Short-answer questions are similar to

objective items in that a clearly-defined

answer is required, but differ from the

latter in that the answer has to be

generated and supplied by the learner

rather than chosen from a number of

options provided.

They can have extremely high reliability, thus minimizing possible marker subjectivity.

While short answer items often target knowledge or comprehension understanding, effectively developed completion items can also be utilized to assess application, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation levels. One means of measuring this type of higher-order understanding is to utilize combinations of short answer statements within a given paragraph. When implementing the paragraph format, be sure that desired knowledge is clearly specified.

Easy to construct.

Minimizes guessing

Encourages more intensive study-student must know the answer vs. Recognizing the answer.

Short-answer tests are also fairly simple to administer and mark.

Effective as either a written or oral assessment.

Effective for assessing who, what, where, and when information.

May overemphasize memorization of facts.

Take care – questions may have more than one correct answer.

Scoring is laborious.

they are not particularly well suited for testing some types of higher-cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes

Not suitable for item-analysis

Often criticized for encouraging rote memorization

When using with definitions: supply term, not the definition-for a better judge of student knowledge.

For numbers, indicate the degree of precision/units expected.

Use direct questions, not an incomplete statement.

If you do use incomplete statements, don´t use more than 2 blanks within an item.

Arrange blank to make scoring easy.

Try to phrase question so there is only one answer possible.

Do instructions clearly specify the desired knowledge and specificity of response?

Is there only one clearly correct answer?

Completion items

In their simplest form, these consist of

incomplete statements, the learner having to

supply the missing words, terms, symbols, etc.

Four typical examples are shown below.

Example 1 (a simple completion item that only

requires a single answer to be provided)

1. How you call a person who studies space?

(answer: astronomer)

Completion items can also be built round

things like tables, maps, diagrams, drawings

and photographs, with the learner again

having to supply missing pieces of

information.

These take the form of actual questions (or

instructions that imply questions), with the

learner having to supply the answer(s). Such

items can themselves take a wide range of

forms, some of the possibilities being shown

below.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(Executive) (Legislature) (Judiciary)

Example 2 (a similar question that requires more

than one answer)

'Name the three basic branches of government.'

These are similar to unique-answer questions

except that they allow for some variation in the

nature of the answer, either in terms of its

intrinsic content or in terms of the way in which

it is expressed.

Example 1 (a question that has several

acceptable answers)

Two planets that have rings are ___________

and ________________.

(Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune)

Example 2 (a similar question that requires slightly longer answers)

'Outline four fundamental differences between the

systems of government of the United States of

America and the United Kingdom'.

(Possible answers might include: The USA's head of state is a president while that of the UK is a constitutional monarch; the USA has a federal structure while the UK has not; in the USA, the executive and legislative arms of government are separate, while in the UK they are not; the upper legislative house in the USA is elected whereas that in the UK is not; the USA has a written constitution whereas the UK has not; the USA has a supreme court whereas the UK has not)

Like objective questions, they are of limited use

in testing non-cognitive skills such as

communication skills, interpersonal skills and

psychomotor skills. Thus, the first thing that

anyone thinking of making use of short-answer

questions should do is check that the learning

outcomes that it is wished to assess are in fact

suited to this form of assessment; if they are not,

some other assessment technique should be

employed.

The most common method of evaluating a

short-answer question (or, more usually, a test

composed of such questions) is to have it

checked by a colleague or validation panel. In

order to enable such an evaluation to be

carried out in a meaningful and systematic

way.

Is a short answer item an appropriate

assessment of the learning objective?

Does the content of the short answer

question measure knowledge appropriate to

the desired learning goal?

Is the item clearly worded and stated in

language appropriate to the student

population?

Does the positioning of the item blank

promote efficient scoring?