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A singular choice for multiple choice

Published: 26 June 2006 Publication History

Abstract

How should multiple choice tests be scored and graded, in particular when students are allowed to check several boxes to convey partial knowledge? Many strategies may seem reasonable, but we demonstrate that five self-evident axioms are sufficient to determine completely the correct strategy. We also discuss how to measure robustness of the obtained grades. Our results have practical advantages and also suggest criteria for designing multiple choice questions.

References

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R. W. Brown. Multiple-choice versus descriptive examinations. In 31st ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education. IEEE, 2001.
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R. F. Burton. Multiple-choice and true/false tests:myths and misapprenhensions. In Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(1). Carfax Publishing, 2005.
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M. Bush. A multiple choice test that rewards partial knowledge. In Journal of Further and Higher Education, 25(2). Carfax Publishing, 2001.
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D. W. Farthing and D. McPhee. Multiple choice for honours-level students? a statistical evaluation. In Third Annual CAA Conference. CAA Centre, 1999.
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R. Lister. Objectives and objective assessment in cs1. In SIGCSE 2001. ACM, 2001.
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T. S. Roberts. The use of multiple choice tests for formative and summative assessment. In ACE 2006. Australian Computer Society, 2006.
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  • (2023)Theoretical evaluation of partial credit scoring of the multiple-choice test itemMETRON10.1007/s40300-022-00237-w81:2(143-161)Online publication date: 6-Jan-2023
  • (2015)Analysis and Evaluation of Liberal (Free-Choice) Multiple-Choice TestsInnovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences10.11120/ital.2010.090200089:2(1-12)Online publication date: 15-Dec-2015
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Published In

cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 38, Issue 4
December 2006
186 pages
ISSN:0097-8418
DOI:10.1145/1189136
Issue’s Table of Contents
  • cover image ACM Conferences
    ITiCSE-WGR '06: Working group reports on ITiCSE on Innovation and technology in computer science education
    June 2006
    99 pages
    ISBN:1595936033
    DOI:10.1145/1189215
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 26 June 2006
Published in SIGCSE Volume 38, Issue 4

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Author Tags

  1. grading scales
  2. multiple choice
  3. scoring strategies
  4. theory

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Cited By

View all
  • (2023)A Climate-First Approach to Training Student Teaching AssistantsProceedings of the 54th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3545945.3569826(423-429)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2023
  • (2023)Theoretical evaluation of partial credit scoring of the multiple-choice test itemMETRON10.1007/s40300-022-00237-w81:2(143-161)Online publication date: 6-Jan-2023
  • (2015)Analysis and Evaluation of Liberal (Free-Choice) Multiple-Choice TestsInnovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences10.11120/ital.2010.090200089:2(1-12)Online publication date: 15-Dec-2015
  • (2015)Assessing Process and ProductInnovation in Teaching and Learning in Information and Computer Sciences10.11120/ital.2007.060401836:4(183-202)Online publication date: 15-Dec-2015
  • (2012)Evaluation of three multiple-choice assessment methods in a human factors engineering courseJournal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers10.1080/10170669.2012.72747829:7(466-476)Online publication date: Oct-2012
  • (2008)Constructive Alignment for Teaching Model-Based Design for ConcurrencyTransactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency I10.1007/978-3-540-89287-8_1(1-18)Online publication date: 2008

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