ArticleCBE life sciences education2017
How Question Types Reveal Student Thinking: An Experimental Comparison of Multiple-True-False and Free-Response Formats.
Article in CBE life sciences education, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comparison of Online Peer-Assisted Learning and Faculty-Led Teaching for Short Answer Questions.The clinical teacher · 2025Trial
- Psychometric Model Framework for Multiple Response Items.Psychometrika · 2026Article
- An adapted process to develop customized assessments to measure the impact of biology lessons.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of a 5G Local Area Network-Based Digital Microscopy Interactive System: Quasi-Experimental Design.JMIR medical education · 2025Article
- Unlocking Instructors' Assessment Insights: General Chemistry Instructors' Perspectives on Types of Questions and their Classroom Application.Journal of chemical education · 2025Article
- Lessons learned from conducting assessments in radioanatomy courses on learning management systems.Anatomical sciences education · 2025Review
- Article
- Low-stakes Scientist Spotlight Assignment Demonstrates High Value and Multiple Effects for Introductory Biology Students.CBE life sciences education · 2024Article
- Undergraduate Biology Lecture Courses Predominantly Test Facts about Science Rather than Scientific Practices.CBE life sciences education · 2024Article
- Designing Activities to Teach Higher-Order Skills: How Feedback and Constraint Affect Learning of Experimental Design.CBE life sciences education · 2024Article
- Identifying factors associated with instructor implementation of three-dimensional assessment in undergraduate biology courses.PloS one · 2024Article
- Measuring undergraduates' understanding of the culture of scientific research as an outcome variable in research on CUREs.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2023Article
- Assessment of biomedical engineering knowledge using true-false questions.Physical and engineering sciences in medicine · 2022Article
- Automated Writing Assessments Measure Undergraduate Learning after Completion of a Computer-Based Cellular Respiration Tutorial.CBE life sciences education · 2021Article
- Introductory biology undergraduate students' mixed ideas about genetic information flow.Biochemistry and molecular biology education : a bimonthly publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology · 2021Article
- Teaching Metabolism in Upper-Division Undergraduate Biochemistry Courses using Online Computational Systems and Dynamical Models Improves Student Performance.CBE life sciences education · 2021Article
- Paired Multiple-Choice Questions Reveal Students' Incomplete Statistical Thinking about Variation during Data Analysis.Journal of microbiology & biology education · 2021Article
- Letter to the Editor "Changes to Neurosurgery Resident Education Since Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic".World neurosurgery · 2020Article
- Mixed Student Ideas about Mechanisms of Human Weight Loss.CBE life sciences education · 2019Article
- Best Practices Related to Examination Item Construction and Post-hoc Review.American journal of pharmaceutical education · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Assessments represent an important component of undergraduate courses because they affect how students interact with course content and gauge student achievement of course objectives. To make decisions on assessment design, instructors must understand the affordances and limitations of available question formats. Here, we use a crossover experimental design to identify differences in how multiple-true-false (MTF) and free-response (FR) exam questions reveal student thinking regarding specific conceptions. We report that correct response rates correlate across the two formats but that a higher percentage of students provide correct responses for MTF questions. We find that MTF questions reveal a high prevalence of students with mixed (correct and incorrect) conceptions, while FR questions reveal a high prevalence of students with partial (correct and unclear) conceptions. These results suggest that MTF question prompts can direct students to address specific conceptions but obscure nuances in student thinking and may overestimate the frequency of particular conceptions. Conversely, FR questions provide a more authentic portrait of student thinking but may face limitations in their ability to diagnose specific, particularly incorrect, conceptions. We further discuss an intrinsic tension between question structure and diagnostic capacity and how instructors might use multiple formats or hybrid formats to overcome these obstacles.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.