Quizzes are incredibly useful tools in any online course. They provide students with immediate feedback on their learning, build metacognitive skills, enhance motivation, and create a sense of accountability. As you might imagine, automatically graded quizzes also allow you to easily monitor students’ understanding without additional grading.
Definition
Multiple-choice questions require students to select the best possible answer from among multiple options. The question is called a “stem,” possible answers are “response items,” and wrong answers are “distractors.”
Tips for Effective Stems:
- Keep the question concise.
- Use simple, clear wording.
- Avoid grammatical clues that give away the correct answer (e.g., using a or an at the end of a stem; using singular or plural constructions).
- Avoid negative constructions (e.g., not and except). If you must use a negative construction, underline or bold words such as not or except.
- Ensure that students can’t use information from one question to answer another.
Tips for Effective Response Items:
- Make sure there is only one best answer.
- Ensure that every response is grammatically consistent with the stem.
- Ensure response items have a parallel structure.
- Avoid idioms and potentially confusing vocabulary.
- Avoid absolutes (e.g., always and never).
- Vary the position of the correct answer.
- Keep the length of response items consistent.
- Eliminate repetitive or extraneous wording.
- Use clear, consistent formatting and indent response items from the stem.
- Ensure all items are mutually exclusive (i.e., avoid overlapping alternatives).
- List response options in a logical order (e.g., alphabetically, chronologically, or numerically).
- Avoid confusing items such as “A and B” or “B and C.” If more than one correct answer exists, use multiple-answer questions.
- Avoid using “all of the above” and “none of the above,” but if you do, use them generously, not just when they’re the correct answer.
Tips for Effective Distractors:
- Make every distractor sound plausible.
- Avoid trivial or nonsensical distractors.
- Use common student errors as distractors.
- Create distractors from the elements of the correct response.
Additional Tip: Write unique feedback for each response and distractor. Instead of simply saying “correct” or “incorrect,” explain why students are correct or where they can find the correct answer in the learning resources. This helps students understand the reasoning behind each response.
Higher-Order Thinking: To target higher-order skills, provide greater context. For example, create questions that require students to analyze a case study, interpret a chart, or complete a scenario.
Definition
Multiple-answer questions allow students to choose more than one correct answer. These questions tend to be easier to write (since fewer distractors are needed) and more challenging for students to answer (since they can’t rely on process of elimination).
Tips:
Most guidelines for multiple-choice questions also apply to multiple-answer questions.
Ensure correct answers are indisputably correct and distractors are indisputably incorrect.
Definition
True–false questions are easy to generate and rely less on students’ language abilities. However, because students have a 50% chance of guessing correctly, they aren’t an optimal gauge of learning.
Tips for Effective True–False Questions:
Avoid negatives (to prevent confusing double negatives).
Avoid absolutes (which are rarely correct and easy to identify).
Avoid ambiguous or confusing language.
Avoid combining multiple premises in a single sentence.
Target misconceptions (e.g., “True or false? The elliptical path of the earth’s orbit around the sun causes seasonal shifts in weather.”).
Alternative Tip: Combine multiple true–false statements in a single multiple-answer question. For example:
Which of the following statements about ethnographic fieldwork is/are true?
Alternatively, ask students to correct false statements or explain why they are false. These questions can’t be automatically graded but encourage critical thinking.
- Matching terms with definitions.
- Matching causes with likely effects.
- Matching parts with larger units.
- Matching concepts with examples or illustrations.
- Matching problems with appropriate tools or methods.
Definition
Short-answer questions require students to generate answers themselves without prompting. These questions typically require manual grading but offer opportunities for deeper understanding.
Tips for Effective Short-Answer Questions:
Create questions that are clear, precise, and circumscribed (e.g., “How did Darwin’s theory of evolution differ from Lamarck’s?”).
Decide in advance how to assess answers, assign points, and award partial credit.
