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Administration > Institutional Research >Special Report - Format | Contents

Special Report: "A Guide to the Writing of Multiple-Choice Items"

Frank K. Abou-Sayf -- Office of Planning and Institutional Research

The growing demand for fast and practical testing procedures has led to a tremendous increase in the use of multiple-choice (MC) tests.

An MC item usually consists of a statement or a part of it, where the idea or problem that the item deals with is presented. This introductory part is called the stem, and is followed by a number of choices, also called alternatives or options. The choice to be selected by the respondent is called the key choice, and the remaining ones are called distracters or decoys. These terms are illustrated below in an example [*].

Note: [*] Asterisks will be used in this report to denote the key choice. It is obvious that they should not appear in the test.

Although the technique of item analysis can reveal significant information about the quality of an MC item from the fashion it is being answered, suffice it to say here that the major principle governing the writing of MC tests is that all alternatives should be attractive to the respondents, with the most able students selecting the key choice, and the less able students selecting any and all of the distracters.

This guide is divided into two parts. The first one deals with the format or writing MC items and the second one deals with the content of the items.

The full version of this report can be found here: Download (PDF)