B. Writing Selected Response Assessment Items

Selected response (objective) assessment items are very efficient – once the items are created, you can assess and score a great deal of content rather quickly. Note that the term objective refers to the fact that each question has a right and wrong answer and that they can be impartially scored. In fact, the scoring can be automated if you have access to an optical scanner for scoring paper tests or a computer for computerized tests. However, the construction of these “objective” items might well include subjective input by the teacher/creator.

Before you write the assessment items, you should create a blueprint that outlines the content areas and the cognitive skills you are targeting.  One way to do this is to list your instructional objectives, along with the corresponding cognitive level. For example, the following table has four different objectives and the corresponding levels of assessment (relative to Bloom's taxonomy). For each objective, five assessment items will be written, some at Level I and some at Level II. This approach helps to ensure that all objectives are covered and that several higher level thinking skills are included in the assessment.

After you have determined how many items you need for each level, you can begin writing the assessments. There are several forms of selected response assessments, including multiple choice, matching, and true/false. Regardless of the form you select, be sure the items are clearly worded at the appropriate reading level and do not include unintentional clues.  The validity of your test will suffer tremendously if the students can’t comprehend or read the questions! This section includes a few guidelines for constructing objective assessment items, along with examples and non-examples.

Multiple Choice

Multiple choice questions consist of a stem (question or statement) with several answer choices (distractors). For each of the following guidelines, click the buttons to view an Example or Non-Example.

• All answer choices should be plausible and homogeneous.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Answer choices should be similar in length and grammatical form.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• List answer choices in logical (alphabetical or numerical) order.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Avoid using "All of the Above" options.
  • Example
  • Non-Example

Matching

Matching items consist of two lists of words, phrases, or images (often referred to as stems and responses). Students review the list of stems and match each with a word, phrase, or image from the list of responses. For each of the following guidelines, click the buttons to view an Example or Non-Example.

• Answer choices should be short, homogeneous and arranged in logical order.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Responses should be plausible and similar in length and grammatical form.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Include more response options than stems.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• As a general rule, the stems should be longer and the responses should be shorter.
  • Example
  • Non-Example

True/False

True/false questions can appear to be easier to write; however, it is difficult to write effective true/false questions. Also, the reliability of T/F questions is not generally very high because of the high possibility of guessing. In most cases, T/F questions are not recommended.

• Statements should be completely true or completely false.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Use simple, easy-to-follow statements.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Avoid using negatives -- especially double negatives.
  • Example
  • Non-Example
• Avoid absolutes such as "always; never."
  • Example
  • Non-Example

Try This

Review the information at the following site:

• Improving Your Test Questions

For your subject area and grade level, write two multiple choice questions, two matching questions, and two true/false questions. Try to address multiple levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

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