CHAPTER 2 TECHNIQUES FOR TESTING

By Licda. Virginia Mora Real

Some writers categorize items as selection and supply items.

Among the selection items we have true/false, multiple choice, matching, numbering sequence.

Among the supply items we have cloze of gap-fill, and essay questions. Questions can be classified as objective or subjective ones.

OBJECTIVE ITEMS

SUBJECTIVE ITEMS

Objective test items can be scored based on following an answer key. They are usually short answer-closed response items. No expert judgment is required to mark the exams. They are quick and easy to grade, they are generally difficult to write well. They have few response options. Reliability is not a problem.

Subjective items usually require students to produce longer, more open-ended responses. Production is the emphasis.   Scoring subjective items requires the marker to have knowledge of the content area being tested. They are usually easy to write, but difficult and time consuming to mark.   They are open-ended so a lot of variation is possible in the response.   Reliability is sometimes problematic since they require human scoring.

OBJECTIVE ITEMS

1.    Multiple choice questions: the basic form is the stem and response. It has a key (the correct answer) and the distracters (incorrect answers).

2.    True/False Format: They are a specialized form of the MCQ format in which there are only two possible alternatives. They are typ8cally written as statements, and the task is to decide whether they are true or false.

3.    Matching format: it is an extended form of MCQ. Students have to make connections among ideas, vocabulary, and structure.

Cloze involves the removal of words at regular intervals (every six to eight words).
In gap-fill items, a word or phrase is replaced by a blank in a sentence.

4.    Short answer/ Completion items: Students have to answer in a few words, phrases or sentences.

5.    Essay questions: Students have to respond their own responses.