ERIC Number: EJ1125979
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0211-2159
EISSN: N/A
Does the Position of Response Options in Multiple-Choice Tests Matter?
Hohensinn, Christine; Baghaei, Purya
Psicologica: International Journal of Methodology and Experimental Psychology, v38 n1 p93-109 2017
In large scale multiple-choice (MC) tests alternate forms of a test may be developed to prevent cheating by changing the order of items or by changing the position of the response options. The assumption is that since the content of the test forms are the same the order of items or the positions of the response options do not have any effect on item difficulty and other psychometric characteristics of the test. The purpose of the present investigation is to model the difficulty of the options' positions ("a," "b," "c," and "d") in a high-stakes MC test using the linear logistic test model (Fischer, 1973). Findings revealed that options' positions have very slight differences in difficulty and as the position of the correct option moves toward the end of the set of response options it becomes slightly more difficult.
Descriptors: Multiple Choice Tests, Test Format, Test Items, Difficulty Level, High Stakes Tests, College Entrance Examinations, Foreign Countries, Item Response Theory
University of Valencia. Dept. Metodologia, Facultad de Psicologia, Avda. Blasco Ibanez 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Tel: +34-96-386-4100; Web site: http://www.uv.es/revispsi/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A