Response changing and student achievement on objective tests

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the types of response changes made by undergraduate nursing majors on an objective test and to provide additional data which support the limited research on this topic. Responses were evaluated for the percent of total responses, direction of the changes made, and the effects of the changes on student achievement. Approximately 70% (n = 39) of the students changed one or more responses; the mean gain was 2.47 items. Major findings include significant differences in overall achievement on the test between response changers and nonresponse changers (t = 2.14; p less than .03); significance (X2 = 41.67; p less than .001) in the direction of the changes made by students; and significant (X2 = 19.463; p less than .0000) gain in the achievement of students who changed responses. The results of this study support the previous, but limited, research in the investigation of response changing among students. The limitation of this study and implications for future research are also presented.