True-False Alternate Choice Items
Strengths: Adequate
sampling of content. Easy to construct. Efficiently scored. Objectively scored.
Limitations: Susceptible to guessing. Only useful for dichotomous
answers. Measure cognitive skills only indirectly
True-false items present a proposition for
which one of two opposing options (true versus false) represents the correct
answer. They can be used to measure higher cognitive skills indirectly, but
they are often used to measure trivia recall.
An example of a true-false item:
True or False
Guessing results in students obtaining higher scores on true-false than
multiple choice tests.
(Answer: True)
To guide the development of
effective, valid true-false items the following questions should be asked
about every item:
1. Does the item measure the specified
skill?
2. Will all or most content experts
consistently classify the item as unequivocally true or false?
3. Does the item present a single
proposition?
4. Is the level of reading skills
required by the item below that of the students' ability?
5. Is the item stated as simply
as possible?
6. Are
adjectives or adverbs emphasized (e.g. all caps, underlined) when they reverse
or significantly alter the meaning of the item?
7. Are
absolute words such as always, all, only, and never avoided?
8. Are indefinite words such as
frequent, often, and sometimes avoided?
9. If the item is intended to measure
a skill other than recall, does it pose a situation that is novel to the
student?
10. Is the incorrect response plausible?