Abstract
Objectives:This study aimed to evaluate the cognitive levels of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) & Short Answer Questions (SAQs) and types of Item Writing Flaws (IWFs) in MCQs in Medical Pharmacology internal assessment exams.Methods:This descriptive, study was conducted over a period of six months, from December 2015 to May 2016 and evaluated six internal assessment examinations comprising SAQs and MCQs. A total of 150 MCQs and 43 SAQs were analyzed. These questions were administered to third-year medical students in the year of 2015. All SAQs were reviewed for their cognitive levels and MCQs were reviewed for cognitive levels as well as for IWFs. Items were classified as flawed if they contained one or more than one flaw. The cognitive level of the questions was determined by the modified Bloom’s taxonomy.Results:The proportion of flawed items out of 150 items in six exams ranged from 16% to 52%. While the percentage of total flawed items was 28%. Most common types of flaws were implausible distractors 19.69% (26), extra detail in correct option 18.18% (24), vague terms 9.85% (13), unfocused stem 9.09% (12) and absolute terms 9.09% (12). The two-third of MCQs 97(64.67%) were assessing the recall of information, while 29 (19.33%) and 24 (16%) were assessing the interpretation of data and problem-solving skills respectively. The majority of the SAQs (90.7%) were assessing recall of the information and only 9.3% were assessing interpretation of data while none of the questions was assessing the problem-solving skills.Conclusions:The cognitive level of assessment tools (SAQs & MCQs) is low, and IWFS are common in the MCQs. Therefore, faculty should be urged and groomed to design problem-solving questions which are devoid of any flaws.
Highlights
The assessment either summative or formative has a powerful effect on learning and is considered an essential variable in leading the learners for Correspondence: April 8, 2017 June 15, 2017 June 18, 2017 achieving the goal.[1]
The descriptive study was conducted on six internal assessment examination comprising Short Answer Questions (SAQs) and Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) from Pharmacology & Therapeutics Department, the University Medical and Dental College, Faisalabad, Pakistan in the year 2015
These results are similar to another research that pointed out 46.2 % Item Writing Flaws (IWFs) in MCQS for nursing assessment, and 90% of the questions were of the low cognitive level.[17]
Summary
The assessment either summative or formative has a powerful effect on learning and is considered an essential variable in leading the learners for Correspondence: April 8, 2017 June 15, 2017 June 18, 2017 achieving the goal.[1]. The way of assessment influences the students’ choice of learning approach.[4,5] If the quality of the questions are not up to the mark and the majority of the questions are just testing the recall of the isolated facts such assessment would promote the superficial learning approach.[6]
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