Tests & Quizzes: Question Types
Overview
Here are the various types of questions you can employ in your assessments.
- Multiple Choice
- Survey
- Short Answer/Essay
- Fill in the Blank
- Numeric Response
- Matching
- True/False
- Audio Response
- File Upload
Multiple Choice
Multiple Choice (M/C) is a very common assessment question type. It offers a statement and then students must select the correct answer(s) from a list of possibilities. This question type can assess information recall, reading comprehension, critical thinking/problem solving, and other student learning factors.
Answer options:
- Single correct. In this scenario, there is one correct answer and several distractors. There are two optional features: "Partial Credit" and "Negative Marking." With "Partial Credit," the instructor can offer a percentage of the total points possible to "close" distractor options with no penalty to students for incorrect guesses. With "Negative Marking," any incorrect guess would cost students points rather than simply not earning points.
- Multiple correct, single selection. In this scenario, there are multiple correct options but students may only select one. If the student selects any of the correct options, he/she will receive full points.
- Multiple correct, multiple selection. In this scenario, there are multiple correct options and students must select all of the correct options to earn full points. There are two possible settings for this question type: "Partial Credit" or "All or Nothing." "Partial Credit" will offer points for each correct answer but will penalize students for any incorrect response. This is required to prevent students from simply checking all of the boxes to earn full points. The "All or Nothing" option means that students must select all of the correct options (and only the correct options) to receive the points possible, else they receive zero points.
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
- Randomize Answers. You may choose to randomize the order of the answers for this question. This can help prevent simple cheating since the correct answer may be option "A" for one student and option "C" for another.
- Require Rationale. If enabled, you may request a rationale for the answer. This presents the student with a text box below the question to explain the reasoning for their selection. The student will not receive an error or a notification if a decision is made to skip it. So be sure to set clear expectations with students.
- Automated Feedback. You may offer different levels of feedback. By default, you'll
see "question-level feedback" to offer an overall "correct" or "incorrect" feedback
option for students. You can also offer selection-level feedback. To enable this,
click Settings for the overall assessment, click "Grading and Feedback", and under
"Set how feedback will be authored" select either "selection-level feedback" or "both."
Scroll down and click "Save" (don't publish the assessment until you're ready). Finally, automated feedback will display depending on the selections you've made in the Feedback/Feedback Delivery section of the assessment settings.
Tip:
- How to Prepare Better Multiple-Choice Test Items: Guidelines for University Faculty from Brigham Young University
Survey
The Survey question type allows you to poll student attitudes or beliefs. Depending on how you set up the assessment, you may either choose to see the selections made by each student or view the results anonymously. There are no points possible for a survey question so the Answer Point Value will always remain 0.
Answer options:
- Yes, no. Below the question, it will display the options "Yes" and "No."
- Disagree, Agree. Below the question, it will display the options "Disagree" and "Agree."
- Disagree, Undecided, Agree. Same as above but with neutral position.
- Below Average -> Above Average. Below the question, it will display the options "Below Average," "Average," and "Above Average."
- Strongly Disagree -> Strongly Agree. Below the question, it will display the options "Strongly Disagree," "Disagree," "Undecided," "Agree" and "Strongly Agree."
- Unacceptable -> Excellent. Below the question, it will display the options "Unacceptable," "Below Average," "Average," "Above Average" and "Excellent."
- 1 -> 5. Below the question, it will display the options 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Remember, you'll need to define the scale in the question (e.g. 1 = best or 1 = worst?).
- 1 -> 10. Below the question, it will display the options 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Remember, you'll need to define the scale in the question (e.g. 1 = best or 1 = worst?).
Tips:
- Always provide a scale for the 1->5 and 1->10 options so students know which selection indicates the best or worst option.
- Consider Google Forms for another method of administering surveys to your students through Google@Pepperdine.
Short Answer/Essay
The Short Answer/Essay question type allows for an open-ended response. The student is presented with a text box and either types or copy/pastes a response into the box.
