Abstract
We discuss a study to evaluate the extent to which free-response questions can be approximated by multiple-choice equivalents. Two carefully designed research-based multiple-choice questions were transformed into a free-response format and administered on the final exam in a calculusbased introductory physics course. The original multiple-choice questions were administered in another, similar introductory physics course on the final exam. Our findings suggest that carefully designed multiple-choice questions can reflect the relative performance on the free-response questions while maintaining the benefits of ease of grading and quantitative analysis, especially if the different choices in the multiple-choice questions are weighted to reflect the different levels of understanding that students display.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 624-629 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | American Journal of Physics |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 Jan 1 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy(all)