Feedback, fairness, and validity: effects of disclosing and reusing multiple-choice questions in medical schools.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Disclosure of items used in multiple-choice-question (MCQ) exams may decrease student anxiety and improve transparency, feedback, and test-enhanced learning but potentially compromises the reliability and fairness of exams if items are eventually reused. Evidence regarding whether disclosure and reuse of test items change item psychometrics is scarce and inconclusive.

Methods

We retrospectively analysed difficulty and discrimination coefficients of 10,148 MCQ items used between fall 2017 and fall 2019 in a large European medical school in which items were disclosed from fall 2017 onwards. We categorised items as 'new'; 'reused, not disclosed'; or 'reused, disclosed'. For reused items, we calculated the difference from their first ever use, that is, when they were

SUBMITTER: Appelhaus S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9662023 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature