considine-designformatvalidity-2005.pdf (451.57 kB)
Design, format, validity and reliability of mutiple choice questions for use in nursing research and education
journal contribution
posted on 2005-01-01, 00:00 authored by Julie ConsidineJulie Considine, Mari BottiMari Botti, S ThomasMultiple choice questions are used extensively in nursing research and education and play a fundamental role in the design of research studies or educational programs. Despite their widespread use, there is a lack of evidence-based guidelines relating to design and use of multiple choice questions. Little is written about their format, structure, validity and reliability of in the context of nursing research and/or education and most of the current literature in this area is based on opinion or consensus. Systematic multiple choice question design and use of valid and reliable multiple choice questions are vital if the results of research or educational testing are to be considered valid. Content and face validity schould be established by expert panel review and construct validity should be established using ‘key check’, item discrimination and item difficulty analyses. Reliability measures include internal consistency and equivalence. Internal consistency should be established by determination of internal consistency using reliability coefficients while equivalence should be established using alternate form correlation. This paper reviews literature related to the use of multiple choice questions, current design recommendations and processes to establish reliability and validity, and discusses implications for their use in nursing research and education.
History
Journal
Collegian : journal of the Royal College of Nursing, AustraliaVolume
12Issue
1Pagination
19 - 24Publisher
Royal College of NursingLocation
Deakin, A.C.T.ISSN
1322-7696eISSN
1876-7575Language
engNotes
Reproduced with the specific permission of the copyright owner.Publication classification
C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2005, Royal College of NursingUsage metrics
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