Describe each strength and limitation of true and false items?
Other
Questions: The authors of your textbook discuss the strengths and limitations of true-false items. Describe each strength and limitation. Confine your answer to one page.
A few items from the book to help:
True-False Items
Strengths
- The item is useful for outcomes where there are only two possible alternatives (e.g., fact or opinion, valid or invalid).
- Less demand is placed on reading ability than in multiple-choice items.
- A relatively large number of items can be answered in a typical testing period.
- Complex outcomes can be measured when used with interpretive exercises.
- Scoring is easy, objective, and reliable.
Limitations
- It is difficult to write items beyond the knowledge level that are free fromambiguity.
- Making an item false provides no evidence that the student knows what is correct.
- No diagnostic information is provided by the incorrect answers.
- Scores are more influenced by guessing than with any other item type.
Rules for Writing True-False Items
The purpose of a true-false item, as with all item types, is to distinguish between those who have and those who have not achieved the intended learning outcome. Achievers should be able to select the correct alternative without difficulty, while nonachievers should find the incorrect alternative at least as attractive as the correct one. The rules for writing true-false items are directed toward this end.
Book: Waugh, C. K & Gronlund, N. E. (2013). Assessment of student achievement (10th ed).
Boston: Pearson
