Objective Tests

1
Objective Tests

• Multiple Choice Forms

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Multiple Choice Items

• Composed of a question or incomplete statement
  called a stem
• Stem is followed by a list of options known as
  alternatives
• Only one alternative is correct, the others are
  called distracters (aka decoys or foils).

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Multiple Choice Items

• Example
• Which of the following cities is the capital of
  California?
• Los Angeles
• Sacramento
• San Diego
• San Francisco

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Multiple Choice Items

• Example
• The capital of California is in
• Los Angeles
• Sacramento
• San Diego
• San Francisco

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Multiple Choice Items

• Why is MC so popular?
• Versatility
• Can measure simple to complex learning outcomes.
• Adaptable to a variety of subject matter.

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Knowledge Outcomes
• Knowledge of terminology

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Knowledge of terminology

• Which one of the following statements best
  defines the word egress?
• An expression of disapproval
• An act of leaving an enclosed place
• Proceeding to a higher level
• Proceeding to a lower level

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Knowledge of terminology

• Which one of the following words has the same
  meaning as the word egress?
• Depress
• Enter
• Exit
• Regress

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Knowledge of terminology

• What is meant by the word egress in the following
  sentence The astronauts hope they can now make
  a safe egress?
• Separation from the rocket
• Reentry into the earths atmosphere
• Landing on the water
• Escape from the space capsule

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Knowledge Outcomes
• Knowledge of terminology
• Knowledge of specific facts

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Knowledge of Specific Facts

• Who was the first United States astronaut to
  orbit the earth in space?
• Scott Carpenter
• John Glenn
• Virgil Grissom
• Alan Shepard

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Knowledge of Specific Facts

• What was the name of the missile that launched
  the first United States astronaut into orbital
  flight around the earth?
• Atlas
• Mars
• Midas
• Polaris

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Knowledge of Specific Facts

• When did a United States astronaut first orbit
  the earth in space?
• 1960
• 1961
• 1962
• 1963

14
Knowledge of Specific Facts

• Where did the Friendship Seven capsule land after
  the first United States orbital flight around the
  earth?
• Atlantic Ocean
• Caribbean Sea
• Gulf of Mexico
• Pacific Ocean

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Knowledge Outcomes
• Knowledge of terminology
• Knowledge of specific facts
• Knowledge of Principles

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Knowledge of Principles

• The principle of capillary action helps to
  explain how fluids
• Enter solutions of lower concentration.
• Escape through small openings.
• Pass through semi permeable membranes
• Rise in fine tubes

17
Knowledge of Principles

• Which one of the following principles of taxation
  is characteristic of the federal income tax?
• The benefits received by an individual should
  determine the amount of the tax
• A tax should be based on an individuals ability
  to pay.
• All citizens should be required to pay the same
  amount of tax
• The amount of tax an individual pays should be
  determined by the size of the federal budget

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Knowledge Outcomes
• Knowledge of terminology
• Knowledge of specific facts
• Knowledge of Principles
• Knowledge of Methods and Procedures

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Knowledge of Methods Procedures

• Which of the following methods of locating a
  specimen under the microscope is most desirable?
• Start with the coarse adjustment up, and with
  your eye at the eyepiece, turn down the coarse
  adjustment.
• Start with the coarse adjustment down, and with
  your eye at the eyepiece, turn up the coarse
  adjustment.
• Start with the coarse adjustment in the center,
  and with your eye at the eyepiece, turn up and
  down until you locate the specimen.

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Knowledge of Methods Procedures

• To make treaties, the president of the United
  States must have the consent of the
• Cabinet
• House of Representatives
• Senate
• Supreme Court

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Knowledge of Methods Procedures

• Alternating electric current is changed to direct
  current by means of a
• Condenser
• Generator
• Rectifier
• transformer

22
Knowledge of Methods Procedures

• If you were making a scientific study of a
  problem, your first step should be to
• Collect information about the problem
• Develop hypotheses to be tested
• Design the experiment to be conducted
• Select scientific equipment

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Outcomes at the Understanding and
  Application Levels.
• Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
  Principles

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Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
Principles

• Example
• Which one of the following is an example of a
  chemical element?
• Acid
• Sodium chloride
• Oxygen
• Water

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Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
Principles

• Example
• Circle the word that makes the sentence correct.
• This is the boy (that, who, whom) asked the
  question.
• This is the dog (that, who, whom) he asked about.

