance from affecting the evidence of validity of scores obtained in multiple-choice questions.

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