Evaluation of multiple choice questions by item analysis in a medical college at Pondicherry, India

Patil, Rajkumar; Palve, Sachin Bhaskar; Vell, Kamesh; A, Boratne

doi:10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20161638

Cited by 17 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…A recent study by Patil et al, (2016) reported that only 10% of MCQs fulfilled all the criteria for an ideal MCQ. 1 A study evaluated Therapeutics MCQs and concluded that exams with well-constructed MCQs that target various cognitive levels could be a valid assessment of students performance. 22 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of cognitive levels and item writing flaws in medical pharmacology internal assessment examinations

Tariq¹,

Tariq²,

Maqsood³

et al. 2017

Pak J Med Sci

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Objectives:This study aimed to evaluate the cognitive levels of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) & Short Answer Questions (SAQs) and types of Item Writing Flaws (IWFs) in MCQs in Medical Pharmacology internal assessment exams.Methods:This descriptive, study was conducted over a period of six months, from December 2015 to May 2016 and evaluated six internal assessment examinations comprising SAQs and MCQs. A total of 150 MCQs and 43 SAQs were analyzed. These questions were administered to third-year medical students in the year of 2015. All SAQs were reviewed for their cognitive levels and MCQs were reviewed for cognitive levels as well as for IWFs. Items were classified as flawed if they contained one or more than one flaw. The cognitive level of the questions was determined by the modified Bloom’s taxonomy.Results:The proportion of flawed items out of 150 items in six exams ranged from 16% to 52%. While the percentage of total flawed items was 28%. Most common types of flaws were implausible distractors 19.69% (26), extra detail in correct option 18.18% (24), vague terms 9.85% (13), unfocused stem 9.09% (12) and absolute terms 9.09% (12). The two-third of MCQs 97(64.67%) were assessing the recall of information, while 29 (19.33%) and 24 (16%) were assessing the interpretation of data and problem-solving skills respectively. The majority of the SAQs (90.7%) were assessing recall of the information and only 9.3% were assessing interpretation of data while none of the questions was assessing the problem-solving skills.Conclusions:The cognitive level of assessment tools (SAQs & MCQs) is low, and IWFS are common in the MCQs. Therefore, faculty should be urged and groomed to design problem-solving questions which are devoid of any flaws.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assessment either summative or formative has a powerful effect on learning and is considered an essential variable in leading the learners for achieving the goal. 1 The assessment of knowledge and competence of undergraduate medical students has immense importance because they need to be a safe practitioner in future. 2 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of cognitive levels and item writing flaws in medical pharmacology internal assessment examinations

Tariq¹,

Tariq²,

Maqsood³

et al. 2017

Pak J Med Sci

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“…Several studies have been conducted to examine the processes of test development, such as item analysis in multiple choice questions in the field of education (Boopathiraj & Chellamani, 2013), medical science (Hingorjo & Jaleel, 2012;Mehta & Mokhasi, 2014;Patil, Palve, Vell, & Boratne, 2016), and social work (Qaqish, 2006); and the processes of item writing in language studies (Kim et al, 2010;Spaan, 2006Spaan, , 2007. Spaan"s study (2006), for example, provides a practical approach of test development and item specifications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Item Analysis of Reading Comprehension Test for Post-Graduate Students

Danuwijaya

2018

ERJEE

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Developing a test is a complex and reiterative process which subject to revision even if the items were developed by skilful item writers. Many commercial test publishers need to conduct test analysis, rather than trusting the item writers� judgement and skills to improve the quality of items that need to be proven statistically after trying out was performed. This study is a part of test development process which aims to analyse the reading comprehension test items. One hundred multiple choice questions were pilot tested to 50 postgraduate students in one university. The pilot testing was aimed to investigate item quality which can further be developed better. The responses were then analysed using Classical Test Theory and using psychometric software called Lertap. The results showed that item difficulty level was mostly average. In terms of item discrimination, more than half of the total items were categorized marginal which required further modifications. This study suggests some recommendation that can be useful to improve the quality of the developed items.��Keywords: reading comprehension; item analysis; classical test theory; item difficulty; test development.

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“…However, evidence is building up that if properly constructed, MCQs can be an effective tool to assess higher levels of cognitive domain (synthesis and evaluation). 1 'ideal' MCQ which is both, valid and reliable. A typical MCQ contains a question (stem) with multiple choices or options or responses (usually four), out of which one is the correct response (answer) and the rest are incorrect responses (distractors).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Item analysis has been done for various medical subjects like community medicine, physiology, hospital administration, pathology, pediatrics and ophthalmology. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] We could not find any study on item analysis in otorhinolaryngology, hence we conducted this study so that we can develop a validated MCQ question bank.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of multiple choice question bank in otorhinolaryngology by item analysis: a cross-sectional study

Khilnani

Thaddanee

Khilnani

2019

Int J Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Surg

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Background: Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are routinely used for formative and summative assessment in medical education. Item analysis is a process of post validation of MCQ tests, whereby items are analyzed for difficulty index, discrimination index and distractor efficiency, to obtain a range of items of varying difficulty and discrimination indices. This study was done to understand the process of item analysis and analyze MCQ test so that a valid and reliable MCQ bank in otorhinolaryngology is developed.Methods: 158 students of 7th Semester were given an 8 item MCQ test. Based on the marks achieved, the high achievers (top 33%, 52 students) and low achievers (bottom 33%, 52 students) were included in the study. The responses were tabulated in Microsoft Excel Sheet and analyzed for difficulty index, discrimination index and distractor efficiency. Results: The mean (SD) difficulty index (Diff-I) of 8 item test was 61.41% (11.81%). 5 items had a very good difficulty index (41% to 60%), while 3 items were easy (Diff-I >60%). There was no item with Diff-I <30%, i.e. a difficult item, in this test. The mean (SD) discrimination index (DI) of the test was 0.48 (0.15), and all items had very good discrimination indices of more than 0.25. Out of 24 distractors, 6 (25%) were non-functional distractors (NFDs). The mean (SD) distractor efficiency (DE) of the test was 74.62% (23.79%).Conclusions: Item analysis should be an integral and regular activity in each department so that a valid and reliable MCQ question bank is developed.

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Evaluation of multiple choice questions by item analysis in a medical college at Pondicherry, India

Cited by 17 publications

References 2 publications

Evaluation of cognitive levels and item writing flaws in medical pharmacology internal assessment examinations

Evaluation of cognitive levels and item writing flaws in medical pharmacology internal assessment examinations

Item Analysis of Reading Comprehension Test for Post-Graduate Students

Development of multiple choice question bank in otorhinolaryngology by item analysis: a cross-sectional study

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