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
- Model Answer. Instructors are provided an optional text box to enter an example or model answer to help students. Some professors choose to add a grading rubric in this space. Important Note: The model answer will only be displayed to students in assessment feedback.
- Feedback. While the system cannot auto-grade essays, you can provide a reminder or notice regarding this question for your students after they've completed the assessment. Feedback will only appear based on your selections in Settings > Feedback > Feedback Delivery.
Tips:
- Be sure to advise your students to "Save" their work often.
- It's recommended that students write long responses in a word processor (saving often) and then paste work into the text box. It's too easy for a student to accidentally quit a web browser, hit the "back" button, or close the tab or window -- and then lose all of his/her work.
Fill in the Blank
The Fill in the Blank assessment type will present a statement with words or phrases omitted. The student is expected to enter the appropriate words, terms, or phrases into each "blank" text box.
Answer options:
- Case Sensitive. Allows case sensitivity if selected. For example, if the correct answer is "Charlemagne" and the student enters "charlemagne," then the student would not earn points with case sensitivity enabled.
- Mutually exclusive. This is helpful if each blank could be interchangeable and you require a unique entry in each blank. For example if you ask about the possible outcomes of a coin toss, you would enable this option to allow heads and tails OR tails and heads but not heads and heads.
- Ignore Spaces. This option will ignore spaces characters when marking student responses as correct or incorrect. This can be especially helpful if you are prompting students for equations, mathematical formulas, and/or computer code.
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
Tip:
- Think of the different possibilities and list as many acceptable options as possible, with each option separated by the pipe (|) character. For example: Roses are red, violets are {blue|purple|violet|not}.
Numeric Response
The Numeric Response question type is another form of fill in the blank. In this situation, the system will expect numbers rather than text. This can be helpful for simple math, statistics, or science questions.
Answer options:
- Range. The answer could be between a range {12.2|14.1}. This would accept any answer between 12.2 and 14.1. The entry 13.3 would be considered correct.
-
Scientific Notation. It also allows scientific notation by using the letter "e". For example: 6.022e23.
- Complex numbers. The system will allow for complex number answers in the format of (a + bi). For example: {1+1i}.
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
Tip:
- Be sure to clearly explain to students the type and format of answer you expect. For the question, "Five times two equals _____" -- a student might enter "ten" instead of "10."
Matching
The Matching question type offers two lists and asks the student to "match" the correct pairs. The professor enters each "pair" set (choice and its match). In the live assessment, the system automatically randomizes the lists and the student must make the correct selections. Students earn partial credit for each correct pairing, earning full points if they match all options correctly. Incorrect guesses will earn zero points; there is no penalty for an incorrect selection.
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
True/False
True/False questions offer a statement and the selection of either "True" or "False."
Other features:
- Minimum Point Value. This feature will provide a prompted number of points to the student for attempting the question.
-
Points deducted for incorrect answer. With negative marking, any incorrect guess would cost students points rather than simply not earning points. This is an optional feature for very rare use cases.
-
Require Rationale. If enabled, you may request a rationale for the answer. This presents the student with a text box below the question to explain the reasoning for their selection. The student will not receive an error or a notification if a decision is made to skip it. So be sure to set clear expectations with students.
Audio Recording
The Audio Recording question type asks the student to record a verbal response to the question.
The recorder may not be compatible with all computers, so we generally recommend that instructors perform a "practice" test to ensure that all students can respond to these types of questions.
Other features:
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
- Timed Allowed (Seconds). Limit how long the student has to record an answer.
- Number of Attempts. Limit the number of attempts in which students are allowed to re-record an answer.
File Upload
The File Upload question type is helpful for multiple use cases. Commonly used by quantitative classes, it can allow for the upload of a Microsoft Office Excel file. It can be used for any file upload, such as a Microsoft Word document, an image file, etc.
Other features:
- Extra Credit. Enabling this checkbox will treat the question as extra credit.
Tip:
- Be sure to explain to students how to complete these questions. We recommend that you offer a practice self-quiz before a high-stakes exam is administered.