SHORT ANSWER QUESTION

Introduction
Short answer questions, as the name indicates, is short / and direct questions and the students are
expected to Answer in a word or phrase or a numerical response to the question.

Definition
Short-answer questions are open-ended questions that require students to create an answer.
They are commonly used in examinations to assess the basic knowledge and understanding
(low cognitive levels) of a topic before more in-depth assessment questions are asked on the
topic.

Principles of Constructing Short Answer Question.

Word the item in such a way so that the required answer is both brief and specific.
Do not take statements directly from the textbooks. Textbook statements are
frequently too general and ambiguous to serve as short answer items.
A direct question is generally more desirable than an incomplete statement.
If the answer is to be expressed in numerical units, indicate the units in which the
answeris to be expressed.
When completion items are used, do not include too many blanks. Key words are to
be omitted and the blank should come at the end of the sentence.
Arrange spaces for recording answers on the right margin of the question paper.
Give guidelines for answering each test item very clearly.
The weightage for each question should be written with the question.

How to design a good Short Answer Question?

1. Design short answer items which are appropriate assessment of the learning objective
2. Make sure the content of the short answer question measures knowledge appropriate
to the desired learning goal
3. Express the questions with clear wordings and language which are appropriate to the
student population
4. Ensure there is only one clearly correct answer in each question
5. Ensure that the item clearly specifies how the question should be answered (e.g.
Student should answer it briefly and concisely using a single word or short phrase? Is
the question given a specific number of blanks for students to answer?)
6. Consider whether the positioning of the item blank promote efficient scoring
7. Write the instructions clearly so as to specify the desired knowledge and specificity of
response
8. Set the questions explicitly and precisely.
9. Direct questions are better than those which require completing the sentences.
 10. For numerical answers, let the students know if they will receive marks for showing
partial work (process based) or only the results (product based), also indicated the
importance of the units.
11. Let the students know what your marking style is like, is bullet point format
acceptable, or does it have to be an essay format?
12. Prepare a structured marking sheet; allocate marks or part-marks for acceptable
answer.
13. Be prepared to accept other equally acceptable answers, some of which you may not
have predicted.

Types of short-answer question.

Definition questions. For these questions, you simply need to define a concept.
Example: What is Short Answer Question?
Explanation questions. For these questions, you need to explain why something is
true or how something works.
Example questions. For these questions, you need to state one or more specific, real-
world instances of some concept.
Relationship questions. For these questions, you need to state how two or more
things relate to each other. Are they opposites? Are they the same thing? Is one an
example of the other? How do they differ? Etc. These are usually the most difficult
questions.
o Example: What is the different Between Summative and Formative.
Calculation questions. For these questions, you need to calculate a numerical
answer or answers.
Graphing questions. For these questions, you need to respond with a simple graph.
Make sure you clearly label your axes and curves. Unless the question specifically
asks for an explanation, no explanation is necessary.
Advantages of Short Answer Questions .
Short Answer Questions are also relatively easy to set compared to many assessment
methods.
Short Answer Questions can be used as part of a formative and summative
assessment, as the structure of short answer questions are very similar to examination
questions, students are more familiar with the practice and feel less anxious.
Unlike MCQs, there is no guessing on answers, students must supply an answer.
Relatively easy to construct
Can cover a wide range of content.
Disadvantages of Short Answer Questions
Short Answer Questions (SAQ) are only suitable for questions that can be answered
with short responses. It is very important that the assessor is very clear on the type of
answers expected when setting the questions, because SAQ is an open-ended
questions, students are free to answer any way they choose, short-answer questions
can lead to difficulties in grading if the question is not worded carefully.
Short Answer Questions are typically used for assessing knowledge only, students
may often memorize Short Answer Questions with rote learning. If assessors wish to
use Short Answer Questions to assess deeper learning, careful attention (and many
practices) on appropriate questions are required.
Accuracy of assessment may be influenced by handwriting/spelling skills.
 There can be time management issues when answering Short Answer Questions.

Multiple Choice Questions.

Definition
It is an objective type of test, where student is provided with several alternatives or
choices to a given question and asked to select the most appropriate one which is correct.
It contains two parts:
1. The base or stem which presents the problem in the form of an incomplete statement or
question.
2. The options list of possible/eorrect answer/distractors/alternatives.

Uses of MCQ

It is one of the commonly used objective type tests.

It can measure a variety of learning outcomes from simple to complex
It is adaptable to most types of subject matter content .
They are used for formative and summative assessment as well as for entrance
Examinations.
It is easier to score.
It makes comparison of the students more objective.
Principles for Preparation of Multiple Choice.
The stem should be meaningful and it should present a definite problem.
Use positive statements as for as possible. If negative statement is used in the stem,
underline it.

