|
     |
|
Letters on Multiple Choice Format
| Last Updated August 4, 2001 |
| Karl Johanson, an educational software designer, writes August 4, 2001: Doesn't including the occasional question with "all of these" as a possible answer help teach that sometimes there is more than one correct answer to a question. Similarly, a "none of these" question helps teach that sometimes none of the suggested answers are correct. I bring this up because of what seems to be an increase in "restricted viewpoint" debates. These are issues which are discussed with the implication that there are only two possible answers to a complex issue and that people should chose one of these to follow. Some refer to this as the "Coke versus Pepsi" syndrome. The implication is that you have a choice, but that the choice has been restricted unduly by those posing the question or holding the public debate. We see this syndrome when politicians allow a referendum asking the general public if the politicians should get a 5% or a 10% raise. (The correct answer is likely, "none of these".) Robert responds: You make an excellent point. As with any lists of "do's and don'ts", the guidelines provided on this site represent only a starting point. Each instructor needs to interpret these principles within and adapt their implementat to their particular class and context. An issues course that emphasized the dangers of restricted viewpoint debates might well want to include some "none of the above" questions; a course that stressed multiple solutions to complex problems might well include a few "all of the above" items.
|
My concern, however, is that the inclusion of the "all of the above" and "none of the above" options is rarely based on such sophisticated reasoning. Far from a delibrate attempt to measure specific course objectives, these options usually undermine good assessment because they are used as padding (easier than coming up with another plausible distractor); as a cover for sloppy work ("yes I mistyped the formula for the right answer, but fortunately I had included 'None of the above" so I changed that to the right answer"), or out of force of habit. The unthinking and habitual use of these options lowers the overall standard to which test developers hold their tests (i.e., encourages a generalized sloppiness that infects the entire test construction process) and disadvantages students with certain learning styles. Although I accept that there may be circumstances where the format could be used to good advantage, these situations are vanishingly rare when compared to the generalized abuse of students and testing principles that they more commonly represent.
The more fundamental question here, however, is why use multiple-choice questions in an issues based course in the first place? Multiple-choice, by definition, present a restricted choice and are therefore likely to be inappropriate measures of the student's ability to recognize and reject restricted choice arguments or to develop multi-solution approaches to complex issues. A fundamental principle of good test design is to use the question format most appropriate to the course objective, and in this context, I would argue that an extended written response item would likely be called for. |