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Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
Principles

• Example
• Which one of the following best illustrates the
  principle of capillarity?
• Fluid is carried through the stems of plants
• Food is manufactured in the leaves of plants
• The leaves of deciduous plants lose their green
  color in winter
• Plants give off moisture through their stomata

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Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
Principles

• Example
• Pascals law can be used to explain the operation
  of
• Electric fans
• Hydraulic brakes
• Levers
• Syringes

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Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
Principles

• Example
• Which one of the following best illustrates the
  law of diminishing returns?
• The demand for a farm product increased faster
  than the supply of the product
• The population of a country increased faster than
  the means of subsistence
• A machine decreased in utility as its parts
  became worn
• A factory doubled is labor force and increase
  production by 50 percent.

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Outcomes at the Understanding and
  Application Levels.
• Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
  Principles
• Ability to Interpret Cause-and-Effect
  Relationships

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Ability to Interpret Cause-and-Effect
Relationships

• Example
• Bread will not become moldy as rapidly if placed
  in a refrigerator because
• Cooling retards the growth of fungi
• Darkness retards the growth of mold
• Cooling prevents the bread from drying out so
  rapidly
• Mold requires both heat and light for best growth

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Ability to Interpret Cause-and-Effect
Relationships

• Example
• An increased quantity of carbon monoxide is
  produced when fuel is burned in a limited supply
  of oxygen because
• Carbon reacts with carbon monoxide
• Carbon reacts with carbon dioxide
• Carbon monoxide is an effective reducing agent
• Greater oxidation takes place

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Ability to Interpret Cause-and-Effect
Relationships

• Example
• Investing money in common stock protects against
  loss of assets during inflation because common
  stock
• Pays higher rates of interest during inflation
• Provides a steady but dependable income despite
  economic conditions
• Is protected by the federal reserve
• Increases in value as the value of a business
  increases.

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Multiple Choice Items

• Measuring Outcomes at the Understanding and
  Application Levels.
• Ability to Identify Application of Facts and
  Principles
• Ability to Interpret Cause-and-Effect
  Relationships
• Ability to Justify Methods and Procedures

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Ability to Justify Methods and Procedures

• Example
• Why is adequate lighting necessary in a balanced
  aquarium?
• Fish need light to see their food
• Fish take in oxygen in the dark
• Plants expel carbon dioxide in the dark
• Plants grow too rapidly in the dark

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Ability to Justify Methods and Procedures

• Example
• Why do farmers rotate their crops?
• To conserve the soil
• To make marketing easier
• To provide for strip cropping
• It removes the brownish yellow color

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Multiple Choice Items

• Advantages of Multiple Choice
• Limits ambiguity and vagueness
• Lincoln was born in _________
• Lincoln was born in
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Ohio

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Multiple Choice Items

• Advantages of Multiple Choice
• Limits ambiguity and vagueness
• Students not only need to know what is false, but
  also what is true.
• T F Lincoln was born in 1807
• Lincoln was born in
• 1805
• 1807
• 1809
• 1811

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Multiple Choice Items

• Advantages of Multiple Choice
• Limits ambiguity and vagueness
• Students not only need to know what is false, but
  also what is true.
• Removes the issue of misspelled words.
• Greater reliability per item by reducing error
  due to guessing.
• Eliminates problem of homogenous material
• Eliminates response sets
• Plausible alternative selection allows teacher to
  diagnose and address misunderstanding.

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Multiple Choice Items

• Advantages of Multiple Choice
• Using the best answer type removes problem of
  qualifying statements.
• What is the most important purpose of city zoning
  laws?
• Attract industry
• Encourage building of apartments
• Protect property values
• Provide school safety zones

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Multiple Choice Items

• Limitations of Multiple Choice
• Limited to learning at the verbal level.
• Poor for measuring problem solving in math and
  science.
• Limited plausible answers.

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• How to write effective Multiple Choice items

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• The stem of the item should be meaningful by
  itself and should present a definite problem.

43

• South America
• Is a flat, arid country
• Imports coffee from the U.S.
• Has a larger population than the U.S.
• Was settled mainly by colonists from Spain
• Most of South America was settled by colonists
  from
• England
• France
• Holland
• Spain

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• The item stem should include as much of the item
  as possible and should be free of irrelevant
  material

45

• Most of South America was settled by colonists
  from Spain. How would you account for the large
  number of Spanish colonists settling there?
• They were adventurous
• They were in search of wealth
• They wanted lower taxes
• They were seeking religious freedom
• Why did Spanish colonists settle most of South
  America?
• They were adventurous
• They were in search of wealth
• They wanted lower taxes
• They were seeking religious freedom

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• Spanish colonists settled most of South America
  in search of
• Adventure
• Wealth
• Lower taxes
• Religious freedom

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Use a negatively stated stem only when
  significant learning outcomes require it.

