16. TRACS ASSESSMENTS (TUESDAY-THURSDAY)
16.1. Overview
Copyright (c) 2014, Texas State University-San Marcos
Objective
You will be able to create a TRACS quiz or survey.
Overview
You use the TRACS Assessment tool to create either a quiz or a survey. The way you create, publish, and
retrieve data from each is similar. However, each requires different settings and types of questions. The
next sections describe how to create a quiz and how to create a survey.
16.2. Quiz Tutorials
Copyright (c) 2014, Texas State University-San Marcos
How to Create a TRACS Quiz
To learn how to create, publish, and retrieve data from a TRACS quiz, refer to the following:
1.
2.
Assessment Video Tutorials: http://tracsfacts.its.txstate.edu/Faculty-andStaff/videotutorialsfac.html
Training webpage: Assessment Scores and Statistics
16.3. Quiz Construction Tips (Multiple Choice)
Copyright (c) 2014, Texas State University-San Marcos
Multiple choice questions have the answer in plain sight. So the challenge is how to write distractors that are
challenging yet fair, and don’t give away the correct answer. Here are some preferred practice tips:
Use a simple sentence structure so the learner doesn’t have to guess what you’re asking.
Ask the question directly; don’t make the student infer what it is you’re asking.
If you want the question to be more difficult, do it with distractors that are carefully crafted around the
knowledge itself, not with tricky wording or unclear meaning.
Avoid double negatives.
Most of the wording should be in the question stem.
Each question should address a single topic.
Answer choices should be brief and parallel to each other.
Keep a question’s answer choices approximately the same length. If there’s a single long choice it is usually
the correct answer because it is full of qualifiers.
Use three to five answer choices, with four being most common.
One choice should be the unambiguous correct answer.
Distractors:
One choice should be almost correct. The intent is to distinguish between students who truly
know the content from those whose knowledge is more superficial.
A third choice can be like the previous one, or it can be less correct but sound plausible to the
uninformed. If there is a commonly misunderstood point of confusion that students should know
correctly, include it as a choice.
One choice should be clearly wrong – but keep it in the question’s context.
If you occasionally use a 5th choice, then it’s a give-away if you make that choice the correct
answer unless you randomize the choices.
Does it surprise you that choices C and D are the most common place for the correct answer? Mix it up. And in
doing so, especially if you’ll rely on automatic randomization, be sure the choices make sense in any order.
A final tip on higher level thinking skills:
Research has shown that many instructors write multiple-choice items only at the recall level of knowledge. A
good way to check higher-level thinking skills is to ask about applications of a rule in a situation. For
example, rather than asking the name or attributes of a rule, have the question stem describe a situation that
ends with, “What should you do in this circumstance?” Then list the alternative actions as choices, one of
which is a correct application of the correct rule.
16.4. Survey Tutorials
Copyright (c) 2014, Texas State University-San Marcos
How to Create a TRACS Survey
To learn how to create, publish, and retrieve data from a TRACS survey, refer to the following:
1. Training video (13:04 minutes): Create Online Surveys
2. Training document: Publish an Assessment
3. Training document: Retrieve Assessment Scores and Statistics
16.5. Survey Construction Tips
Copyright (c) 2014, Texas State University-San Marcos
Survey Tips
Here are some tips for creating an effective survey:
Keep the survey short and the questions simple
Include only one topic per question (i.e., avoid “double-barreled” questions). For example, ask two
separate questions that about the quantity and quality of online interactions to make sure you are
getting information about each.
Categorize sections, if possible, with headers for orientation purposes
Write response options that are mutually exclusive and exhaustive (if not sure, add “other”)
Keep open-ended questions to a minimum (due to respondent fatigue and problems in terms of
coding and analysis)
Ask questions about specific instructional situations to generate more useful answers (e.g., “How
useful was the interactive simulation for learning how to meet with clients?”). Broad, general
questions such as “What do you like most or least about this class?” may result in vague responses.
Types of Survey Questions
Quantitative questions require responses on an ordinal or numerical scale. They provide clear feedback that
is easy to tally. Some scales include:
Frequency scales (e.g., Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, Almost Always) are useful for measuring
behaviors you might wish to change.
Agree/Disagree scales (e.g., Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree) can address a
number of issues and give very clear signs of problem issues.
Quality scales (e.g., Poor, Fair, Good, Excellent) are very general but can be difficult to interpret
because they may not identify what kind of change is needed.
Open-ended questions can provide some of the most useful feedback because comments address issues you
may not have thought about. However, as noted above, use them strategically and sparingly to avoid
respondent fatigue and to keep coding and analysis manageable.
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