Examining the impact of specific types of item-writing flaws on student performance and psychometric properties of the multiple choice question

• Published in: MedEdPublish Vol. 7; no. 4
• Main Authors: Hannah Pham, James Besanko, Peter Devitt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: F1000 Research Ltd 01.10.2018
• Subjects: Item difficulty; Item discrimination; Item writing flaws; Medical assessment; Multiple choice question; Psychometrics

Background: Item-writing flaws (IWFs) are common in multiple choice questions (MCQs) despite item-writing guidelines. Previous studies have shown that IWFs impact validity as observed through student performance, item difficulty, and discrimination. Most previous studies have examined IWFs collectiv...