Overview of the Multiple Choice Format

• The main reason: evaluation of class performance. Though this is not the only reason, instructors teaching large numbers of students with little assistance have few practical alternatives to multiple choice tests.
• Assisting students in professional advancement. Virtually all students who wish to continue their educations are required to take one or more standard examinations. They need continual exposure to this format.
• Research on cognition. Although the so-called "intelligence tests" have been widely misused (1), educators and others have used more narrowly focused exams of this type for research on the cognitive process (2-5).

The multiple choice format has several significant strengths associated with its use.

• Ease of grading. This is the main reason why instructors with large lecture sections can't resist multiple choice.
• Coverage of a wide range of cognitive domains. Instructors can tap a very wide range of cognitive skills from rote recall to evaluations, conclusions and judging evidence.
• Coverage of a wide range of material. Students can answer questions rapidly in the multiple choice format because their writing time is minimized. This means that instructors can ask questions on a wider range of material than can be covered on traditional examinations.
• Correlation with course objectives. Most multiple choice items have a narrow focus. This makes possible a one-to-one correlation with chapter/course objectives. Then you can use statistical analysis for easy measurement of learning outcomes on each specific objective, providing information on the strengths and weaknesses of the class as a whole. For an example, see the section immediately following.
• Feedback on your coverage of the material. This point can be best illustrated by example. Your workshop coordinator once gave a test in organic chemistry which contained some items on the chemistry of a certain family of compounds. Even students who scored well on the rest of the exam missed most ofthese items. This result suggested that I had done a poor job covering this topic in class. An extra session on the topic followed by a retest gave normal results.
• Feedback on the quality of your questions. If the good students and the poor students perform equally well (or equally badly) on a question, this may mean that the question is poorly constructed or conceived. Standard examination agencies use this interpretation frequently.
• Comparison of performance from class to class, year to year. Are the students doing better this year? If you have a large, reliable multiple choice question bank you can find out.

Multiple choice examinations also have weak points.

• They're difficult to construct. Constructing multiple choice questions that discriminate levels of understanding and have appropriate levels of difficulty isn't easy. Inexperienced question-writers can need as much as 30 minutes to write and edit each item.
• Real-world cognition differs. It is a different process to propose a solution to a given problem than it is to select a solution from a set of alternatives.
• Lack of feedback on individual thought processes. This is a serious concern to the conscientious instructor. Statistical feedback is global rather than individual. The thought processes that lead individual students to incorrect responses are not evident, and for this reason it is difficult to redirect these processes.

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