Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2019 Dec 17;16(1).
doi: 10.1515/ijnes-2019-0061.

A, B, or C? A Quasi-experimental Multi-site Study Investigating Three Option Multiple Choice Questions

Jackie A Hartigan-Rogers  1 , Sandra Redmond  1 , Shelley Cobbett  1 , Karlene Cifuentes  2 , Deena Honan  3 , Elizabeth Richard  1 , Vanessa Sheane  3 , Tamara VanTassell  3
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A, B, or C? A Quasi-experimental Multi-site Study Investigating Three Option Multiple Choice Questions

Jackie A Hartigan-Rogers et al. Int J Nurs Educ Scholarsh. .

Abstract

There is nearly a century of educational research that has demonstrated that three option multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are as valid and reliable as four or five option, yet this format continues to be underutilized in educational institutions. This replication study was a quasi-experimental between groups research design conducted at three Canadian schools of nursing to examine the psychometric properties of three option MCQs when compared to the more traditional four option questions. Data analysis revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in the item discrimination, difficulty or mean examination scores when MCQs were administered with three versus four option answer choices.

Keywords: multiple-choice; nursing assessment; test questions; three option multiple choice questions.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abozaid, H., Park, Y. S., & Tekian, A. (2017). Peer review improves psychometric characteristics of multi-choice questions. Medical Teacher, 39(S1), S50–S54. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2016.125473
    1. Anderson Hicks, N. (2011). Guidelines for identifying and revising culturally biased multiple-choice nursing examination items. Nurse Educator, 36(6), 266–270. doi:10.1097/NNE.0b013e3182333ca6
    1. Bailey, P. H., Mossey, S., Moroso, S., Duff Cloutier, J. D., & Love, A. (2012). Implications of multiple-choice testing in nursing education. Nurse Education Today, 32(6), e40–4. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2011.09.011
    1. Boland, R. R. J., Lester, N. A., & Williams, E. (2010). Writing multiple choice questions. Academic Psychiatry, 34(4), 310–316. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.34.4.310
    1. Brady, A. M. (2005). Assessment of learning with multiple-choice questions. Nurse Education in Practice, 5(4), 238–242. doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2004.12.005

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources