Writing Effective Quiz Questions

Multiple-choice Questions

A multiple-choice question consists of two parts. The first is a question or incomplete statement called the “stem.” The second is the list of possible responses. Incorrect answers are also known as distractors.

Characteristics of Multiple-choice Questions

Multiple-choice questions:

can present problems involving reasoning and judgment
can check memory for facts
check recognition but not recall
use objective rather than subjective scoring.

Advantages of Multiple-choice Questions

Great flexibility in assessing lower and higher-order thinking.
Many kinds and types of subject matter and learning outcomes can be measured.
Item analysis can provide diagnostic information.
Easy and quick to score.

Disadvantages of Multiple-choice Questions

Difficult to write higher order questions (i.e., procedural, metacognitive).
Cannot test ability to organize and present knowledge.

Average Response Time

1 minute (high-level questions may take more time).

Constructing Multiple-choice Questions

Question Stem

A multiple-choice question consists of a question stem and two or more responses. The question stem is the first part of the question, and it is what the student will read before reading the possible responses. Incorrect response options are also known as distractors. The following are guidelines for constructing both parts of your multiple-choice questions:

When the stem is an incomplete statement, place the “blank” for the correct choice at the end of the statement.
When a negative item is used, emphasize the negative word or phrase by underlining, capitalizing, or italicizing, for example, “DOES NOT.”
Avoid grammatical clues to the correct answer such as “a” or “an” as the last word of the stem or plural verbs that match plural choices.
If all responses begin with common words or phrases, then place these commonalities at the end of the stem. Example:
The famous quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775 reads as follows: “Give me liberty or give me…”
A. death.
B. weapons.
C. nothing.
D. life.
Write the stem such that students do not have to read all of the choices before they can determine the question.
When several stems have the same set of choices, consider using a matching question instead.

Question Responses

Include at least four, but not more than five, possible responses.
Provide reasonably plausible choices.
Only one response should be correct.
Omit responses that are obviously wrong.
List possible responses in a column – easier to read and answer
Avoid patterns in placing correct answers (such as having "c" be correct in more than half of the questions).
If a hierarchy exists within the responses, place them in ascending order (e.g., numerical responses in numerical order, years in chronological order).
Use “none of the above” and “all of the above” with appropriate discretion. They can give away the answer or cause confusion, if all alternative choices aren’t worded very carefully. Also, you cannot randomize responses for these types of questions.
Avoid language that is similar or identical to important words in the stem.

Good Example of a Multiple-choice Question

Question Stem: Which type of test do college admissions offices use most often in reviewing applications?

Responses:

a. ETS
b. CAT
c. IQ
d. SAT

Bad Example of a Multiple-choice Question

Question stem: Joan is a top-level gymnast on her college team and is anemic. This means that she:

Responses:

a. Has not yet experienced puberty.
b. Is much shorter than most girls her age.
c. Starves herself.
d. * Lacks enough iron in her blood.

Main Error

There is not necessarily a relationship between being a top-level gymnast and being anemic.

Identifying Flawed Multiple-choice Items

Can you spot flawed multiple-choice questions? Take the Fribbled Breg test below to find out. Mentally choose an answer to a question, then click the Check Answer button directly below that question to check yourself.

The Fribbled Breg Test

Trassig normally occurs when the
1. dissels frull.
2. lusp trasses the vom.
3. belgo lisks easily.
4. viskal flans, if the viskal is zortil.

The Fribbled Breg will minter best with an
1. Mors.
2. Ignu.
3. Cerst.
4. Sortar.

What probable causes are indicated when tristal doss occurs in a compots?
1. The sabs foped and the doths tinzed.
2. The kredges roted with the rots.
3. Rakogs were not accepted in the sluth.
4. Polats were thonced in the sluth.

The primary purpose of the cluss in frumpaling is to
1. remove cluss-prangs
2. patch tremalls.
3. loosen cloughs.
4. repair plumots.

Why does the sigla frequently overfesk the trelsum?
1. All siglas are mellious.
2. Siglas are always votial.
3. The trelsum is usually tarious.
4. No trelsa are directly feskable.

The mintering function of the Ignu is most effectively performed in connection with which one of the following minter snacks?
1. Arazma Tol.
2. Fribbled Breg.
3. Groshed Stantol.
4. Fallied Stantol.

Which of the following is/are always present when trossels are being gruven?
1. rint and vost
2. shum and vost
3. vost and plone
4. vost

Among the reasons for tristal doss are
1. the sabs foped and the foths tinzed
2. the dredges roted with the orots
3. few racobs were accapted in sluth
4. most of the polats were thonced

The main reason sabs foped is
1. the foths tinzed
2. the dredges roted with the orots while the racobs were accapted in sluth
3. the trelsum is thonced
4. the polats were thonced

Why Careful Writing is Important for Quiz Questions

How did you do? Better than expected? If so, that's because you were using test-taking strategies and exploiting weaknesses in the way the questions were written! Here's a list of things to avoid:

Word matching - Don't use the same word (or a variation) in both the question and answer, unless you use the word in all possible answers (see questions 1 & 4). If you do use the same word in all possible answers, ensure that word is not a clue to the answer (see question 7).
A vs. An - Don't use a or an as the last word in a question, unless all possible answers begin appropriately (a = consonants, an = vowels) (see question 2).
Plurals - If you are asking for plural causes, make sure all possible answers contain plural causes (see questions 3 & 8).
Linked Questions - Do not provide a clue in a previous question to an answer in the current question (see question 6). If you are randomly scrambling question order, this is even more critical to avoid, as this may vary the difficulty of the quiz for different individuals, e.g., Person A gets the clue from a previous question because it appeared first, but for Person B that same question appeared last. One could argue that randomizing doesn't matter - the two questions are conceptually linked so the order in which they appear is irrelevant. That is true unless you have a quiz where one question appears at a time, and you cannot review a question once it is answered.
Answer Length Mismatch - Try to make all the answers nearly the same length and level of complexity. Any answer that 'sticks out' is likely to be the correct one.