Educator's blueprint: A how-to guide for developing high-quality multiple-choice questions

Area of Science:

• Educational Assessment
• Instructional Design

Background:

• Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are widely used in education and research for knowledge assessment.
• Ensuring the accuracy and meaningfulness of data from MCQs requires adherence to best practices in question design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide educators with 10 actionable strategies for developing high-quality multiple-choice questions.
• To enhance the validity and reliability of MCQs used in educational and scholarly contexts.

Main Methods:

• The paper presents a blueprint of 10 key strategies for MCQ development.
• Strategies cover question conceptualization, writing, and post-use evaluation.

Main Results:

• Key strategies include defining purpose and scope, assembling writing teams, and writing succinctly.
• Focus is placed on assessing knowledge and comprehension, not test-taking skills.
• Ensuring consistent choices, using plausible distractors, and avoiding option grouping are emphasized.

Conclusions:

• Adherence to these 10 strategies can significantly improve the quality of multiple-choice questions.
• Gathering validity evidence and post-use evaluation are crucial for continuous improvement of MCQs.