Avoiding Pitfalls in Writing Questions
To avoid the pitfalls of poorly constructed quiz questions, it’s helpful to analyze examples of problematic questions and consider how you can improve them.
| Problematic | What’s the Problem? | Improved |
|---|---|---|
What is the average effective radiation dose from a chest CT? A. 1–10 mSv |
| What is the average effective radiation dose from a chest CT? A. 1–10 mSv |
Annuals are ______. A. plants that live and bloom for multiple years |
| Which of the following is true of annuals? They ___. A. live and bloom for multiple years |
A system of descent in which an individual can trace ancestry through either his or her father’s or his or her mother’s line is called an: A. Ambilineal descent system |
| A system of descent in which an individual can trace ancestry through either his or her father’s or his or her mother’s line is called: A. Ambilineal |
All of the following are stages in an oil field’s life cycle except: A. Exploration |
| [Multiple-answer question] Which of the following is true of annuals? They ___. A. live and bloom for multiple years |
Questions That Test Higher Order Thinking Skills
Thoughtfully constructed quiz questions can help you assess not only basic cognitive skills such as the ability to identify or define key concepts, but also higher order skills such as interpretation, generalization, inference, problem solving, application, and analysis. Here are some examples of questions that test higher order skills.
| Example | Why is this a good question? |
|---|---|
| A nurse is visiting a patient at home. The patient is a 78-year-old male who has had Parkinson’s disease for the past five years. Which of the following observations has the greatest implications for the patient’s care? A. The patient’s grandchildren have not been to visit for more than a month. B. The patient’s home has numerous throw rugs. C. The patient has a towel wrapped around his neck that his wife uses to wipe his face. D. The patient is gripping the arms of his chair tightly. | Students have to consider multiple facts together to make an educated judgment. |
| If the nominal gross national product (GNP) increases at a rate of 10% per year and the GNP deflator increases at 8% each year, then the real GNP ____. A. remains constant B. increases by 10% C. decreases by 8% D. increases by 2% | Students have to determine an outcome based on multiple premises. |
| E-mail is to unmoderated Listserv as office hours are to: A. Class lecture B. Class discussion C. Review sessions D. Tutorials | Students must be able to assess multicausal relationships and distinguish cause from effect. |
[In combination with a bar chart on international drug usage rates] Without any other data, which conclusions can you draw from Figure 17? | Students have to be able to read and interpret a chart and then consider each response item’s veracity separately. |
| Which of these historical developments in Western Europe caused the other three? A. Decline of trade B. Fall of Rome C. Breakdown of central government D. Rise in the power of the Roman Catholic Church | To determine the answer, students have to know the meaning of multiple items and be able to characterize the relationship between items in the initial set. |
[Based on three chemical symbols, labeled A, B, and C, students must answer this set of questions.] Which of the elements above has: | Students must be able to extract considerable information from a limited set of items. |
Quizzes are beneficial for both you and your students because they can help assess students’ progress in your course. However, if you choose the wrong type of question or word a question poorly, then you won’t know for certain why students answer incorrectly. Is it because they didn’t know the content or because the format of the question confused them? To make the most of your quiz questions, be sure to follow the best practices laid out in this article, and check out the resources provided below.
Resources
“Writing Multiple-Choice Questions That Demand Critical Thinking,” by Boston University Medical Campus
http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/teachingLibrary/Assessment/WritingMultiple.pdf
“Writing Effective Questions,” by The Learning Management Corporation
http://www.thelearningmanager.com/pubdownloads/writing_effective_questions.pdf
Is This a Trick Question? A Short Guide to Writing Effective Test Questions, by Ben Clay, Kansas Curriculum Center
http://www.k-state.edu/ksde/alp/resources/Handout-Module6.pdf
“Writing Good Multiple-Choice Test Questions,” by Cynthia J. Brame, Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/writing-good-multiple-choice-test-questions/
“How to Write Better Tests: A Handbook for Improving Test Construction Skills,” by Cloud County Community College
https://www.cloud.edu/Assets/PDFs/assessment/Inst.Strategy_How%20to%20write%20test%20questions.pdf
