The Ineffectiveness of Multiple True-False Test Items

Abstract

Graduate students in education responded twice at the same sitting to 100 true-false questions on educational measurement. The items were presented as Part 1 and Part 2 of a midterm test. In Part 1, the items were presented separately with instructions to the students to mark each statement true or false. In Part 2, the same items were presented in clusters (32 triads, 2 dyads) with instructions to pick the one true (or the one false) statement. Scores on Part 1 were much more reliable than scores on Part 2. These results support the suggestion from test specialists that test constructors should avoid use of multiple true-false items. The relation between the difficulty of the component true-false items and of the multiple choice clusters was examined.