Different Types Of Test Items

 Different Types Of Test Items

Written tests are the most widely used of all evaluation tools. Hence a science teacher should master the skills of constructing test items. Construction of test items calls for mastery of the subject matter and techniques of constructing each type of test item. A constructor should take the following precautions while framing test items.

• The items should cover, as far as possible, the whole range of topics prescribed in the syllabus.
• No item or part of the item should be set which is outside the syllabus.
• More items should be set to test higher objectives. For this purpose items should be in the context of new situations.
• Items should provide clear direction to the students regarding the scope and length of responses.
• The language of the items should be simple and within the easy grasp of students.

A written test is composed of a number of items or questions. Items differ on the basis of the type of responses demanded for. There are items in which responses are free while in certain others responses are fixed. 

• In free response test item, the respondent has enough freedom to respond in his own way. 
• In fixed response item respondent does not have this freedom, the response being controlled by the constructor. 

Generally three types of test items are commonly used. They are - 

• objective type, 
• short answer type and 
• essay type.

Objective Type Test Items

An objective type test item is one in which the response will be objective. The responses are made fixed and hence the freedom of the respondent to deviate subjectively is restricted. R.L. Ebel and D.A. Frisbie (1985) define an objective test as "one that can be provided with a simple predetermined test of correct answers so that objective opinion or judgment in the scoring procedure is eliminated." Objective type test item can be broadly classified into two. They are:

• Supply type (Recall type)
• Selection type (Recognition type)

For supply type test items the respondents have to supply the response where as for the selection type they have to select the responses from among the given responses. 

Usually five different forms of objective type items are in vogue. They are :

Five different forms of objective type items 

1. Simple recall type 
2. Completion type
3. True-false type
4. Multiple choice type
5. Matching type

Of these, simple recall and completion type items are supply type and the remaining three belong to the selection type.

Simple Recall Type Test Items

This test requires the respondent to recall a response to a direct question. The typical response should be short preferably a word, a number or a small phrase. It eliminates the chance of guessing.

Completion Type Test Items

A completion type item consists of a series of sentences in which certain words are omitted and replaced by blanks. The respondents are expected to fill in the blanks with a word or a number or at the most a phrase. The probability of guess work is completely eliminated.

True False Items (Alternate Response Type)

These are items which admit only two possible responses of which one is correct. A.J. Nikto (1983) defines. "A true-false item consists of a statement or proposition which the examinee must judge and mark as either true or false". The respondent is asked to read a statement and indicate in some specific manner suggested, whether it is true or false, right or wrong, correct or incorrect, agree or disagree, yes or no.

Multiple choice Test Items (Changing Alternative Type)

These are items presenting four or more responses in which one is either correct or definitely better than the others. The examinee has to find this out and record this in the manner required in the paper. Here the chance of guess work is minimised. Mul-tiple choice item consists of two parts. The first part of the item is called STEM - presented in the form of a direct question or incomplete statements. The second part of the item is called Options or Alternatives or Responses, usually four or five in number. Among the options one is the keyed response and others are called distractors or misleads or foils. The stem gives data for the selection of the keyed response. The respondent has to read the stem and options and to select the correct or best alternative.

Matching Type Test Items

This is a modified version of the multiple choice test item. In fact matching type is an economised form of combining a number of multiple choice items in the same question a condensation of several multiple choice items. It consists of two parallel columns, with each phrase, word, or number or symbol in one column (usually the first) being matched to a word, phrase or sentence in the other column. The items in the column for which a match is sought are called Premises or stem and items in the column from which selection is made is called responses or options. The respondent is required to make some sort of association between each premise and each response in the two columns.

Short Answer Type Test Items

A question requiring three value points at the most may be defined as a short answer question. The term value points indicates a point to be given credit in the expected answer. Thus the length of the answer expected from a short answer question becomes very short. This diminishes subjectivity. In this way, it is an improvement upon essay type questions. Such questions are of great help in having a wide coverage of content and each item can be set to test a definite objective. Because of these reasons, a fair proportion of such questions should be included in a test.

Essay Type Test Items

This is the age-old, traditional type of questions, so well known and so frequently used in our country. An essay-type test item is a free response test item. The examinee is free to give the answer of a question as he likes. This is a type of question calling for a rather long answer covering a number of points and a variety of objectives. This is the type which can help in evaluating complex skills and other similar behavioural patterns. The essay type is the only means to evaluate pupils' ability to express facts in an organised manner, to assimilate and organise subject matter, to reason logically, to invite individual opinions and criticism.