Evaluation of multiple choice questions by item analysis in a medical college at Pondicherry, India

Abstract

Background: Medical students are evaluated and assessed by different methods. One of the methods for evaluation is by using multiple choice questions (MCQs). MCQs are difficult to frame but easy to administer and check. MCQs can be evaluated for the quality by item and test analysis. The objective of the study was to evaluate the MCQs among seventh semester MBBS students. Methods: Total 30 MCQs were constructed in community medicine. These MCQs were administered to a small group of MBBS students. All MCQs had single stem with three wrong and one correct answer. The data were entered in Microsoft excel 2010 software and analysed. Mean, SD, Proportions were used. Difficulty index (DIF I), discrimination index (DI) and distractor efficiency (DE) were the parameters used to evaluate the items. Results: Total 90 distractors (3x30 MCQs) were analysed. Mean for difficulty index, discrimination index and distractor efficiency were 38.3%, 0.27 and 82.8% respectively. Of 30 items, 11 items were of higher difficulty level (DIF I 60%). Total 15 items were having very good DI. Of the 90 distractors, there were 16 (17.8%) non-functional distractors (NFDs) present in 13 (43.3%) items. Conclusions: In present study, there were only three MCQs out of the total 30 MCQs which satisfied all the criteria for an ideal MCQ.