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How important is distractor efficiency for grading Best Answer Questions?

Thomas Puthiaparampil¹, Mizanur Rahman²

¹Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UNIMAS, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Malaysia. puthiathomas2@gmail.com.

BMC Medical Education

|January 8, 2021

Summary

Distractor efficiency in One Best Answer Questions did not consistently correlate with psychometric indices. An optimum distractor efficiency of 50% or higher, not 100%, was identified for improved test item quality.

Keywords:

BAQ Distractor efficiency Functional distractors per item in MCQ OBA

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Area of Science:

Educational Measurement
Psychometrics

Background:

Debate exists regarding optimal distractor efficiency and number in One Best Answer Questions.
Non-functional distractors have led to fewer distractors per item, allowing for more items on tests.
Existing literature lacks a definitive answer on distractor efficiency and psychometric indices.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine the relationship between distractor efficiency and psychometric indices of One Best Answer Questions.
To determine the optimal distractor efficiency for high-quality assessment items.

Main Methods:

Analyzed 350 items from 7 professional examinations.
Determined distractor efficiency and number of functional distractors per item.
Grouped items into excellent, good, fair, remediable, and discarded based on discrimination index.

Main Results:

Correlation between distractor efficiency and psychometric indices was significant but not perfect.
The 'excellent' group showed highest distractor efficiency in 3 tests.
The 'discarded' group had the highest distractor efficiency in 2 tests.

Conclusions:

Distractor efficiency did not consistently correlate with the discrimination index.
An optimum distractor efficiency of 50% or higher was identified, rather than 100%.