Some Modifications of the Multiple-Choice Item

Regulating accuracy on university tests with the plurality option

“…For example, Coombs (1953), Coombs, Milholland, and Womer (1956) had examinees specify all alternatives per MC question that they believed were incorrect. Relatedly, Dressel and Schmid (1953) had examinees mark as many of the alternatives as necessary to include the correct answers (see Frary, 1989 for a review). This research, however, was primarily concerned with the psychometric properties of different types of MC tests.…”

An axiomatization of multiple-choice test scoring

“…Negative scores per se have also been criticized for contributing to high omission rates and discrimination against risk-averse and loss-averse test-takers (Ben-Simon, Budescu, and Nevo 1997, Burton 2005, Delgado 2007, Budescu and Bo 2014. 1 Anther well-known scoring method that discourage guessing and elicit partial knowledge is subset selection scoring (Dressel and Schmidt 1953), 2 which allows a test-taker to choose a subset of options and grant score 1 for the correct option and − 1 n−1 for each incorrect option in the chosen set. The literature also studies complex scoring methods that elicit test-takers' ordinal ranking, confidence, or probability distribution over available options (Bernardo 1998, Alnabhan 2002, Swartz 2006, Ng and Chan 2009).…”

Conceptual Learning Outcomes of Virtual Experiential Learning: Results of Google Earth Exploration in Introductory Geoscience Courses

“…Prior studies have determined that while the multiple-answer format has greater reliability, multipleanswer questions are consistently more difficult for students to answer correctly (Dressel and Schmid 1953;Hsu et al 1984). The lower effect size for these questions may suggest that students' new understanding of the concept is not as robust as multiple-choice questions alone might imply, however their positive effect shows that learning is occurring even more conclusively than a series of multiple-choice questions alone would imply.…”