Quality Assurance of Multiple-Choice Questions Test Through Item Analysis

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the value of in use multiple choice questions of ophthalmology by finding discrimination
index, distractor efficiency and difficulty index.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: The Study was conducted at the Department of Ophthalmology, Karachi Institute
of Medical Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan from January 2022 to March 2022.
Methods: The study included result of all multiple-choice questions administered during pre-annual
examination of the year 2021. There were 45 multiple-choice questions with one correct option and three
distractors. Analysis of each item was performed to find difficulty discrimination index and distractor efficiency.
Data were entered and analyzed by SPSS software 20.0. Frequency and percentage were calculated for all
categorical variables and mean and standard deviation were considered for all continuous variables. Difficulty
and discrimination index and distractor efficiency were calculated for multiple-choice questions.
Results: Overall, 68.9% had good/acceptable levels of difficulty and were stored, whereas 24.4% were too easy
and 6.7% were too complex and confusing. Discrimination analysis demonstrated 27 items to be excellent, 13
good and 5 having poor discrimination. Distractor efficacy was found to be 93.32±19.60. Out of 135 distractors,
129 were functional while non-functioning distractor (NFD) were 6.
Conclusion: Item analysis is a valuable assessment tool that identifies better multiple-choice questions to be
retained while discarding or reviewing the weak ones. Faculty development programs should be organized for
improving item writing skills of faculty

How to cite this: Farooq MZ, Mashhood S. Quality Assurance of Multiple Choice Questions Test Through Item Analysis. Life and Science. 2023; 4(4): 499-505. doi: http://doi.org/10.37185/LnS.1.1.315