(593)WHAT IS THE BEST TYPE OF MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS FOR EPIDEMIOLOGY?

摘要

Introduction: Previous studies have shown differences in the effect of the following three types ofmultiple choice questions (MCQs): standard Multiple Choice, Multiple True/False with negativemarking and Extending Matching in the quality of medical knowledge assessments. However none ofstudies focuses on Epidemiology.Aim: To study which type of test format (Standard Multiple Choice (SMC)vs Multiple True/False withnegative marking (MTF)vs Extended Matching (EM))is the best to assess students in Epidemiology.Materials and Methods: The data were comprised of two Epidemiology assessments divided into twoparts each one. The 2010 examination had 25 standard multiple choice questions (first part)and 25questions MTF each having 5 true or false choices with negative marking (second part). The 2013examination had 40 questions of SMC (first part)and 15 questions of Extended Matching (secondpart). The examination of 2010 assessed 212 students and the 2013 assessed 294 students. Thepsychometric quality of the test was analysed according to the Classical Test Theory (CTT).Results: The first part of the 2010 test had, in average, a difficulty index of 0.47±0.23 and the secondpart 0.34±0.13 (p=0.002). In addition, the SMC questions of the assessment had, in average, adiscrimination index of 0.22±0.11, while in the MTF questions the discrimination index was 0.23±0.10(p=0.772). In concern to the Cronbach's alpha, the first part had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.67, while inthe second it had a value of 0.68. In concern to the 2013 examination, the difficulty index was0.68±0.18 in the SMC part and 0.68±0.25 in the EM part (p=0.616). The discrimination index of theSMC part was 0.28±0.11 and of the EM part was 0.22±0.11 (p=0.034). In respect to the Cronbach'salpha correct to 25 items by Spearman-Brown prophecy formula, the first part had a Cronbach's alphaof 0.73, while in the second had a value of 0.68.Conclusions: The best type of MCQ for epidemiology was the SMC question. The SMC question wereeasier to answer compared to the MTF and had better discrimination compared to EM questions.