Will a Short Training Session Improve Multiple-Choice Item-Writing Quality by Dental School Faculty? A Pilot Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Dental Education
• Assessment and Evaluation

Background:

• Dental faculty are expected to write high-quality multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for student assessment.
• Most faculty lack formal training in effective MCQ item writing.
• Faculty development programs are often used to enhance test item quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief training workshop on improving MCQ item-writing skills among dental school faculty.
• To assess whether a short intervention could lead to better quality in-house MCQs.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involving 24 dental faculty members who had previously written MCQs.
• Participants were randomized into an intervention group (1-hour workshop) and a no-intervention control group.
• MCQ quality scores were assessed before and after the intervention, with pre- to post-training score differences analyzed.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement in MCQ item quality scores after the training session (p=0.04).
• The control group did not receive training but received encouragement and rationale for good MCQ writing.
• Averaged pre- and post-training scores revealed a positive impact of the workshop.

Conclusions:

• A short, focused workshop is effective in enhancing the quality of MCQs written by dental faculty.
• This pilot study suggests that brief faculty development can improve assessment tools in dental education.
• Implementing short training sessions may be a practical strategy to improve in-house MCQ quality.