The stem should not be too long but the concept of the question should be completely
expressed in it.
Make the stem simple and brief.
The item should be relevant.
The alternatives should be grammatically consistent with the stem of the item.
The distracters should be as short as possible.
Make the distracters resemble the correct answer as for as possible.
Try to avoid the phrases 'all the above' or 'none of the above', etc.
The number of distracters should be uniform for all the questions.
Arrange the distracters in such a way that there is no pattern evident about the correct
answer.
Represent only one concept in a single question.
An item should contain only one correct answer.
All distracters should be plausible.
In a properly constructed MCQ, each distracter will be elected by some pupil. If
distracter is not selected by anyone, it would be eliminated or revised.
Provide a blank space against each item for writing the number of the correct answer.
Other points to remember are:
The time to be allotted.
 The weightage.
Type of MCQs.
One best response
Multiple completion type
Relationship analysis type
Multiple true and false
Matching type.
One best response.
This is one of the most frequently used MCQ. A series of 4 to 5 choices is preferred to
reduce the chances of random guessing. Instructions to the students should be given clearly
to choose one right or appropriate response. "None of the above" and "All of the above"
should be avoided. It usually tests the recall of facts. The greatest difficulty with this type is
to find plausible alternatives. Reduction of five alternatives to four due to inability to find a
fifth possible distracter greatly reduces the efficacy of the item since the possibility of
getting the correct response by chance increases from 20 to 25%. Use of "All of the above"
and "None of the above" does not always obviate the problem. Very often, a candidate,
who knows that two of the options are both correct or both wrong automatically led to "All
of the above" or "None of the above" respectively even though he knows nothing about the
other distracters. Also, if he knows, that one of the alternatives is obviously wrong, he can
eliminate that choices also "All of the above" and therefore the question is reduced to 1 in 3
choices. Unintended grammatical clues play a very important role in this type of MCQ as
also the excessive length of the correct response, as opposed to the distracters. Great care
must be taken to avoid these errors.
Example:
The World Health Day is celebrated every year on
A. 1st April
B. 7th April
C. 1st May
D. 7th May
Multiple Completion Type
This is another common format used and is an improvement on the first type
mentioned earlier and requires higher levels of cognition than mere recall of facts. The
stem is followed by four completions, one or more of s which are correct.
This type of item is useful to test higher levels of cognition. This format is also
useful when an examiner can find only 4 plausible distracters instead of 5 for the one best
response type of MCQ. Instead of reducing the one best response to one in four or adding
a non-functional distracter, the same item can be rephrased to fit into the multiple
completion type of format. The disadvantage of unequal lengths of alternatives, so
important in the first s type, is reduced in this format.
Example
Live virus is used in immunization against
A. Influenza
B. The common cold
C. Cholera
D. Smallpox
 Responses 1,2 and 3 are correct
Responses 1 and 3 are correct.
Responses 2 and 4 are correct.
Response 4 is correct.
All four are correct.
Relationship Analysis Type
This type of item is useful to test higher levels of cognition as the candidate
has to decide individually whether each 3 statement is correct and then determine their
cause-effect relationship. This is, however becoming less popular due to problem in
scoring. Items with correct response of A or require the candidate to assess individual
veracity of 3 each statement and then to determine their relationship to one another,
whereas in item with C, D, or E as correct 2 response. He does not have to bother about a
cause-effect relationship. A score of unity for all items with correct response of A, B, C, D
or 1 would, therefore, be unfair as items with C, D, or E as the key require less intellectual
effort on the part of the students. Besides, in situations where the student knows that either
of the statements is false, he is automatically led to choices C, D, and E, the item thus gets
reduced to one in three instead of one in five choices. Likewise, if the candidate knows
that the first statement is true without knowing anything about the second statement, he is
automatically led to choosing A, B or C and can ignore D and E merely by exclusion.

Example..
Cow's milk is preferable to breast milk for infant feeding. Because Cow's milk has a
higher content of calcium.
Both statements are true and causally related.
Both statements are true but not causally related.
First statement is true and the second is false.
First statement is false and the second is true.
Both statements are false.

Multiple True-False Completion Type

Each of these choices can be individually true or false and are not
interdependent. Hence the item can have from nil to five true or false responses. The
problems with the ordinary True-False item has been that of 50% probability of guessing
which is not the case here.
The merits of this format are:

The Usual restriction of the ordinary multiple choice item in testing superlative
situations such as "the best reason for "the most accepted cause for", etc. which may
sometimes call for an opinion, is desirably lifted.
The restriction of having only one true or one false response is not operative.
Since no coding is required, the candidates respond easily.
Elimination of answers due to unlimited clues is less likely.
Some of the demerits of this format are:
Unless care is exercised, the items formulated may only test recall.
The item tends to be a little too short and implicit rather than explicit.
Each item in this format can score from 0 to 5 marks depending on the number of correct
responses. The efficacy of the item in the ranking situation can be increased by giving a
 credit score to the item only if all five responses are correct. Greater use of this format
would, to some extent, reduce the difficulties inherent with other types of MCQs.
Example
The consequences of Total Parenteral Nutrition in children include:
Oral aversion T/F
Electrolyte imbalanceT/F
Vitamin deficiency T/F
Weightless T/F
Water retention T/F
Matching Type
This type of item consists of a list of three to four parameters on the left hand side and
a list of five suggested matches on the right hand side of which only four matches with
one item each on the left. The number of choices on the right should be more than the
items on the left so that the last item to be matched would still have three options to
minimize guessing.
Example
Match the following vitamin deficiency diseases with its vitamin
Scurvy Vitamin B
Rickets Vitamin A
Night blindness Vitamin D
Beriberi Vitamin C
Vitamin K
Advantages of MCQ are:
Can test large sample of knowledge in a short period of time.
Easy to score.
Objectivity and reliability in scoring is maintained.
Disadvantages of MCQ are:
It does not test the students' ability to write logically and the capability of
expression.
It cannot test motor skills like communication and interpersonal skills.
It does not give freedom to the students.