48

• Which one of the following states is not located
  north of the Mason-Dixon line?
• Maine
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Virginia
• Which one of the following states is located
  south of the Mason-Dixon line?
• Maine
• New York
• Pennsylvania
• Virginia

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Use a negatively stated stem when wrong
  information or wrong procedures can have dire
  consequences.
• When using a negative item, EMPHASIZE the
  negative descriptor.

50

• Which one of the following is not a safe driving
  practice on icy roads?
• Accelerating slowly
• Jamming on the brakes
• Holding the wheel firmly
• Slowing down gradually
• All of the following are safe driving practices
  on icy roads EXCEPT
• Accelerating slowly
• Jamming on the brakes
• Holding the wheel firmly
• Slowing down gradually

51

• The following question was actually used in a
  chemistry 101 lab course. What is wrong with this
  picture?
• Sally has just spilled acid in her eyes, what is
  one thing you will not do?

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• All of the alternatives should be grammatically
  consistent with the stem of the item.

53

• An electric transformer can be used
• For storing electricity
• To increase the voltage of AC
• It converts electrical energy to mechanical
  energy.
• AC is changed to DC
• An electric transformer can be used to
• Store electricity
• Increase the voltage of AC
• Convert electrical energy to mechanical energy
• Change AC to DC

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• An item should contain only one correct or
  clearly stated best answer.

55

• The state of Michigan borders on
• Lake Huron
• Lake Ontario
• Indiana
• Illinois
• The state of Michigan borders on
• Lake Huron T F
• Lake Ontario T F
• Indiana T F
• Illinois T F

56

• Which one of the following is the best source of
  heat for home use?
• Coal
• Electricity
• Gas
• Oil
• In the Midwestern part of the U.S., which one of
  the following is the most economical source of
  heat for home use?
• Coal
• Electricity
• Gas
• Oil

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• All distracters should be plausible. The purpose
  of a distracter is to distract the uninformed
  from the correct answer.

58

• Who discovered the North Pole?
• Christopher Columbus
• Ferdinand Magellan
• Robert Peary
• Marco Polo
• Who discovered the North Pole?
• Ronald Amundsen
• Richard Byrd
• Robert Peary
• Robert Scott

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Verbal associations between the stem and the
  correct answer should be avoided.

60

• Which one of the following agencies should you
  contact to find out about a tornado warning in
  your locality?
• State farm bureau
• Local radio station
• U.S. Post Office
• U.S. Weather Bureau
• Which one of the following agencies should you
  contact to find out about a tornado warning in
  your locality?
• Local farm bureau
• Nearest radio station
• Local Post Office
• U.S. Weather Bureau

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• The relative length of the alternatives should
  not provide a clue to the answer.

62

• What is the major purpose of the United Nations?
• To maintain peace among the peoples of the world.
• To establish international law
• To provide military control
• To form new governments
• What is the major purpose of the United Nations?
• To maintain peace among the peoples of the world.
• To develop a new system of international law
• To provide military control of nations that have
  recently attained their independence
• To establish and maintain democratic forms of
  government in newly formed nations

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Use all of the above and none of the above
  sparingly.

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Which of the following contains cholesterol?
• Breads cereals
• Milk and eggs
• Fruits and nuts
• all of the above
• (Though milk and eggs are the usual examples, it
  is true that all of the above have cholesterol)

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• Which of the following is not an example of a
  mammal?
• Bird
• Dog
• Whale
• None of the above
• (It would be easy to prove that D is not a
  mammal)

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• When the temperature drops, tire pressure tends
  to
• Decrease
• Increase
• Stay the same
• None of the above
• (There may be something other than A, B, or C,
  but we cant think of what it might be.)

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Suggestions for writing MC items

• United States federal law requires that first
  offenders must be fined or imprisoned if they
  possess
• Amphetamine
• Heroin
• marijuana
• None of the above
• (Sounds like an unfair law. If you dont agree,
  read only the stem and answer D.)

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Suggestions for writing good MC items

• Items used to measure understanding should
  contain some novelty, but beware of too much
  novelty.
• The correct answer should appear in each of the
  alternative positions an approximately equal
  number of times but in random order.
• Do not use Multiple Choice items when other item
  types are more appropriate.

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Assignment

• Write 7 multiple choice items for the shoe tying
  exam.