Creating True/False

Dr. Tina Rooks

What is the average response time for a true/false question?

25% 25%25%25%A. 30 secondsB. 60-90 secondsC. 2 minutesD. 5 minutes

True / False ItemsA true/false item is a sentence about which students must decide

the veracity.Often times students are instructed to correct (or make true) a false

statement.• Advantages:

True/false questions are among the easiest to write, and can be scored electronically.

• Disadvantages:True/false questions are limited in what kinds of student mastery they can assess. They have a relatively high probability of student guessing the correct answer (50%). True/false also assesses recognition of information, as opposed to recall.

Developing True/False Items• Statements should be relatively

short and simple. • True statements should be about

the same length as false statements. (There is a tendency to add details in true statements to make them more precise.)

• The answers should not be obvious to students who don't know the material.

• Sweeping broad general statements or absolutes (all, always, never, none, only)

• A similar situation occurs with the use of "can" in a true-false statement. If the student knows of a single case in which something could be done, it would be true.

• Ambiguous or vague statements and terms, such as "large," "long time," "regularly," "some," and "usually" are best avoided in the interest of clarity.

• Vary the ratio of T/F.• Avoid Patterns.

Practice

User your clicker and vote onthe following test items

Please select a Team.

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

20% 20% 20%20%20%1. Team 12. Team 23. Team 34. Team 45. Team 5

Is the following T/F item well designed

50%50%

Yes No

1. Yes2. No

Is the following T/F item well designed

50%50%

Yes No

Students almost never open their books to study.

1. Yes2. No

Use of “almost never” is a clue to the falsehood.

Is the following T/F item well designed

50%50%

Yes No

Heavy smoking causes lung cancer.

1. Yes2. No

Avoid over generalizing.

Is the following T/F item well designed

50%50%

Yes No

Porpoises are able to communicate because they are mammals.

1. Yes2. No

Do not include two ideas in one statement unless you are evaluating student’s understanding of cause and effect relationships.

Better: Porpoises are mammals. T FPorpoises are able to communicate. T

F