Sim, Si Mui and Rasiah, Raja Isaiah (2006) Relationship between item difficulty and discrimination indices in true/false-type multiple choice questions of a para-clinical multidisciplinary paper. Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 35 (2). pp. 67-71. ISSN 0304-4602, DOI 16565756.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
INTRODUCTION: This paper reports the relationship between the difficulty level and the discrimination power of true/false-type multiple-choice questions (MCQs) in a multidisciplinary paper for the para-clinical year of an undergraduate medical programme. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MCQ items in papers taken from Year II Parts A, B and C examinations for Sessions 2001/02, and Part B examinations for 2002/03 and 2003/04, were analysed to obtain their difficulty indices and discrimination indices. Each paper consisted of 250 true/false items (50 questions of 5 items each) on topics drawn from different disciplines. The questions were first constructed and vetted by the individual departments before being submitted to a central committee, where the final selection of the MCQs was made, based purely on the academic judgement of the committee. RESULTS: There was a wide distribution of item difficulty indices in all the MCQ papers analysed. Furthermore, the relationship between the difficulty index (P) and discrimination index (D) of the MCQ items in a paper was not linear, but more dome-shaped. Maximal discrimination (D = 51% to 71%) occurred with moderately easy/difficult items (P = 40% to 74%). On average, about 38% of the MCQ items in each paper were "very easy" (P > or =75%), while about 9% were "very difficult" (P <25%). About two-thirds of these very easy/difficult items had "very poor" or even negative discrimination (D < or =20%). CONCLUSIONS: MCQ items that demonstrate good discriminating potential tend to be moderately difficult items, and the moderately-to-very difficult items are more likely to show negative discrimination. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of our MCQ items.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Funders: | UNSPECIFIED |
| Additional Information: | Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Assessment methods; Educational measurement; Item analysis; Year II medical test |
| Subjects: | R Medicine > R Medicine (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Medicine |
| Depositing User: | Mr. Faizal Hamzah |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2011 02:34 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Feb 2020 02:48 |
| URI: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/600 |
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