You have almost certainly taken part in multiple choice quizzes and tests in your time. It is also possible that you have also been involved in setting the questions. If so, you probably already realise how difficult it can be to write effective questions.
If you are not careful the answers can be too easy to guess. In some case the questions can be difficult to understand. Sometimes it can be difficult to relate the questions to the topic being assessed. In fact, there a variety of ways in which a question can go wrong.
If you find yourself having to write multiple choice questions you can avoid the problems associated with them by following four basic principles.
1. Start With Objectives
Effective multiple choice questions must always be linked to clearly defined objectives unless you are writing them for a fun quiz. Clearly define what you are trying to assess and make sure that all of your questions are aimed at this. Avoid trick questions that are not related to objectives. Ultimately they prove nothing.
2. Clear and Understandable
As a general rule, language and sentence structure should be kept as simple as possible. Only use essential technical terms. Take care to avoid ambiguous questions, answers and distracters. Remember that you are trying to test objectives and not the ability of people to understand poorly written questions.
3. No Soft Clues
It can sometimes be possible to guess the correct answer from the question itself. Questioners may leave clues in the question, answer or distracters that they do not intend. One of the biggest mistakes that people make when writing multiple choice question is the failure to use meaningful distracters. This means that people answering the question can guess the correct answer by eliminating the options that are obviously wrong. Once again it is important to remember that you are assessing objectives not the candidate's ability to guess most of the answers correctly.
4. Meaningful Feedback
If your questions are part of a test the minimum that candidates will need to know is whether they have achieved the pass mark. If the questions are aimed at helping people to learn a particular subject then they will need to know whether their answers were right or wrong. They also need to know why they were right or wrong. There is much more to writing effective multiple choice questions than it is possible to cover in a short article. However, you will be making a good start if you follow the four basic principles outlined here.
Wolfgang Halliwell is a learning and development consultant who has authored a number of courses for Trainer Bubble.
