Multi ple-choic e

Items
Prepared by:
Maneth M. Caparos
Multiple-choice Items

- this format is one of the most popular item formats

used in educational testing and also extensively used in
classroom tests. The multiple-choice item traditionally
consists of a stem that describes a problem and a series
of options, or alternatives, each representing a possibble
answers to the stem. Normally, one option is correct, with
the remaining alternatives referred to as distracters.
3 Parts of Multiple-choice Item:
• Stem – represents the problem or question
usually expressed in completion form or
question form.
• Keyed option – is the correct answer.
• Incorrect option or alternatives – also
called distracters or foil.
 Advantages and
Limitations of
Multiple-choice Items
A. Advantages of Multiple-choice Items:

1. Multiple-choice items allow a test to obtain a more

adequate sampling of content.
2. Multiple-choice items tend to structure the problem to
be addressed more effectively.
3. Multiple-choice items can be quickly scored.
4. Responses to multiple-choice items are objectively
scored.
B. Limitations of Multiple-choice Items:

1. Multiple-choice items are somewhat

susceptible to
guessing.
2. Multiple-choice items are time-consuming to
construct.
Identifying Qualities
Desired in
Multiple-choice Items
1. Does this item measure the specific
skill?
- each multiple-choice items must be constructed or
selected to measure a specific skill.
2. Is the level of reading skill required by
this below the students’ ability?

- This concern is relevant to test items written in

all formats. Unless the level of the vocabulary and
sentence structure are sufficiently low, a test item will
confound the measurement of reading ability with that of
the skill being measured.
3. Does the stem clearly present the
problem to be addressed?
- When the stem to a multiple –choice is not self
sufficient, students end up reading the options without
knowing what problems supposed to solve.
4. Are all options parallel in type of
content?
- when options vary in type of content, the item is
asking students to make a single judgment about two or
more distinct qualities, like comparing mangoes to orange.
5. Do the options avoid repetitive words?
- the following item would be more efficient if the
words repeated in each option were relocated to the stem:

Physics is
a. the science that deals with the structure of matter
b. the science that deals with the composition,
structure, and properties of substances
c. the science that is more concerned with solids than
liquids
6. Is extraneous content excluded from the
stem?
- the purpose of the stem is to present a specific
problem to the student. The use of words or other
content extraneous to this problem causes the item to
measure how well students can determine what you are
asking. The stem of each item should state the problem
as simply as possible.
7. Are adjectives or adverbs emphasized
when they reverse or significantly alter the
meaning if a stem or option?
- whenever a single word significantly changes the
meaning of a sentence or phrase within a test item, that
word should be underlined or capitalized to draw attention
to its presence.
Ex. All of the following represent a field of science
except
Which of the following is not a major cause of
forest fires?
8. Is each distracter plausible?
- multiple-choice items should be constructed so that
(1) students proficient with the skills select the correct
option and (2) every student who has yet to achieve the
skill selects a distracter.
9. Is the grammar in each option
consistent with the stem?
- all the responses should be written so that they
grammatical match the stem. When they do not, the
item provides clues to the answer that are not relevant
to the students.
10. Does the item exclude options
equivalent to “all of the above”?
- phrases such as “all of the above” and “none of the
above” are often included in multiple-choice items. Their
typical role is to increase the number of options. “None of
the above” is sometimes used to avoid giving clues to
students when their incorrect solutions are inconsistent with
each of the options included with the item.
11. Unless another order is more logical,
are options arranged alphabetically?
- correct answers should be distributed evenly
among the alternative positions of multiple-choice items.
Because items often are constructed before they are
assembled into test, this situation may be hard to achieve.
THANK YOU