Nature of Objective Tests and
Resources for Item Development
Dr. Henry Owolabi
Faculty of Education
University of Ilorin
Ilorin
Nature of objective tests 1: Why we
assess
 To determine level of success in achieving course objectives;
 To know how well the students are doing in the course;
 To find out teaching/learning problems
 Determine appropriate corrective/remediation procedures;
 Obtain data on students’ standing/class of degree;
 Have a basis for award of certificate;
 Have/keep records of learner progress;
 Gauge the integrity/quality of the system;
 Facilitate students’ transfer to other institutions;
 Generate data for research; and
 Take decisions on scholarship, grants and support.
Nature of objective tests 2: What
Lecturers assess
 Cognitive learning: Intellectual, mental and rational thought
processes.
 Affective learning: emotional, attitudinal and other value
laden actions.
 Psychomotor learning: manipulative skills including
movement of the hands, feet, eyes and different parts of the
body, handling of equipment /apparatus and manipulation of
implements/gadgets.
Testing
 Testing is a broad term that indicates exposing students to questions,
quiz, puzzles, problems or situations that will make students to ‘bring
out’ certain behaviours (knowledge, skills, competences) for
observation. A test creates opportunity to confirm what transpire
between teachers and learners. The examination system in the
university depends heavily on testing. In this workshop, reference is
made to achievement test which is the most applicable to the
university examination system.
Behaviours focused by Test Items: Thinking
levels of revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
 Remember: Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, Metacognitive
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Knowledge
Understand: Translation, Interpretation and Extrapolation
Apply: using knowledge to solve practical problems and sometimes
hypothetical examples may help
Analyze: cause and effect relationships involving facts, laws or
principles and providing acceptable explanations for these.
Evaluate: make decisions and draw inferences and conclusions
Create: bringing out a new idea, method, product in the form of
writing, drawing and patterns
Nature/Characteristics of objective test
items
 There are usually two parts: stem and options
 They give room to both the tester and the testee to be free from
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influencing the test score: objective scoring.
The coverage of syllabus or course content is comprehensive.
There is a large number of items on the test.
The type of response expected from the testees can be easily
scored right or wrong.
Problems involving reasoning and judgment are presented
It could be used for checking memory of facts
Check recognition but not recall
Free from subjectivity.
Structure of objective tests items 1:
Types of objective tests
 True or False/ Yes or No
 Matching type
 Fill in the gaps/completion item type
 Multiple Choice Tests
 Interpretive Exercise
Structure of objective test items 2: Stem
Types
 Direct question
 Incomplete statement
 Description
 Narration or story
 information or data
 Picture or diagram
Structure of objective test items 3: Stem
requirement types
The nature of the stem may require two forms of responses:
 Supply type response format requires that the testees either supply
short answers or complete a sentence or statement
 Selection type provides the options from which testees pick the one
they consider most appropriate.
Structure of objective test items 4: Option
types
The options are also in two parts:
 Answer, and
 Decoys/distractors/distracters
Structure of objective test item 5: Option types
 Options, responses or alternatives: There are two types of
options:
- Correct answer type are applicable to simple
questions in the nature of what, who, where or when
on facts laws and principles.
- Best answer type is used for more complex questions
which present options that are
correct to
various degrees and so there may
not be an absolutely
correct
option. Questions here are of the why and how
nature and only one of them is most appropriate.
Developing/writing stems
 Gronlund (1981) suggested that item writers should watch
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out for the following:
Unclear instructions
Ambiguous statements
Unnecessarily long sentences: wordiness
Complex sentence
Difficult vocabulary
Poor illustrative material
Biases: racial, ethnic or gender
Writing of options
 There should be only one answer among the alternatives.
 Those who apply wrong reasoning in their interpretation of
the stem must have answers suitable to their thinking.
 There is a minimum proportion of testees an option must
attract to be seen as functioning.
 Number of options should not be increased at the detriment
of functionality.
Advantages of multiple-choice questions
 Comprehensive coverage of course content is made possible
 Different components of the subject matter and learning
outcomes are also easily measured
 Through item analysis information on the capabilities
(strengths and weaknesses) of the question can be provided
 It is easy to locate aspects of the subject matter posing
problems to learners
 It is easy to score and no subjectivity is involved
Disadvantages
 Much time is needed to write the items
 It lends itself to guessing
 It makes it easy to cheat
 Difficult to write higher order questions (i.e., procedural,
metacognitive)
 Cannot test ability to organize and present knowledge
Ensuring quality of tests: Agreement of lecture
and test contents
 Following the course content as contained in the University
Handbook current for the academic year in which it is used.
The courseware, which is more detailed, must have been
used for the delivery of the lectures and the relevant
references. The test items used for students’ assessment
should be derived from these sources.
 This is the content validation process for assessment of
students.
Resources required for ensuring quality
 Reference Texts – books, journal articles, instructional texts etc. main
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textbooks followed for entire course or for each topic in the course content
Courseware – compliance with information made available to students in the
Courseware
Students’ Notes – taken during interactions with the Lecturer
Assignments – given to students in the course of the semester and as a
product of lectures
Past Questions – items used in the academic sessions prior to the present
Continuous Assessment – questions similar to those that had previously been
attempted by the students
Online Resources – these must have been used during lectures or
assignments. The students must be aware that the Lecturer will make use of
these resources
Conclusion
 Thanks