SM Colaric -- Types of Assessment Items

Brief Overview of Assessment Types
short-answer true/false multiple choice matching essay context-dependent item sets
type	example	strengths	weaknesses	suggestions for developing
short-answer items	questions completions identifications	relatively easy to construct fairly objective low probability of guessing	not completely objective	assess only important aspects of the target write in question form make sure there is only one correct answer paraphrase rather than copying directly if using "fill-ins" make sure the missing word is important not trivial make sure there are only 1 or 2 blanks avoid grammatical clues as to the answer
true-false items	yes/no true/false right/wrong correction yes/no with explanation	relatively easy to write scored easily and objectively some subject matter lends itself to this type of assessment can cover a wide range of topics in a short amount of time	poorly constructed ones often only assess trivial facts can be ambiguously worded can be answered by blind guessing may cause students to study for trivial "right/wrong" information	assess more than recall compare between concepts use for causal or conditional propositions choose between relationships or events make predictions about phenomena or events list steps in a procedure or process (Ebel, 1972)
multiple choice items	correct answer best answer multiple responses incomplete statements negative (NOT) answers "fill-in"	can be used with a greater variety of learning targets do not require students to elaborate thereby reducing "bluffing" focus the student on reading and thinking less of a chance for guessing incorrect answer chosen may give you insight into problem areas	do not require students to write out and elaborate their answers students must choose from a fixed list rather than expressing themselves poorly written questions may be superficial, trivial or limited to factual knowledge	focus items to assess specific learning targets prepare the stem as a question or problem to be solved write a correct, concise alternative write distracters that are plausible
matching exercise	perfect matching (equal number of premises and responses) unequal matching	space saving compact objective good for identifying associations or relationships	students can use rote memorization	make sure the premises and responses all belong tot he same category of information make sure every element in the response list functions as a plausible alternative to every element in the premise list make sure there are more than 10 responses avoid perfect matching if possible, order the elements in the response list in a meaningful way number the premises and letter the responses
essay items	restricted response items (limit both the content and the form of the answer) extended response (students are free to express their own ideas and inter-relationships among their ideas and use their own organization structure	particularly appropriate for some learning targets particularly appropriate for assessing multiple learning targets at once	scoring reliability may be low scoring is time consuming	make sure the student is applying his/her knowledge and skill in a new or novel situation make the item focussed on a particular topic make sure the student is required to demonstrate more than recall of facts, ideas, lists make sure the item is worded so that all students interpret the assignment in the way intended
context-dependent item sets	introductory material followed by several assessment tasks	provides an opportunity to assess students on materials that are relatively close to the real-world or authentic contexts provides, through the introductory material, the same context for everyone providing introductory material lessens the burden of memorization	may be difficult to construct introductory material needs to be carefully crafted in order to assess higher-order skills may not generalize to other settings may require students to use skills that were unintended for this assessment	make sure the introductory material is prominent so it is read first keep the introductory material and the questions on the same page