Selection Items

Selection items (or selected response items) are test items on which the examinee selects one of a set of choices, rather than generating an original response. Examples of selection items include conventional and complex multiple-choice items, context-dependent item sets, single and multiple true-false items, alternate-choice items, and matching items. A selection item from a set that is based on a single premise or idea is context dependent; an item alone is context independent.

A primary advantage of selection items is that they are objectively scored based on match to a preexisting key. Thus, scores from selection items tend to be relatively reliable because interscorer agreement is virtually 100%, removing variation based on scorer as one source of construct-irrelevant variance. Also due to objective scoring, selection items can easily be transferred to a computer-based testing medium. Another advantage of selection items is that it is possible for examinees to respond without a certain set of access skills. Constructed-response items that require short, medium, or long answers need examinees to have some ability to formulate thoughts and sentences, as well as to either handwrite or type answers. Examinees who have impairments in these areas may attain depressed scores on tests that are not intended to measure writing or fine motor skills; this is another example of construct-irrelevant variance against which selection items are robust.

A conventional, multiple-choice item typically features a stimulus, an item stem or question, a correct answer choice, and a set of incorrect choices. Although the simplest multiple-choice items offer only one answer choice that correctly satisfies the stem, some include no correct answers and some include multiple correct answers followed by choices of none of the above, all of the above, or some specific combination of the above (e.g., A and B, but not C). A complex, multiple-choice item may contain a question or stem with answers provided, followed by answer choices regarding whether the provided answers are correct. Multiple-choice items can be written such that each incorrect answer choice selected provides information about the response process of the examinee. The following is a conventional multiple-choice item from a mathematics test:

• 1.
  Sarah has $5.00. A hot dog costs $1.50 and a soda costs $1.00. Sarah buys two hot dogs and a soda. How much money does Sarah have left?

  A. $0.00

  B. $1.00

  C. $1.50

  D. $2.50

[Page 1492]The correct choice is answer B. Examinees might choose D if they do not multiply anything by 2. They might choose C if they incorrectly multiply $1.00 by 2, instead of multiplying $1.50 by 2. Examinees might choose A if they add incorrectly, or if they round $1.50 to $2.00 prior to multiplying.

A true-false item typically contains a statement that the examinee codes as either entirely true or not entirely true. If any part of the statement is false, then the correct answer is “false.” The following is a true-false item from a social studies test:

• 2.
  The first capital city of the United States, Washington, DC, was named for the country’s first president.

The correct answer is “false” because the first capital city of the United States was Philadelphia, PA. Even though the other part of the statement is true, the item is false because it is not entirely true.

...