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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2008  > April  >
Research: Science and Education
Resources for Student Assessment
Does the Answer Order Matter on Multiple-Choice Exams?
Joel Tellinghuisen and Michelle M. Sulikowski
Department of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
Cover
April 2008
Vol. 85 No. 4
p. 572
Abstract
Surprising version-dependent differences are noted in student performance on certain questions in a standardized general chemistry exam. The exam in question has two versions, on which both questions and answers are ordered differently. For the questions suspected of answer-order bias, the performance is better in ten of twelve cases when students see the correct answer earlier in the list of four choices. Expansion of the study to more abundant data for the same exam from the ACS DivCHED Examinations Institute supports the interpretation of these observations as a primacy effect, characteristic of guessing, but with an aversion for the first choice. However, the single problem that shows the greatest disparity between versions in both data sets is one most chemists would view as so simple as to make guessing unnecessary, hence unlikely as an explanation.
More Information
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Citation
Tellinghuisen, Joel; Sulikowski, Michelle M. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85, 572.
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Keywords
Chemical Education Research; Chemometrics; Curriculum; Graduate Education / Research; Learning Theories; Misconceptions / Discrepant Events; Stoichiometry; Testing / Assessment
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History
Created:
Last Updated:
2/26/2008
2/29/2008
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